The Star is counting down the 11 most valuable Wildcats on the Arizona football team entering the 2019 season. Here’s the latest installment.
No. 6: C Josh McCauley
Height/weight/year: 6-3, 292, redshirt junior
Key 2018 stats: N/A
Comment: A year ago at this time, McCauley was a walk-on and a contingency plan. If none of the other options panned out, well, McCauley might have to be Arizona’s starting center.
Today, McCauley’s on scholarship, and he’s among the half-dozen most valuable players on the 2019 Wildcats.
What a rise. What a story.
It’s hard to imagine the UA offensive line without McCauley as its fulcrum. He ended up starting every game last season. He played almost every snap. Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone dubbed McCauley Arizona’s “iron man.” He has become indispensable.
“Josh is one of those (players), you don’t notice how much help he is, or how good he is for you, unless you don’t have him,” Mazzone said in spring. “He was always there for us, and he’s done a great job.”
McCauley was the only UA offensive lineman to start every game at the same position last season. He’s the only O-lineman projected to start at the same spot this year as last year. The stability McCauley has provided is vital – especially since he plays the position that starts every offensive play.
(Not to jinx the guy, but can you remember more than a couple of wayward shotgun snaps last season?)
After anchoring the line for a full season and going head to head with future first-round pick Ed Oliver, among others, McCauley finally – at the end of spring practice – received the reward he clearly deserved. In a team meeting before the spring game, UA coach Kevin Sumlin announced that McCauley would be put on scholarship.
EARNED IT. 🅰️
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) April 13, 2019
Congrats Josh McCauley! OFFICIALLY on scholarship. #BuildingTheA | #BearDown pic.twitter.com/oebPDQrZtw
As always happens in these moments, the room exploded. Players jumped out of their seats and mobbed McCauley in the corner of the meeting room.
As the camera zoomed in on McCauley, you could see the emotion on his face. It clearly meant the world to him.
If he was frustrated about the scholarship situation earlier in spring, McCauley didn’t show it. When asked about it, he played it cool, saying: “That’s always the goal. I’m trying to get through spring ball and see where it goes from there. I’m just here to do my job.”
That message was consistent with the sentiment McCauley expressed during the season, when he said simply: “I came here to play football.”
McCauley graduated from Mesa Red Mountain High School, where he also played basketball and threw the shotput and discus for the track-and-field team. He had no scholarship offers from Division I schools but believed in himself and decided to come to Arizona as a preferred walk-on.
McCauley redshirted in 2016 and appeared in three games as a backup in ’17. In the spring and summer of ’18, a real opportunity arose. McCauley took advantage of it.
Projected starting center Nathan Eldridge had knee issues and couldn’t stay on the practice field. (He subsequently transferred to Oregon State.) Sumlin brought in Robert Congel from Texas A&M, but he had to sit out the ’18 season as a transfer.
McCauley became the starter. He struggled a bit early in the year, especially against defensive tackles who were bigger and stronger than he was. He eventually found his footing and helped the Wildcats lead the Pac-12 in rushing for the third straight season.
As the center, McCauley also must relay calls to the rest of the line and work in concert with the quarterback to make sure the protection scheme is sound. It’s a lot of responsibility. McCauley handled it well.
You’d expect him to handle his newfound status as a scholarship player with the same professionalism. He won’t be any less motivated to do his job.
MOST VALUABLE WILDCATS OF 2019
