Athlon
Scooby watch: Wright shared the cover of the magazine with ASU’s D.J. Foster and was named All-America and All-Pac-12 with Jones. The magazine ranked each position group and put Arizona’s linebackers 17th, largely because of Wright.
Projecting Arizona: The Wildcats are No. 30 in Athlon’s poll, largely because of the questions of the 12 straight games. Athlon has Arizona ticketed for the Sun Bowl against Georgia Tech. The UA is ranked fourth in the Pac-12 South behind USC, UCLA and Arizona State. The magazine has running back Nick Wilson, safety Will Parks and punter Drew Riggleman as second-team All-Pac-12 picks. It also included this from an opposing Pac-12 assistant coach: “If anyone in the country got more out of his roster last year than Rich Rodriguez, I don’t know who it is.” Athlon put Arizona’s receivers as the seventh best position group in the country.
From the pages: “Arizona has won 26 games in Rodriguez’s first three seasons, the most of any three-year period in school history. ‘I’m not saying we’re ahead of expectations,’ says Rodriguez, ‘because we need to get deeper and tougher.’ This is Rodriguez’s top group at Arizona, but it must play 12 weeks in succession without a bye.” — the “final analysis” of the Wildcats.
