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. 17 RICHARD DICE
With it being the 17th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 17 for Arizona is wide receiver Richard Dice, a tough-guy standout with Arizona from 1993-96. He is known for gutting out difficult injuries and still making it to the playing field. Dice had great leaping ability and is best remembered for not only playing, but playing well, with a torn ACL in a 1995 victory at ASU. He had 112 receptions for 1,892 yards with 17 touchdowns in his four-year career at a time when Arizona was not known for a passing offense. Dice, who turned 50 this year, lives in Santa Clarita, Calif. He has a background of working with Independent Concrete Cutting Co. in southern California, fittingly mostly with demolition.
NO. 17 IN 2024 — QB BRAYDEN DORMAN
Dorman, classic pocket passer at 6-foot-5 and 221 pounds, is a redshirt freshman challenging for the backup spot behind Noah Fifita. He comes from Vista Ridge High School in Colorado Springs Color. He was rated the No. 2 prospect out of Colorado and the No. 18 QB prospect nationally. Accumulated 10,285 yards passing with 116 touchdowns across four varsity seasons. As a senior, he passed for 3,783 yards with 49 touchdowns and a QBR of 138.9 in 12 games. He was a 4-star quarterback (247Sports) who received offers from California, Colorado, Colorado State, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Mississippi State, Oregon State and Wisconsin.
NOTE
Arizona junior linebacker Jacob Manu is taking on a leadership role on defense similar to his former Anaheim (Calif.) Servite High School teammate Noah Fifita on offense at quaterback. Manu will be the player with the communication device in his helmet receiving signals from Arizona’s defensive coaches, including new linebackers coach Danny Gonzales (former New Mexico head coach and Arizona State defensive coordinator). With Manu’s important role, comes the smart move by the staff to limit Manu’s reps during scimmage and live tackling drills to keep him as healthy as possible for when the games start Aug. 31 against New Mexico at Arizona Stadium.
THEY SAID IT
“Jacob Manu’s not gonna scrimmage a whole lot, because he’s played a ton of football. He’s gotta be healthy for us to to win a bunch of football games. When he’s not (on the field), we need to find the next man up to do that, and that was part of the deal.” — Gonzales
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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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