Arizona football: On #Forever65, familiar faces, fan love
- Updated
Seen and heard at University of Phoenix Stadium during Arizona's season opener against BYU in the Cactus Kickoff Classic.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Arizona wide receiver Nate Phillips trotted out to midfield for the opening coin toss Saturday. Trey Griffey and Sani Fuimaono went with him, carrying Zach Hemmila's No. 65 jersey.
Hemmila, a UA offensive lineman who was projected to start at center, died in his sleep a few days into training camp. The UA vowed to honor him throughout the season, starting with Saturday.Â
The University of Phoenix Stadium video board showed a video honoring Hemmila before kickoff. UA coach Rich Rodriguez, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik and athletic director Greg Byrne stood alongside Hemmilaâs parents and girlfriend, and presented them with a framed jersey.Â
Arizona's players and coaches all wore patches with the No. 65 on their hats, and Arizonaâs helmets included decals that read âZHâ and â65â. Â Arizona is expected to wear the decals and patches all season long.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
0: Saturday's game was scoreless after the first quarter. Arizona was last held scoreless in the first quarter in 2011 at Oregon State. The game turned out to be coach Mike Stoops' last one: He was fired two days later and replaced (eventually) by Rodriguez. Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Former UA receiver David Richards was cut by the Los Angeles Rams last week as they trimmed their roster to 75 players.
Saturday, Richards was in the crowd for Arizonaâs game against BYU. He wasn't the only former Wildcat of note to watch the game. Trung Canidate, the star running back on Arizona's 12-1 team from 1998, watched from the sideline.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
During the first half, cameras focused on Alani Fua in the stands, clad in a white BYU shirt.
Fua is familiar with a lot that was going on Saturday â heâs a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals, making the team as an undrafted free agent after a college career atâĻ BYU.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
If Vegas put odds on the first player to secure Arizonaâs first sack of the season on defense, bets probably wouldâve been placed on linebackers Paul Magloire or DeAndreâ Miller, maybe a blitzing safety such as Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Tellas Jones, or even a defensive linemen, like Sani Fuimaono or Luca Bruno.
That's not what happened.
On a third down play in the first quarter, Arizonaâs first sack came from âĻ linebacker Carrington Vaughn.
Vaughn is a walk-on redshirt freshman linebacker from Pittsburgh who playing in the first college game of his career. Heâs listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 214 pounds.
Vaughn's online bio consists of 30 words, touting how he played football and ran track and field in high school and was a team captain and a scholar-athlete.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
For much of fall camp, UA coach Rich Rodriguez insisted that Arizona would deploy a two-headed backfield, with Nick Wilson and Orlando Bradford as co-starters.
That didnât appear to be the case against BYU.
By halftime, Wilson had eight carries (for 18 yards), Bradford had none and freshman J.J. Taylor had one, for a loss of four yards.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
For weeks leading up to the Cactus Kickoff Classic, BYU appeared to be far ahead of Arizona in ticket sales.
In person, there wasn't much of a disparity. We estimated a near 50/50 split between Arizona and BYU fans. Although, there were more BYU fans interspersed throughout the Arizona section than Arizona fans in the BYU section.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Every fan who sat in Arizona's section of the stadium received red pompoms. The Wildcats wore red jerseys and helmets against the blue-clad Cougars. Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
Arizona wide receiver Nate Phillips trotted out to midfield for the opening coin toss Saturday. Trey Griffey and Sani Fuimaono went with him, carrying Zach Hemmila's No. 65 jersey.
Hemmila, a UA offensive lineman who was projected to start at center, died in his sleep a few days into training camp. The UA vowed to honor him throughout the season, starting with Saturday.Â
The University of Phoenix Stadium video board showed a video honoring Hemmila before kickoff. UA coach Rich Rodriguez, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik and athletic director Greg Byrne stood alongside Hemmilaâs parents and girlfriend, and presented them with a framed jersey.Â
Arizona's players and coaches all wore patches with the No. 65 on their hats, and Arizonaâs helmets included decals that read âZHâ and â65â. Â Arizona is expected to wear the decals and patches all season long.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
0: Saturday's game was scoreless after the first quarter. Arizona was last held scoreless in the first quarter in 2011 at Oregon State. The game turned out to be coach Mike Stoops' last one: He was fired two days later and replaced (eventually) by Rodriguez. Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
Former UA receiver David Richards was cut by the Los Angeles Rams last week as they trimmed their roster to 75 players.
Saturday, Richards was in the crowd for Arizonaâs game against BYU. He wasn't the only former Wildcat of note to watch the game. Trung Canidate, the star running back on Arizona's 12-1 team from 1998, watched from the sideline.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
During the first half, cameras focused on Alani Fua in the stands, clad in a white BYU shirt.
Fua is familiar with a lot that was going on Saturday â heâs a linebacker for the Arizona Cardinals, making the team as an undrafted free agent after a college career atâĻ BYU.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
If Vegas put odds on the first player to secure Arizonaâs first sack of the season on defense, bets probably wouldâve been placed on linebackers Paul Magloire or DeAndreâ Miller, maybe a blitzing safety such as Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Tellas Jones, or even a defensive linemen, like Sani Fuimaono or Luca Bruno.
That's not what happened.
On a third down play in the first quarter, Arizonaâs first sack came from âĻ linebacker Carrington Vaughn.
Vaughn is a walk-on redshirt freshman linebacker from Pittsburgh who playing in the first college game of his career. Heâs listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 214 pounds.
Vaughn's online bio consists of 30 words, touting how he played football and ran track and field in high school and was a team captain and a scholar-athlete.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
For much of fall camp, UA coach Rich Rodriguez insisted that Arizona would deploy a two-headed backfield, with Nick Wilson and Orlando Bradford as co-starters.
That didnât appear to be the case against BYU.
By halftime, Wilson had eight carries (for 18 yards), Bradford had none and freshman J.J. Taylor had one, for a loss of four yards.Â
- Zack Rosenblatt Arizona Daily Star
For weeks leading up to the Cactus Kickoff Classic, BYU appeared to be far ahead of Arizona in ticket sales.
In person, there wasn't much of a disparity. We estimated a near 50/50 split between Arizona and BYU fans. Although, there were more BYU fans interspersed throughout the Arizona section than Arizona fans in the BYU section.Â
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