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. 4 DARRYLL LEWIS
With it being the 4th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player for Arizona to wear No. 4 was cornerback Darryll Lewis, who became a Jim Thorpe Award winner at Arizona during his career from 1987 to 1990. He was inducted into Arizona’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1995 and his jersey is honored at Arizona Stadium. He finished his career with 14 interceptions. He was the 1990 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and a unanimouns All-American that year. Lewis’ interception return of 70 yards for a score helped Arizona beat UCLA in 1990. His goal-line stop that same season of scrambling Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave at the goal line to preserve another victory is one of the most legendary plays in school history. He started his career as a running back under Dick Tomey in 1987. He was selected by the Houston Oilers in the second round (38th overall) of the 1991 NFL draft. He was then traded to the San Diego Chargers in 1999. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1995 and was released by the Denver Broncos in 2001 after a 10-year career. After overcoming personal problems following his NFL career, Lewis, 55, now resides in Newport Beach, Calif., and is an area representative of Ruiz Foods.
NO. 4 IN 2024 — WR TETAIROA McMILLAN
Honors and Awards
- 2024: Preseason AP All-American
- 2024: Preseason All-Big 12
- 2024: Preseason Walter Camp Award First-Team All-American
- 2024: Preseason Athlon Sports First Team All-American
- 2023: The Sporting News Second-Team All-American
- 2023: AP Third-Team All-American
- 2023: AP Second-Team All-Pac-12
- 2023: Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Finalist
- 2023: All-Pac-12 Second Team
- 2023: Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week
- 2023: Biletnikoff Award Watch List
- 2023: Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Watch List
- 2023: Preseason All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention
- 2022: Shaun Alexander Freshman of the Year Semifinalist
- 2022: Pac-12 Freshman of the Week (twice)
- 2022: Named to 247 Sports True Freshman Player of the Year Preseason Watch List
- 2022: Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award Watch List
McMillan, 6-foot-5 and 212, is a junior who is establishing himself as one of the greatest to play at Arizona. He has played in all 25 games, starting 21 of them, of his Arizona career and has amassed 2,104 receiving yards on 129 receptions. He has 29 receiving touchdowns. His 1,402 receiving yards last year were the second most in a single-season in program history and he is the eighth player in program history to surpass 2,000-career receiving yards. He is on track to break Bobby Wade’s program-record 3,351 receiving yards. Wade coaches McMillan as Arizona’s receivers coach. His 18-career receiving touchdowns are seventh in program history. He was a 5-star recruit out of Anaheim (Calif.) Servite High School in the Class of 2022 who signed with Arizona along with teammates Noah Fifita, Jacob Manu and Keyan Burnett.
ARIZONA CAREER RECEIVING YARDS LEADERS
| Rece | Rece | Rece | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | From | To | Rec | Yds | TD |
| 1 | Bobby Wade | 1999 | 2002 | 230 | 3351 | 23 |
| 2 | Mike Thomas* | 2005 | 2008 | 259 | 3231 | 22 |
| 3 | Dennis Northcutt | 1996 | 1999 | 217 | 3186 | 24 |
| 4 | Juron Criner* | 2008 | 2011 | 209 | 2859 | 32 |
| 5 | Theopolis Bell | 1972 | 1975 | 153 | 2509 | 30 |
| 6 | Jon Horton | 1983 | 1986 | 134 | 2389 | 15 |
| 7 | Austin Hill* | 2011 | 2014 | 151 | 2310 | 17 |
| 8 | Tetairoa McMillan* | 2022 | 2024 | 129 | 2104 | 18 |
| 9 | Derek Hill | 1985 | 1988 | 114 | 1967 | 14 |
| 10 | Nate Phillips* | 2013 | 2016 | 153 | 1946 | 15 |
NOTE
New Mexico comes to town Saturday with a lot of familiarity with Arizona. The Wildcats’ linebacker and special teams coach is Danny Gonzales, the Lobos’ former head coach. One of Arizona’s top running backs – Jacory Croskey-Merritt – was a standout with New Mexico. Offensive lineman Shancco Matautia also transferred from New Mexico after initially pledging to Arizona State. New Mexico is coming off a season-opening 35-31 loss at home to FCS school Montana State last week. The Lobos scored two touchdowns on strip sacks that resulted in fumbles. QB Devon Dampier completed 18 of 26 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown for the Lobos, while RB Eli Sanders ran for 87 yards on 17 carries. Dampier also added another 34 yards and a touchdown as a runner. Dampier is a sophomore who played at Scottsdale Saguaro. He was a starter there through 2022 before current Arizona walk-on Mason Bray (son of late Arizona great Heath Bray) led Saguaro to a state title last season.
THEY SAID IT
“They look like they play hard. I think definitely creative defensively and offensively, they’ve got some weapons. As I watched that game, I feel like they were one catch away from it being over. I was really impressed on both sides of the ball… They’re going to be ready.” — Brennan on New Mexico
FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!
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.
Recommended for you
