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. 44 HUBERT OLIVER
With it being the 44th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 44 for Arizona is running back Hubert Oliver, who played with the Wildcats from 1977-1980. An Arizona Hall of Famer, he earned second-team All-Pac-10 honors in 1978 and 1979. His career total of 3,096 rushing yards was the second best in Arizona history at that time. He accounted for nearly a third of that total during the 1979 season, which included a performance of 196 yards on 25 carries against Colorado State. He was named Pac-10 Player of the Week after a 27-24 Wildcat victory over arch-rival Arizona State in 1979. Oliver was team captain during the 1980 season and played in the 1981 East-West All-Star Game. He played in the NFL for five seasons, four with the Philadelphia Eagles. Oliver, who is now 66, lives in his hometown of Elyria, Ohio. He was an employee of the City of Elyria for 26 years in the maintenance department for the city’s cemeteries before retiring in 2016. He is presently in the process of trying to open a bar/restaurant in Elyria.
NO. 44 IN 2024 — DE JARRA ANDERSON
Anderson, 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds, played his freshman season last year at Memphis, where he appeared in 11 games as a defensive end and started against SMU. He was part of a team that went 10-3 and defeated Iowa State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Totaled 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and one quarterback hurry on the year. He hails from Katy, Texas.
NOTE
In an informal poll on Twitter (X), I asked people about the Big 12 home game they look forward to the most other than archrival Arizona State visiting for the last regular-season game of the season. Colorado with Deion Sanders as coach was voted the most (44.7 percent). The Buffaloes, with Sanders’ son Shedeur at QB, visit on Oct. 19. Texas Tech (Oct. 5) and West Virginia (Oct. 26) each drew 25.5 percent of the vote and Houston (Nov. 15) was a distant last place at 4.3 percent.
Arizona's Big 12 home games other than playing archrival Arizona State. Which matchup are you looking forward to the most?
— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) July 17, 2024
THEY SAID IT
Wide Receiver @ReymelloM!
Claim your tickets now to watch Reymello and the Wildcats in our season opener on August 31!
➟ https://t.co/G08VWHuZ2V pic.twitter.com/jXjlZ3xJDG— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) July 17, 2024
“Knowing how to cook counts. Also, I know how to cut my own hair.” — Arizona WR Reymello Murphy on his hidden talents
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
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.
Recommended for you
