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. 47 STEVE BOADWAY
With it being the 47th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 47 for Arizona is linebacker Steve Boadway, who played with the Wildcats from 1981-84. Boadway led the Pac-10 with 13 sacks in 1984, earning first-team all-conference honors. At the end of that year, he knocked the ball loose from Arizona State QB Jeff Van Raaphorst, resulting in a late-game interception in Arizona’s 16-10 win. Undrafted, he spent parts of three seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions from 1985 to 1988. He also served as linebackers coach at UC Santa Barabara. Boadway is now a longtime educator and administrator in Flagstaff. He has been the principal at Sinagua Middle School in Flagstaff. He has taught German at the middle-school level there. Presently, he is in his fourth season as Flagstaff High School’s girls tennis coach while also being a physical education and health instructor at the school. Flagstaff girls tennis has qualified tor the state playoffs the last three seasons. In the past two years, the Eagles won the region championship.
NO. 47 IN 2024 — DE STANLEY TA’UFO’OU
Ta’ufo’ou, 6-foot-2 and 275 pounds, is a fifth-year senior who came to Arizona during the offseason from USC via the transfer portal. Over his career at USC (25 starts in 31 games) he had 46 tackles, including 7.0 for a loss (with 1 sack), two fumble recoveries and two QB hurries. Last season, he appeared in 12 games making nine total tackles (seven solo, two assists) with 0.5 tackles for loss and one fumble recovery.. In 2022, he posted three tackles, including 0.5 for loss of 3 yards in a game at Arizona.
NOTE
ESPN’s Bill Connelly has Arizona’s projected overall win total at 8.6 and Big 12 win total at 6.2 in 2024 with a strength of schedule ranking 55th in the nation. Connelly writes: “They have a new head coach and plenty of new faces, but quarterback Noah Fifita & Co. will have a shot at a lovely start in their new league. After facing two top-20 opponents (Kansas State and Utah) on the road in September, they don’t see a single top-30 foe in the last two months. If the Wildcats are up for it, they’ll have a shot at another great finish.”
THEY SAID IT
RB @_doughboyspeedy breaks down a few of his best runs from last season!
Catch him and the rest of the team in action at Arizona Stadium on August 31st.
Ticket Link: https://t.co/G08VWHvwSt pic.twitter.com/OxtlyrqPPD— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) July 13, 2024
“I’m not going to lie; once I see green grass, I’m going to take it just because in our position when you see green grass, you’ve got to take it because you don’t see it very often.” — RB Rayshon “Speedy” Luke
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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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