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. 35 JOE “JACKRABBIT” HERNANDEZ
With it being the 35th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 35 for Arizona is versatile athlete Joe Hernandez, nicknamed “Jackrabbit” during his Wildcat career in 1960 and 1961 because of his athleticism. He was part of one of the greatest teams in Arizona history, the 1961 team that finished 8-1-1. He scored 12 touchdowns, seven via the pass in 1960 from quarterback Eddie Wilson. Arizona had a 10-0-1 stretch between the 1960 and 1961 seasons with Wilson, Hernandez and prolific halfback Bobby Thompson. Thompson and Hernandez, a member of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame, were nicknamed the “Touchdown Twins” after combining for 19 touchdowns in 1960. He was from Bakersfield, Calif. While attending Garces Memorial High School, he first played on the offensive line. In one game, he picked up a fumble and ran it in for a touchdown after nobody could catch him. Soon after, the alumni pressured the coach to put him in the backfield, where Hernandez ran for more than 2,000 yards in a shortened season. Joe’s quick and agile bursts of speed earned him his nickname, “Jackrabbit Joe,” in high school. After graduating from Garces, Hernandez attended New Mexico Military Institute and played on their national championship team. In 1959, he returned home to play for Bakersfield College on their national and Junior Rose Bowl teams. That year the team won the national championship and Junior Rose Bowl championship. Joe was the MVP of both games. Following Bakersfield, he was a top recruit for Arizona. He led the Wildcats in receiving and scoring in 1960, ranking ninth in the nation in scoring with 76 points. He was the leading pass receiver and top kickoff returner in 1961, tying school single-game record with three touchdown receptions against New Mexico. He competed in three post-season All-Star football games – All-American Bowl, U.S. Bowl and All-American Game in Washington, D.C. In track, he was the 1961 Border Conference champion in low hurdles and long jump. Member of the school record sprint relay teams which were ranked fourth and sixth in the nation in 1962. After his Wildcat career, he was a second-round draft pick (17th selection overall) by the Washington Redskins. He later played for the Atlanta Falcons and the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos (where he was a two-time All-CFL cornerback). After his football career, he was an independent insurance salesman in Tucson. He also counseled inmates in state prisons close to Tucson. He established a softball league for underprivileged children in Tucson. He created “Jackrabbit Ministries,” a nonprofit Christian ministry taking him to Eastern Europe, East Africa, and Mexico. He was inducted into the Pima County Hall of Fame, Arizona Mexican-American Hall of Fame, and the Bob Elias Hall of Fame. In 2008, Joe received the “Man of Faith” Award at the Athletes International Ministry Conference. Hernandez passed away at age 81 in 2021 from COVID-19 complications.
NO. 35 IN 2024 — DB C.J. FLORES
Flores, 5-foot-11 and 200 pounds, is in his second year in the program out of Cienega High School. He first played at NAU in 2022, when he redshirted as a freshman. He was a two-year starter and one-year captain for the Bobcats, coached by Pat Nugent. He finished his career with 47 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss and two passes defended. He was also an accomplished wrestler at Cienega.
NOTE
Arizona tight ends entering the 2024 season:
| No. | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Yr. | Hometown | Previous |
| 80 | Tapley, Dylan | 6-4 | 205 | Fr. | Scottsdale | |
| 82 | Thomas, Dorian | 6-5 | 250 | R-Fr. | Kent, Wash. | |
| 84 | Olson, Sam | 6-3 | 242 | R-Jr. | Visalia, Calif. | San Jose State |
| 85 | Miranda, Roberto | 6-3 | 250 | R-Jr. | Berlin, Germany | |
| 86 | Hart, John | 6-4 | 250 | R-So. | Peoria | |
| 87 | Powell, Tyler | 6-7 | 245 | R-So. | Phoenix | |
| 88 | Burnett, Keyan | 6-6 | 245 | Jr. | Ladera Ranch, Calif. |
Projected depth chart:
- Olson
- Burnett
- Miranda
- Thomas
- Tapley
Arizona ran mostly two tight-end sets in spring practice. New tight ends coach Matt Adkins, who followed Brennan from San Jose State, said using two tight ends stretches the defense.
THEY SAID IT
“If you have two athletic tight ends, and you can throw the ball accurately out of it, it stresses the defense because running the ball is always difficult to defend. Hopefully, if we’re doing it right, we can throw the ball at a high rate but we’re also extremely efficient in the run. We’ll cause defensive coordinators a lot of stress with how exactly they want to defend us.” — Adkins, who wants at least one tight end on the field for every offensive play
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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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