To get ready for the upcoming Arizona football season, All Sports Tucson offers a countdown, which will include history notes and a look ahead to the season — a good way to keep Arizona football on the mind in the summer months leading up to fall camp in early August and then kickoff against New Mexico on Aug. 31 in the start of the Brent Brennan era.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS PREVIOUS DAYS IN THE COUNTDOWN
A LOOK BACK — NO. 92 ROB WALDROP
With it being the 92nd day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 92 for Arizona is defensive tackle Rob Waldrop, who starred at Arizona from 1990-93. The centerpiece of the Desert Swarm defense, he won the 1993 Outland Trophy and the inaugural Football Writers’ Defensive Player of the Year award. Waldrop has also been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Waldrop was also named the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and won the Morris Trophy as the league’s best defensive lineman as a junior, as well as picking up consensus All-America honors in 1992 and unanimous All-America honors in 1993. Waldrop ended his career with 171 tackles, 22.5 sacks and 45 tackles for loss, helping lead Arizona to three bowl games. Drafted in the fifth round by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1994, Waldrop played one season in the NFL before enjoying success in the Canadian Football League. He played on two championship teams and was twice named to the Canadian Defensive All-Pro Team. He became a decorated police officer. He created “Every Dog Has a Day” which raises money for K9s throughout the greater Tucson area. He has worked in law enforcement in Los Angeles County.
NO. 92 IN 2024 — DT Chubba Ma’ae
Ma’ae, 6-foot-2 and 347 pounds, is a transfer from UC Davis, where he was selected to the second-team All-Big Sky Defense. He made 59 total tackles over four seasons with the Aggies with eight tackles for loss, two sacks, two fumble recoveries, and one block. He appeared in 31 games over four seasons at UC Davis. After he entered the transfer portal at the end of last November, Maae had offers from Arizona and Big 12 foes Baylor and Houston.
NOTE
KICKOFF TIMES and TV NETWORKS pic.twitter.com/cvcn2vIfT1
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) May 30, 2024
The times of Arizona’s first three football games of its Big 12 existence — all non-conference games, including a pre-arranged game at Kansas State — were announced by the conference on Thursday.
Arizona starts the Brennan era at Arizona Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31 against New Mexico at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Former Lobos head coach Danny Gonzales, now Arizona’s linebackers and special teams coach, will coach against his former school with a couple of players who transferred from New Mexico — offensive lineman Shancco “Ise” Matautia and running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt. New Mexico, coach by Bronco Mendenhall, has CDO Class of 2024 lineman Sa’Kylee Woodard on its roster.
In Week 2 on Saturday, Sept. 7, Arizona hosts NAU at 7 p.m. with the game on ESPN-Plus. Former Lumberjack quarterback Adam Damante of Chandler recently announced his transfer to Arizona.
The start of the Wildcats’ game in the third week (Friday, Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. on Fox) at Kansas State was announced a few weeks ago. The game was arranged before Arizona moved from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 and will remain a non-conference game. The game will feature two Heisman Trophy candidates at quarterback — Noah Fifita of Arizona and Avery Johnson of K-State.
Arizona’s game with Houston on Friday, Nov. 15, at Arizona Stadium is also scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. on FS1.
THEY SAID IT
Tetairoa McMillan has that Mike Evans ability pic.twitter.com/YHGrOOBgRX
— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 30, 2024
“The more I watch him, the more he reminds me of Mike Evans.” — Dalton Wasserman, Pro Football Focus college football/draft analyst, on Arizona junior receiver Tetairoa McMillan.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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