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. 39 PETE RUSSELL
With it being the 39th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 39 for Arizona is fullback/tight end Pete Russell, who played with the Wildcats in 1988 and 1989 after playing at San Francisco City Community College. He became an Arizona assistant and NFL scout. Russell was an NFL scout for almost 20 years. He is listed in the Ourlads.com Scout Hall of Fame. He is retired living in the Bay area and is an active Arizona alum supporting the program and attending games.
NO. 39 IN 2024
No current players are listed as having uniform No. 39 at Arizona.
NOTE
Arizona quarterbacks entering the 2024 season:
Noah Fifita, RSoph., Huntington Beach, Calif., Servite HS (Nine starts/7-2 record)
Brayden Dorman, RFr., Colorado Springs, Colo., Vista Ridge HS (no starts)
Adam Damante, Soph., Gilbert, ALA-Gilbert North HS, NAU (five starts/3-2 record)
Anthony Garcia, RFr., Sacramento, Calif., Capital Christian HS, San Jose State (no starts)
Cole Tannebaum, RSoph., Brentwood, Calif., Oaks Christian HS (no starts)
THEY SAID IT
ESPN ranks Arizona’s group of quarterbacks No. 10 in the nation.
“The redshirt sophomore (Fifita) must adjust to a new coaching staff led by Brent Brennan and featuring Dino Babers, the former Syracuse and Bowling Green coach, as offensive coordinator. Fifita once again will be throwing passes to standout receiver Tetairoa McMillan. He could lead the offense through 2026. Depth is an immediate concern, although Arizona has retained Brayden Dorman, an ESPN 300 recruit in 2023 who initially entered the portal in January after Jedd Fisch’s departure to Washington. The team lost Demond Williams Jr., an ESPN 300 recruit for 2024, to Washington.” — Adam Rittenberg, ESPN
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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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