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. 25 KA’DEEM CAREY
With it being the 25th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 25 for Arizona is running back Ka’Deem Carey, a Canyon del Oro graduate who became the Wildcats’ best at his position from 2011-13. In 13 games of his sophomore season in 2012, he rushed for 1,929 yards on 303 carries with 23 touchdowns, which broke the Arizona single-season record for both rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. On Nov. 10, 2012, Carey set the Pac-12 record for rushing yards in a game with 366 against Colorado. A month later, Carey was named a 2012 consensus All-American at the running back position. In 2013, he finished the season with 1,885 yards on 349 carries and 19 touchdowns and was a consensus All-American for the second straight season. He holds the Arizona career rushing record with 4,239 yards despite playing on three years before foregoing his senior season for a shot at the NFL. His 48 rushing touchdowns is also a school record. Carey, 31, was a fourth-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 2014. He played three seasons with the Bears before joining the CFL with the Calgary Stampeders in 2018. He has played in Canada since, playing with the Stampeders through last season before joining the Toronto Argonauts this season. He has rushed for 522 yards on 100 carries with four touchdowns with Toronto this season after suffering through an injury-plagued season last year at Calgary. In his six-year CFL career, Carey has gained 3,377 yards on 592 rushes with 23 touchdowns. Another No. 25 in Arizona history to acknowledge — former Cholla standout Vance Johnson, who became an All-Pac-10 running back who gained greater fame as part of Denver Broncos’ “Three Amigos” receiving corps during their Super Bowl runs.
NO. 25 IN 2024 — S ARIAN PARISH
Parish, 5-foot-11 and 173 pounds, is a redshirt freshman from Katy (Texas) High School. He was a 3-star prospect with offers from Arkansas, Central Arkansas, Colorado, Colorado State, Duke, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska, Purdue, SMU, Tulane, USC, UTSA, and Yale.
NOTE
Arizona receiving legend Bobby Wade was highly complimentary of a Wildcat receiving legend in the making — Tetairoa McMillan with how McMillan has handled the rehab process after having a minor surgery procedure performed on his foot after missing the latter part of spring practice. McMillan is working his way back slowly at the start of fall camp, working out on the sidelines during each practice. Wade said that McMillan is still attending all of the meetings and is generally the first one there and last one to leave. He is also coaching and mentoring some of the receivers during practice.
THEY SAID IT
“He has handled this like a pro. It’s always tough to be away from that because, especially at a young age like him, you start to question all of these types of things. You can see his focus in his rehab and his ability to want to push himself within the rehab as if it’s preparation for a game and preparation for practice. There’s nothing more powerful than having a guy of his stature and his ability to be able to grab a younger guy and be able to speak to him about what it feels like, what the process is and what you need to be doing in that specific situation.” — Wade on his star receiver McMillan.
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
