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. 38 KELVIN EAFON
With it being the 38th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 38 for Arizona is running back Kelvin Eafon, who played with the Wildcats from 1996-98 after originally attending the school under a basketball scholarship. He was Arizona’s offensive captain during its 12-1 season in 1998. “If we could all play as hard and as tough as Kelvin Eafon, we would win every game we played,” Tomey said in a 1997 Seattle Times article. In the 1996 Territorial Cup game in which the Rose Bowl-bound Sun Devils routed the Wildcats 56-14 at Arizona Stadium, ASU offensive linemen Glen Gable broke defensive lineman Daniel Greer’s ankle with an illegal blind-sided clip during a return. That sparked Eafon, who noticed the play and witnessed Tomey yelling at Gable, to sprint off the bench to knock down Gable. Eafon and Gable were ejected. The retaliation showed how much Eafon revered his teammates. Eafon is now a radio personality and youth basketball coach. He is an analyst for Arizona pre-game and post-game shows involving football and men’s basketball on KCUB 1290-AM and runs his own basketball club called Desert Storm.
NO. 38 IN 2024
No current players are listed as having uniform No. 38 at Arizona.
NOTE
Arizona transfer RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt is UNDERRATED
He has some of the best footwork in the entire country with some ELITE advanced metrics. pic.twitter.com/cSlMRwF02H
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) July 5, 2024
Arizona running backs entering the 2024 season:
Four transfers join the program as running backs, including potential starters Jacory Croskey-Merritt of New Mexico and Quali Conley of San Jose State. They will be coached by new running backs coach Alonzo Carter, who coached Conley at San Jose State. Kedrick Reescano is a transfer from Ole Miss and former Salpointe standout Anthony Wilhite is a preferred walk-on transferring from Ottawa (Arizona). Freshman Kayden Luke, who led CDO to a 14-0 record and 4A state championship last year, is another preferred walk-on who will bring toughness and durability to the backfield.
1 Croskey-Merritt, Jacory, 5-11, 204, R-Sr., Montgomery, Ala., New Mexico
3 Reescano, Kedrick, 6-0, 210, R-Fr., New Caney, Texas, Ole Miss
7 Conley, Quali, 5-10 210, Sr., Fresno, Calif., San Jose State
20 Johnson, Brandon, 5-9, 190, R-Fr., Palmdale, Calif.
21 Luke, Rayshon, 5-9, 175, Jr., South Central, Calif.
28 Wilhite, Anthony, 5-11, 185 R-So., Tucson (Salpoint Catholic), Ottaw (Arizona)
30 Luke, Kayden, 5-11, 220, Fr., Tucson (CDO)
THEY SAID IT
“I look back on the last couple of years, just doing what I have been doing, being a teammate and waiting on my turn. My turn is finally here now so of course I am just going to excel and succeed through it with my brothers around me.” — Arizona junior running back 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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