Preseason prognostications are starting to trickle in for the 2021 college football campaign, and, not surprisingly, the Arizona Wildcats aren’t getting much love.
Coming off an 0-5 season and riding a school-record 12-game losing streak, the UA placed a league-low four players on Athlon Sports’ preseason All-Pac-12 Teams.
Cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace and kicker Lucas Havrisik made the second team; offensive lineman Donovan Laie and defensive end Jalen Harris made the fourth team.
Oregon had the most selections with 14, followed by USC and Washington with 13 apiece. Arizona State and UCLA each had 12. Stanford had the second-fewest selections with six.
Roland-Wallace has started 13 of 17 games in two seasons at Arizona, recording 63 tackles, nine passes defensed and one interception.
Havrisik, a fifth-year senior, made 6 of 7 field-goal attempts last season. Seventeen of his 21 kickoffs were touchbacks.
Laie, a fourth-year junior, has started 27 consecutive games as a Wildcat at tackle and guard.
Harris, entering his fifth season, has recorded 74 tackles, seven sacks, four passes defensed and one forced fumble in 32 career games.
Pro Football Focus on Tuesday released a ranking of all 130 FBS teams after running its “college football metrics and simulation.” PFF placed Arizona at No. 100 on that list, between Western Kentucky and Rice.
Arizona is set to open its first season under new coach Jedd Fisch against BYU (No. 22 per PFF) on Sept. 4 in Las Vegas. Kickoff times for early-season Pac-12 games are expected to be released Thursday.
