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. 18 THEOPOLIS “T” BELL
With it being the 18th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 18 for Arizona is wide receiver Theopolis “T” Bell, who became a Wildcat legend from 1972-75. He caught 30 touchdowns with the Wildcats and was a 10-year NFL veteran. His time included winning two Super Bowl rings with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Although playing in a run-oriented offense under Jim Young, Bell had 153 receptions for 2,509 yards. His 217 yards on seven catches against New Mexico in 1975 is the fifth-best single-game yardage total in Arizona history. He was elected to the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame when first eligible in 1979, three years after the formation of the Hall. He was widely thought by those who saw him play as one of Arizona’s all-time big-play threats. After he left the Steelers in 1981, he joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a free agent. He caught 95 passes for 1,470 yards and four touchdowns in five seasons with them before retiring in 1985. Bell then founded a program in Tampa that teaches the value of education and targeted middle-school children. “Those kids are going to remember Theo for the rest of their lives,” former Tampa Bay quarterback Doug Williams told the Tampa Tribune. “When things get tough for them, they will be able to look back at how Theo handled himself in tough times. He was the kind of guy you wanted to have in your locker room. Every time he caught the ball, he looked like a kid in the candy store.” Bell sadly passed away at only 52 years old in Tampa in 2006 after a battle with scleroderma and kidney disease.
NO. 18 IN 2024 — LB KAMUELA KA’AIHUE & WR BRANDON PHELPS
Ka’aihue, 6-foot-2 and 229 pounds, Appeared in 12 games during the 2023 season as a true freshman. He made 15 total tackles (5 solo, 10 assists), including a career-high five tackles in back-to-back games, first against Utah and then at Arizona State in the last two regular-season games of the season. He was a two-sport standout athlete who played basketball and football at President Theodore Roosevelt High School in Honolulu, Hawai’i. He was a 3-star prospect per 247Sports and held offers from Army, Hawai’i, Nevada, Boise State, Utah, Washington and Washington State.
Phelps, 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds, is one of the best high school receivers from Arizona in history. He was a 3-star prospect who played at ALA-Gilbert North High School. He chose Arizona over Arizona State, Colorado State, Michigan State and Northern Arizona early in his career at ALA-Gilbert North. He made 282 career receptions for a state-record 4,971 yards and 61 touchdowns over four seasons on varsity.
NOTE
Arizona’s defensive secondary is loaded with talent and coaches are trying different formations based on depth. Arizona saftey Genesis Smith said the rotations are a way of “getting a lot more athletes out there.” He said of Arizona’s dollar package, “I feel it’s good that we’re able to get out there and fly around.” Colgate transfer Owen Goss has emerged as a viable talent as a safety coming from the FCS program. His play in Friday’s scrimmate at Arizona Stadium turned some heads.
THEY SAID IT
“I feel like I have underrated speed. People don’t really know that, but I’m also a fast player.” — Goss, an All-Patriot League selection last year.
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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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