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. 8 NICK FOLES
With it being the 8th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player for Arizona to wear No. 8 was quarterback Nick Foles, who playhed with the Wildcats from 2009 to 2011 after transferring from Michigan State. He is the Wildcats’ career leader in passing yards (10,011), completions (933), pass attempts (1,396), and is tied for first in touchdown passes (67) along with Willie Tuitama. He is by far the most successful former Arizona quarterback to play in the NFL. He passed for 14,227 yards in the NFL to go with 82 touchdowns and 47 interceptions across his 11-year career. During his second stint with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2017, he helped lead the team to their first Super Bowl championship over the New England Patriots and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. In that game, he had the iconic touchdown reception to end the “Philly Special,” a trick play on a pass from then-Eagles tight end Trey Burton in the waning seconds of the first half. Foles is also one of eight quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for seven touchdown passes in a game, achieving that against the Oakland Raiders in 2013. He was selected by the Eagles with the No. 88 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. He spent four seasons, including a redshirt season, at Arizona from 2008-11, after his transfer from Michigan State. He formally announced his retirement from the NFL on Aug. 8. “It’s crazy to be in this moment, looking at this camera officially announcing my retirement from the NFL,” Foles said in a video posted to his X account. “From the first day I was born my dad put a football in my hand. He must’ve known something because that became a dream of mine since I’ve been a kid to play in the NFL and I will be forever grateful for that.” Another legendary No. 8 at Arizona was wide receiver Dennis Northcutt, the second-leading receiver in school history.
NO. 8 IN 2024 — QB ANTHONY GARCIA & LB STERLING LANE II
Garcia, 6-foot-2 and 193 pounds, is a redshirt freshman who followed Brennan and some of the coaching staff from San Jose State during the offseason. He did not see action at San Jose State as a freshman last year after playing at Capital Christian High in Sacramento, Calif. In the state rankings, he was 21st in pass yards per game at 268.9 yards per game and tied for 27th with 34 TD passes in 2021. He was the 2021 Sacramento Bee Metro Offensive Player of the Year. Completed 146 of 250 passes with only four interceptions in the 10 games he played. Rushed for 553 yards averaging 8.3 yards per attempt and scored eight touchdowns. His dad Aaron Garcia divided his college career as a quarterback between Washington State (1989, 1990) and Sacramento State (1992, 1993) completing 55.8 percent of his passes for 4,295 yards and 31 touchdowns. Anthony’s dad went on to play 19 seasons of Arena Football (1995-2014) and passed for 62,159 yards and 1,336 touchdowns. His mom Shelby Boudreaux was a member of the 1992 through 1996 Sacramento State women’s basketball teams. His older sister Gigi (Gabriella) Garcia was a member of Washington women’s basketball teams during the 2017 through 2020 seasons… His sister Bella (Isabella) Garcia is a member of the New Mexico State women’s soccer team.
Lane, 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds, appeared in three games during the 2023 season, allowing him to redshirt. In 2022, he appeared in four games on the defensive line for Arizona and made eight tackles with 0.5 tackles for loss. He recorded a season-high five tackles at Utah and made two tackles at UCLA. He played defensive end and tight end at Oaks Christian High School at St. Louis. A 4-star linebacker, per 247sports.com, he chose Arizona over Colorado, Oregon State, Arizona State and Arkansas.
NOTE
Should college teams be required to submit an injury report the week of a game, similar to how the NFL operates. One of the hot topics of fall camp at Arizona is the reporting of injuries by media. If a player is out and not participating, some media felt compelled to provide that knowledge to the public. In the last two weeks, Arizona has made it mandatory that media do not report on specifics seen at practice (plays, injuries, absences, etc.).
THEY SAID IT
“(An injury report) wouldn’t bother me as long as that’s not all you guys want to talk about. The biggest reason why I don’t like talking about injuries is because the focus is on the injury and really you’re trying to focus on the game and the good parts of what’s happening with your football team. The natural tendency of fans and the media is to focus on this one kid that’s injured.” — Brennan commenting to the media after a recent 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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