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. 32 MARCELLUS GREENE
With it being the 32nd day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 32 for Arizona is cornerback Marcellus Greene, who played for the Wildcats in 1979 and 1980 after transferring from Cincinnati following the hire of former Cincinnati coach Tony Mason. He played for Mason in 1979 and for Larry Smith in 1980. He was a second-team All-Pac-10 selection both seasons. He also established himself as a dangerous punt returner. Greene went on to play six years in the CFL. He played the 1984 season with the Minnesota Vikings. He was initially an 11th round pick by the Los Angeles Rams in 1981. Greene, who hails from Indianapolis, earned a marketing degree at Arizona. Greene, 67, is retired in Indianapolis after most recently working as an e-mail conversion specialist for a marketing solutions firm.
NO. 32 IN 2024 — P CASH PETERMAN & S NELA TALIAULI
Peterman, 6-foot and 210 pounds, is a redshirt junior who began his career at BYU in 2021 after graduating from Chandler High School. He had two kickoffs for BYU in 2021. He served a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nova Scotia, Canada. Runs non-profit Helmets 4 Hope. At Chandler, he went 147-for-154 on PATs in 23 games for the Wolves and was 7-for-10 on field goal attempts with a long of 45 yards.
Taliauli, 6-foot and 180 pounds, is a freshman who was a dual-sport athlete who played football and basketball at Iolani High School in Honolulu. Played safety, tight end, and wide out on the football team and shooting forward and shooting guard on the basketball court. He was named Defensive Player of the Year last year in football.
NOTE
Arizona linebackers in 2024:
| No. | Player | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | Hometown | Previous |
| 0 | Flowe, Justin | 6-2 | 225 | R-Jr. | Chino, Calif. | Oregon |
| 5 | Manu, Jacob | 5-11 | 225 | Jr. | Santa Ana, Calif. | |
| 6 | Brown, Taye | 6-2 | 230 | So. | Chandler | |
| 8 | Lane II, Sterling | 6-3 | 225 | R-So. | St. Louis, Mo. | |
| 14 | Bey, Stacy | 6-1 | 200 | Fr. | Fontana, Calif. | |
| 15 | Mann, Jabari | 6-0 | 210 | Fr. | San Mateo, Calif. | |
| 18 | Ka’aihue, Kamuela | 6-2 | 220 | So. | Honolulu, Hawai’i | |
| 36 | Hanger, Dominic | 6-1 | 225 | R-Fr. | Chandler | |
| 51 | Mustain, Tyler | 6-2 | 235 | R-Fr. | Tucson | |
| 52 | Craddock, Brandon | 5-10 | 225 | R-So. | Phoenix | |
| 55 | Su’a, Leviticus | 6-2 | 235 | R-Fr. | Perris, Calif. | |
| 90 | Keneley, Lance | 6-4 | 250 | Sr. | Mission Viejo, Calif. | Stanford |
Projected depth chart:
WLB
- Manu (20 starts at Arizona)
- Brown
- Lane
MLB
- Flowe (13 games at Arizona, one start at Oregon)
- Keneley (11 starts at Stanford)
- Ka’aihue
- Su’a
With Arizona often using a five-defensive back set with the Star (extra safety) defender, the Wildcats utilize a two-linebacker set that is different than the usual three. The upside to this is Arizona able to rotate fresh players manning the two spots. Arizona and new linebackers coach Danny Gonzales have resources to fill those positions with Manu, Flowe, Brown, Keneley and Lane the top players in the rotation. Arizona also has versatility with its defense adding atheticism closer to the line if it wants to use three linebackers and four defensive backs.
THEY SAID IT
“I think we’ve got the best linebacker in the Big 12. I’ve got no problem saying that. I think Jacob Manu proved last year how special of a player he is. Trying to find the next piece of that, I think we’ve had three guys that have stepped up and done some good things and three more that are helping us. I think Taye Brown has had an exceptional spring and I think Kamu has had an exceptional spring. Justin Flowe made significant progress from some of the assignment mistakes he made last year, which is a huge value bonus. Championship teams I have been around don’t hit walls during spring practice. I think this team has done a phenomenal job of being together with all the distractions that are out there. You have to give this football team credit. They really fought through adversity and that will help as we get into game preparation come August.” — Gonzales talking about his linebacker crew during spring practice.
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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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