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. 19 ALLAN DURDEN
With it being the 19th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 19 for Arizona is cornerback Allan Durden, an Arizona Hall of Famer who played with the Wildcats from 1982 to 1985. He started the run of Arizona’s all-conference defensive backs from San Diego’s Helix High School, followed by Chuck Cecil and Jeff Hammerschmidt. Durden was a first-team All-American in 1985 as chosen by UPI, Walter Camp and Football News. He was named first-team All-Pac-10 in 1984 and 1985, and had six interceptions each season. His 14 career interceptions and 241 interception-return yards rank third and second, respectively, on the Arizona career list, and his 96-yard interception return at LSU in 1984 was a new Arizona record at the time. Durden was an honorary captain for an Arizona game last season. After his football career, Durden’s occupations included being a district manager for Valvoline, regional sales manager for Oreck, agency field leader for State Farm and presently the executive director of the La Mesa Juneteenth Foundation, Inc., based in the San Diego area. La Mesa Juneteenth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity founded in 2022 that is dedicated to fostering an inclusive and equitable community in La Mesa.
NO. 19 IN 2024 — WR JADEN CLARK & K/P MIGUEL SALGADO-MEDINA
Clark, 5-foot-11 and 196 pounds, is a preferred walk-on from Phoenix Desert Vista who is in his fourth year in the program. He appeared in all 13 games on special teams last season. Named second-team All-Region in the 6A division as a senior at Desert Vista. Earned the Varsity Football Character Award in 2019 and 2020. His father, Ricardo Clark, played football at Marshall. His uncle, Kenny Felder, was a first-round draft pick by the Milwaukee Brewers and his great uncle, Walter Lewis, was the first African-American quarterback at Alabama.
Salgado-Medina, 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, is a freshman from Mission Viejo (Calif.) who was rated a five-star kicker and punter by Kohlskicking.com. He chose Arizona over Air Force. He was rated the No. 3 kicker in the nation by 247Sports). He made 27 of 35 field-goal attempts (77.1%) during his high school career. Booted a long of 52 yards during his senior season. Made 133 of 140 on point-after-attempts. Registered 214 total points. Handled kickoff duties as well, booting 124 touchbacks during his high school career. Primary punter who averaged 37.2 yards per punt with a long of 61 yards, placing 31 inside the 20 yard line.
NOTE
Arizona bolstered its offensive line over the weekend with the commitment of former Nevada standout guard Joey Capra, 6-foot-4 and 301 pounds. During his time at Nevada, Capra played in 24 games and started in 13 of those. Before Nevada, Capra played at San Diego State where he played in one game and was mostly on the traveling squad for the Aztecs. Out of high school, Capra was a three-star recruit who had offers from Arizona State, Boise State, Nevada and Fresno State. Capra’s presence on the line is much needed with Raymond Pulido out for the season and guard Leif Magnuson absent the last week of practice, both cases happening for undisclosed reasons.
THEY SAID IT
“He’s a work in progress. He’s still getting used to what we’re doing offensively. He is somebody who can create energy. He loves to play.” — Brennan on redshirt freshman Rhino Tapa’atoutai, who is slated to be the new starting left tackle in place of Pulido.
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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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