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. 94 CHAD ROSS
With it being the 94th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 94 for Arizona is former long snapper Chad Ross (1991-93). Transfer from Mesa Community College who played at Tempe McClintock High School. He was the invaluable long snapper when legendary placekicker Steve McLaughlin and punter Josh Miller played for Arizona. Cherished the chance to tackle, recording three tackles in four chances on Miami’s Kevin Williams. Also had hits on Washington’s Napolean Kaufman and ASU’s Eric Guilford. Ross and his wife Nadine moved to Whitefish, Mont., in 1998, and bought a local Dairy Queen (which he still runs). His parents graduated from Montana, where is father and uncle played football. Ross also starting coaching at Whitefiish High School, where he coached for 24 years — the last 12 as a head coach — until he retired at age 50 in 2022. Ross’s teams compiled a 62-53 record. His 2015 team went 11-1 and won a state championship, the school’s first since 1979.
NO. 94 IN 2024
No players are listed wearing uniform No. 94.
NOTE
Former USC defensive lineman Stanley Ta'ufo'ou is transferring to Arizona, sources tell @247Sports.
Had 54 career tackles at USC.https://t.co/EEeaBxy4N5 pic.twitter.com/rXgVhg783U
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) May 29, 2024
Former USC defensive lineman Stanley Ta’ufo’ou has officially committed to Arizona after entering the NCAA transfer portal last month, according to multiple reports. Ta’ufo’ou spent all five season of his college career at USC prior to his commitment to the Wildcats, joining Arizona and new head coach Brent Brennan as a graduate transfer. After appearing in just five games during his first two seasons with the Trojans, Ta’ufo’ou became a starter on USC’s defensive line during his redshirt sophomore year in 2021. He recorded 18 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss after appearing in all 12 games of the season with nine starts. In 2022, Ta’ufo’ou’s recorded 27 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and two fumble recoveries in his 14 games appearances (13 starts). Last season, Ta’ufo’ou appeared in 12 games and made nine tackles, also having a 23-yard touchdown fumble recovery he took to the house for a 23-yard touchdown against Nevada. USC media and fans criticized former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch for how he did not help develop Ta’ufo’ou his promising 2022 season. It’s obvious Ta’ufo’ou needed a change.
THEY SAID IT
“With having spring practice finishing when it did, having the calendar continue to kind of adjust has made May and June crazy. Those used to be months that were more focused on recruiting the next class. Now, May and June has become recruiting this class, next year’s class and the class after that. So it’s becoming really hectic.” — Arizona coach Brent Brennan after spring practice wrapped up.
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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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