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. 10 MIKE THOMAS
With it being the 10th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player for Arizona to wear No. 10 was wide receiver Mike Thomas, a big-play talent who played with the Wildcats from 2005 to 2008. “Money” Mike became the Pac-12 leader in career receptions with 259, catching his final pass with 20 seconds left in the Las Vegas Bowl to break the previous mark of 258 held by ASU’s Derek Hagan. Colorado’s Nelson Spruce (294 receptions) and Washington State’s Gabe Marks (316) have since passed Thomas. Thomas was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fourth round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Thomas played in Jacksonville for his first two-plus NFL seasons before moving on to the Detroit Lions. He was a member of the Cardinals’ practice squad in 2013 and the Texans’ practice squad in 2014. He finished his pro career in the CFL with Toronto Argonauts in 2015. Thomas is a personal trainer near Atlanta. After his selection by the Jaguars, he signed a five-year , $19,045,000 contract, including a $2,500,000 signing bonus, $9,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $3,809,000.
NO. 10 IN 2024 — S QUINN OLSON & WR MALACHI RILEY
Olson, 6-foot-3 and 193 pounds, is a freshman walk-on safety from Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in Sioux City, Iowa. He also was a standout quarterback. He threw for 2,264 yards and 35 touchdowns during 2023 season.
Riley, 6-foot-2 and 172 pounds, played at wide receiver as a true freshman last season. He appeared in 11 games at wide out and on special teams for the Wildcats. He had four receptions for 90 yards with a long of 40 yards, averaging 22.5 yards per catch and 8.2 yards per game. Made one reception for 40 yards (season long) against Oregon State. He comes from Centennial High School in Corona, Calif. A 3-star prospect (247Sports), he received offers from BYU, Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, Colorado, Fresno State, Georgia Tech, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nevada, Ole Miss, Oregon, Oregon State, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Utah, Washington, and Washington State.
NOTE
Arizona defensive coordinator Duane Akina addressed this week the depth on the defensive line, Arizona’s biggest question mark as a position group entering the 2024 season after losing eight players from there from last season. Every one of the Wildcats’ four projected starters were acquired via the transfer portal — ends Stanley Ta’ufo’ou (USC) and Tre Smith (San Jose State) and tackles Chubba Ma’ae (UC Davis) and Kevin Darton (Syracuse).
THEY SAID IT
“Just as you look at it, that is a tough place to find numbers because there’s just not a lot of people walking around planet Earth that are 300 pounds that can run. I think we did a great job of evaluating there, not only the physical profile but the fit. I’m excited to watch these guys play. I think our front has been a pleasant surprise for me.” — Akina on the revamped defensive line.
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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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