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. 9 TERRY VAUGHN
With it being the 9th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player for Arizona to wear No. 9 was wide receiver Terry Vaughn, who playhed with the Wildcats from 1990-93 when the offense was a run-first operation. He who along with the late Troy Dickey, was a top target for Dan White during the Wildcats’ 10-2 season in 1993. He led the Wildcats in receiving three consecutive years. He became the CFL’s career reception leader on July 14, 2006, surpassing Darren Flutie’s previous record of 973 receptions. Vaughn finished with 1,006 career receptions, a CFL record at the time. Vaughn, 52, resides in Chandler and is part of the State of Arizona Department of Corrections as a parole officer.
NO. 9 IN 2024 — WR JACKSON HOLMAN & S GUNNER MALDONADO
Holman, 6-foot-4 and 208 pounds, is a big target at receiver as a redshirt freshman. He hails from powerhouse Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School. He made 79 receptions for 1,339 yards and 16 touchdown grabs over three seasons on varsit. Reeled in 26 catches for 528 yards and seven touchdowns during senior season in 2022. Posted career-high 46 grabs for 699 yards and eight touchdowns during junior season. A 3-star prospect who had offers from Utah, Vanderbilt, Colorado State, Cornell, Fordham, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Tulane, and Yale.
Maldonado, 6-foot and 194 pounds, is in his fourth year in the program after transferring from Northwestern following his freshman year. He has appeared in 34 games with 27 starts for Arizona since 2021. He appeared in all 13 games with 12 starts last season when he emerged as one of the top players in the Pac-12. He recorded a career high with 81 tackles (57 solo, 24 assists), finishing 16th in the Pac-12 in tackles. He posted a season-high 10 tackles twice; first against Oregon State and then at Arizona State. Made nine tackles, one interception, and returned a fumble 87 yards for a touchdown to earn Defensive MVP in the 2023 Alamo Bowl after defeating No. 12 Oklahoma 38-24 to secure a 10-win season for the fourth time in program history. Graduated from Chandler High School.
NOTE
Troy Hutchison with GOAZCATS.com wrote about the top five newcomer performances in Arizona’s fall camp and one of the five is New Mexico transfer Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who rushed for 1,190 yards and 17 touchdowns on 189 carries for the Lobos last season. He will go against his former school next Saturday in the season opener at Arizona Stadium. He orginally committed to Arizona after leaving New Mexico but then flipped to Ole Miss. Questions about his eligibility arose because of limited use as a freshman at New Mexico. But Arizona researched his background and cleared his eligibility with the NCAA. He re-committed to the Wildcat program and is ready for his final year of college football.
THEY SAID IT
“The first thing that comes to mind when you watch Croskey-Merritt play is that he is the definition of an every-down back. He has the ability to hurt teams in numerous ways and has the frame to carry the rock down in and down out. The combination of speed and power is rare in today’s college football where teams want to go 100 mile per hour, 100-percent of the time. Now, it is rare to see a running back get the rock 30 or 40 times a game and I don’t think we will see that here with Croskey-Merritt. Although I think you will be the team go four deep at running back like Carter stated during a post-practice interviews, I think he will be the first back on the field for the Wildcats in most games depending on the game plan and the opponent the team is facing. If you haven’t watched his film from New Mexico yet, you need to do so. Croskey-Merritt reminds me a little of Arizona legend Ka’Deem Carey, but might have more speed to finish off long touchdown runs unlike the former award winning back. Arizona will have a loaded backfield and Croskey-Merritt could be the difference maker in a handful of games for the Wildcats during the upcoming 2024 season.” — Hutchison
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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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