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. 5 ANTOINE CASON
With it being the 5th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player for Arizona to wear No. 5 was cornerback Antoine Cason, who became a Jim Thorpe Award winner at Arizona during his career from 2004 to 2007. He was also a consensus All-American as a senior in 2007. Among his highlight-reel plays in 2007 were interception returns of 42 yards for a score against Oregon, a 56-yard punt return for a score against the Ducks and a 60-yard interception return for a score against Oregon State. He had three other interceptions on the year to givehim a ca reer total of 15, fourth best in school history. His 165 yard on INT returns was just shy of the school record 191 yards set by Thorpe Award winner Darryll Lewis in 1990. Cason was a two-time first-team All-Pac-10 selection. He was a first-round draft pick of the San Diego Chargers in 2008. He played seven seasons in the NFL, five with the Chargers. He tallied 16 interceptions and 64 pass deflections in his NFL career. Following his professional playing career, Cason has pursued becoming an on-field official, initially working high school games. He was assigned as an alternate official for the January 2023 edition of the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. Cason graduated from UArizona with a Political Science degree and a double minor in African American studies and Regional Development. Following his playing career, Antoine obtained a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Miami and has been part of many successful business ventures since then. Currently, Cason serves as a board member for Why’d You Stop Me, in Long Beach, Calif. This organization assists with events and programs to increase transparency in policing in an effort to eliminate acts of violence between law enforcement and the community. He also serves as an NFL Play 60 volunteer through the Los Angeles Chargers empowering the next generation of youth to be the most physically active, and healthy and reiterating the importance of education. Cason is also a volunteer coach for his son “AC” youth sports teams.
NO. 5 IN 2024 — WR MONTANA LEMONIOUS-CRAIG & LB JACOB MANU
Lemonious-Craig, 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, is a senior receiver. He appeared in all 13 games last season and made a reception in all but one game for 28 total receptions. Reeled in season high five receptions against Washington State and Colorado. Recorded 296 receiving yards with three touchdowns. Grabbed five receptions for a season-high 67 receiving yards in a 34-31 win at Colorado, his former team. He played in 25 games at Colorado, starting 12, and had 33 receptions for 482 yards and five touchdowns.
Honors and Awards
- 2023: AP First-Team All-Pac-12
- 2023: All-Pac-12 First Team
- 2023: Lott IMPACT Trophy Player of the Week – Week 10
- 2023: Lott IMPACT Trophy Player of the Week – Week 9
- 2023: Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Watch List
- 2022: Pac-12 Freshman of the Week
Manu, 5-11 and 218 pounds, has started 20 games in his two seasons with the Wildcats. He led the Pac-12 in tackles last year with 116 (45 solo, 71 assists). He made double-digit tackles in five games including a career-high-tying 12 tackles in four different games. Set a new single-game career-high tackle mark at Mississippi State and matched that 12-tackle mark at Stanford, against UCLA and at Colorado. Second on the team in tackles for loss (9.5 for minus 58 yards), trailing only defensive end Taylor Upshaw (11.5). Second on the team in sacks (6.5). Made an interception against Utah, becoming the first linebacker since Anthony Pandy and Kenny Hebert (2021) had one interception apiece in a game.
NOTE
New Arizona coaches are a combined 16-11-3 in their first game leading the program. The previous two coaches — Kevin Sumlin and Jedd Fisch — lost their first game to BYU (Sumlin at Arizona Stadium in 2018 and Fisch at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in 2021). First-year coaches are 13-7-3 in season openers played at Arizona. Legendary coaches Dick Tomey and Larry Smith lost their season-opening games at home in their first season — Tomey to Iowa in 1987 and Smith against Colorado State in 1980.
HOW FIRST-YEAR ARIZONA COACHES FARED IN THEIR SEASON OPENER:
| YEAR | COACH | OPP | W/L | Score | H/A/N |
| 1899 | Stuart Forbes | Tucson Town | T | 0-0 | H |
| 1900 | William Skinner | Tucson Indians | W | 34-0 | H |
| 1902 | Leslie Gillett | Tucson Indians | W | 14-0 | H |
| 1903 | Orin A. Kates | Tucson Indians | T | 0-0 | H |
| 1905 | William H. Ruthrauff | Phoenix Indians | W | 34-0 | H |
| 1908 | H.B. Galbraith | Tucson Indians | W | 27-0 | H |
| 1910 | George F. Shipp | Tucson HS | W | 21-0 | H |
| 1912 | R.L. Quigley | Tucson HS | W | 19-0 | H |
| 1913 | Frank A. King | New Mexico A&M | L | 12-6 | H |
| 1914 | J.F. McKale | Douglas YMCA | W | 21-0 | H |
| 1931 | Fred Enke | San Diego St. | L | 8-0 | H |
| 1932 | A.W. Farwick | Occidental | W | 19-0 | A |
| 1933 | G.A. Oliver | Occidental | W | 18-0 | H |
| 1938 | Orian M. Landreth | SMU | L | 29-7 | A |
| 1939 | Miles W. Casteel | Pomona | W | 21-0 | H |
| 1949 | Bob Winslow | N.M. State | W | 40-7 | H |
| 1952 | Warren Woodson | Hawaii | W | 57-7 | H |
| 1957 | Ed Doherty | BYU | T | 14-14 | H |
| 1959 | Jim LaRue | BYU | L | 18-14 | H |
| 1967 | Darrell Mudra | Wyoming | L | 36-17 | H |
| 1969 | Bob Weber | Wyoming | L | 23-7 | A |
| 1973 | Jim Young | Colorado St. | W | 31-0 | A |
| 1977 | Tony Mason | Auburn | L | 21-10 | A |
| 1980 | Larry Smith | Colorado St. | L | 15-13 | H |
| 1987 | Dick Tomey | Iowa | L | 15-14 | H |
| 2001 | John Mackovic | San Diego St. | W | 23-10 | A |
| 2004 | Mike Stoops | NAU | W | 21-3 | H |
| 2012 | Rich Rodriguez | Toledo | W/OT | 24-17 | H |
| 2018 | Kevin Sumlin | BYU | L | 23-18 | H |
| 2021 | Jedd Fisch | BYU | L | 24-16 | N |
| 2024 | Brent Brennan | New Mexico | TBD | TBD | H |
THEY SAID IT
“My message to the team is, it’s all about us. It’s about our process and how we prepare. It’s very, very simple. It’s boring and it’s not sexy. I think that sometimes gets lost, but it’s always about us and this football team.” — Brennan at his press conference Monday ahead of Saturday’s season opener against New Mexico.
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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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