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. 68 TEDY BRUSCHI
With it being the 68th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 68 for Arizona is defensive end Tedy Bruschi, one of the Wildcats’ greatest who played with the program from 1992 to 1995. One of the stars of the Desert Swarm defense 32 years ago, Bruschi holds the untouchable Arizona career sack record of 52 (also tied for the NCAA record). He is a College Football Hall of Famer who was a two-time consensus All-American. He went on to win three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and is now one of the most informative NFL analysts on ESPN. He recently served as Arizona’s senior advisor to the head football coach when Jedd Fisch was the coach. Bruschi, who turned 51 on June 9, certainly belongs in the Mount Rushmore of Arizona athletes who are top ambassadors of the athletic program along with Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, former Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona and softball standout Jenny Finch.
NO. 68 IN 2024
No current players are listed as wearing No. 68.
NOTE
I am officially committed to @ArizonaFBall let’s work!!!! pic.twitter.com/WhqN29M1SV
— Allen Gant (@allengant24) June 24, 2024
Extremely blessed and grateful to announce I am now fully committed to the @uarizona
looking forward to a great future with y’all @OutletTexas @CEDLG8 @KellyKGriffin @CoachAkina @CoachChipViney @CoachJBaugh pic.twitter.com/rI8GeoEyie— Swayde Griffin (@GriffinSwayde) June 24, 2024
Arizona lands three-star OL Sione Tohi for the 2025 recruiting class: pic.twitter.com/GOWi2mWfPX
— GOAZCATS.com (@GOAZCATScom) June 24, 2024
Arizona’s list of Class of 2025 commitments increased to 11 on Sunday with four commitments, headlined by Chandler Hamilton athlete Dajon Hinton, who flipped his commitment from Arizona State to Arizona. The others were offensive tackle Sione Tohi of Santa Ana, Calif., and defensive backs Allen Gant of Lubbock, Texas, and Swayde Griffin of Lago Vista, Texas. Arizona’s class includes five players from Texas, four from California and two from Arizona. The highest rated prospect to date is 4-star running back Wesley Yarbrough of Crosby, Texas (suburb of Houston).
ARIZONA CLASS OF 2025 COMMITMENTS
| NAME | POS | LOCATION | HT | WT | STARS | COMMITTED |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dajon Hinton | ATH | Chandler | 5’10” | 165 | *** | 6/23/24 |
| Sione Tohi | OT | Santa Ana, CA | 6’3″ | 330 | *** | 6/23/24 |
| Allen Gant | DB | Lubbock, TX | 6’0″ | 186 | *** | 6/23/24 |
| Swayde Griffin | DB | Lago Vista, TX | 6’2″ | 185 | *** | 6/23/24 |
| Terry Shelton | WR | Irving, TX | 6’4″ | 200 | *** | 6/18/24 |
| Sean Robinson | WR | Cibolo, TX | 6’4″ | 215 | *** | 6/17/24 |
| Wesley Yarbrough | RB | Crosby, TX | 5’10” | 190 | **** | 6/17/24 |
| Joshua Tuchek | DB | Long Beach, CA | 6’1″ | 180 | *** | 6/17/24 |
| Luke Haugo | QB | Gilbert | 6’5″ | 210 | *** | 6/4/24 |
| Robert McDaniel | QB | Hughson, CA | 6’2″ | 190 | *** | 5/26/24 |
| Kellan Ford | TE | Danville, CA | 6’5″ | 235 | *** | 4/7/24 |
THEY SAID IT
“I absolutely loved (Duane) Akina’s passion for the game, bar none. He’s one of the best at what he does. You gotta really love the game to understand it. Akina will help with other staff to push Dajon to be the best he can be. That’s what Dajon said he’s looking for so that’s definitely what they will provide.” — David Hinton, Dajon’s dad who played cornerback under Akina at Arizona in the late 1990s. Akina was the defensive backs coach then. He is the defensive coordinator now.
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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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