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. 30 TRUNG CANIDATE
With it being the 30th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 30 for Arizona is running back Trung Canidate, who played for the Wildcats from 1996-99. Before Ka’Deem Carey came aboard 2011-13, Canidate was Arizona’s career-leading rusher with 3,824 yards, including school-record 1,602 as a senior in 1999. His best game was rushing for 288 yards on 18 carries with touchdown runs of 80, 66 and 48 yards in a 50-42 win over Arizona State in 1998. He would go on to play four years in the NFL, three with the St. Louis Rams and one with Washington. He was a first-round back of the Rams in 2000, the 31st pick overall. After the 2002 season, he was traded to Washington and won the starting spot at and started ten games. He gained 600 rushing yards and one touchdown. The next season, the Redskins traded Champ Bailey for all-pro running back Clinton Portis, and Canidate was released in June 2004. Canidate lives in Phoenix and is a personal trainer. He has worked in an executive role for NFL Officeworks, a furniture chain.
NO. 30 IN 2024 — RB KAYDEN LUKE
Luke, 5-foot-11 and 220 pounds, is a freshman preferred walk-on who led Canyon del Oro to a 14-0 record and 4A state championship last fall. He also played linebacker for CDO coach Dustin Peace. He rushed for 2,307 yards and 29 touchdowns and made 66 tackles at linebacker. He also won a state wrestling title at 215 pounds. In his career at CDO, he rushed for 3,609 yards and 52 touchdowns on 451 carries during high school career. On defense during his career, he made 90 total tackles including 12.5 tackles for loss.
NOTE
With Raymond Pulido out for the 2024 season for undisclosed reasons, what will Arizona do at left tackle? In the offseason, Brennan and his staff added three offensive linemen, which included tackle Michael Wooten from Oregon. Wooten will likely challenge for the starting assignment. Arizona may also utilize returner Rhino Tapa’atoutai as either a starter or top reserve. Pulido missed several days of spring practice due to an unknown injury. He was in the transfer portal at the time. He played in six games with five starts during his freshman season last year. He suffered an injury from a scooter accident during training camp last season and battled injuries throughout the season.
THEY SAID IT
“Raymond Pulido is going to be unavailable this season. And if I have anymore information, I’ll give it to you.” — Brennan to reporters following Wednesday’s first 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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