Greg Hansen: 'Mr. Football' on special teams, surnames and Arizona Stadium sellouts

Dear Mr. Football: Is an Arizona Stadium game against USC always a sellout?

A: Sellouts at Arizona Stadium (capacity: 56,000) have diminished to the point they are now a novelty. In six Rich Rodriguez seasons, Arizona sold out just four games.

The trend is unmistakable: Mike Stoops attracted capacity crowds 11 times in his last six seasons.

Historically, the Trojans remain the leading draw in Arizona Stadium history (not including ASU, of course). Since Arizona joined the Pac-10 in 1978, here are the average attendance figures of the UA’s top home opponents:

• Arizona State, 54,159
• USC, 52,532
• Washington, 52,355
• UCLA, 50,262

In the 20 years since Oregon became an attractive opponent, the Ducks have averaged just 48,906 in Tucson.

Dear Mr. Football: Who is the greatest assistant coach in league history?

A: That’s a question without a final answer. Consider: In 1989, Arizona played against seven assistant coaches who became NFL head coaches: ASU’s Lovie Smith, Cal’s Steve Mariucci and Rod Marinelli, Stanford’s Brian Billick, Washington State’s Mike Zimmer and Pacific’s Hue Jackson and Jon Gruden.

That’s an astonishing roll call of coaching talent in one season, faced by one team.

If pressed for an answer, I would say current USC special teams coach John Baxter is as skilled as any assistant coach in league history.

Special teams coaches don’t get on TV much and don’t get any sort of attention that offensive and defensive coordinators get, but I don’t think there’s any doubt Baxter’s special teams have blocked more kicks than any team in college football history, or at least since he became an Arizona special teams assistant in 1988.

Baxter hoped to replace RichRod at Arizona last winter, but didn’t get a sniff because he is "only" a special teams coach. He is the football equivalent of Josh Pastner: energetic, persistent and full of new ideas. But because basketball doesn’t apply unsexy titles like "special teams coach," Pastner has thrived and Baxter has been a career assistant at Arizona, Maryland, Fresno State, Michigan and now in his second stint at USC.

Dear Mr. Football: When did Arizona last block a kick?

A: Put it this way: In the last two RichRod years, Arizona blocked no kicks of any kind. Baxter’s Trojans blocked nine. What’s more, USC beat Washington State last week when Baxter’s crew blocked a field goal in the final ticks of a 39-36 win.

More? In 13 seasons at Fresno State, Baxter’s teams blocked 84 kicks. That’s almost unthinkable. In his first tenure at USC, 2010-13, the Trojans blocked 27 kicks. Again, no one does that.

Arizona blocks a kick as often as an icicle hangs from your roof in Tucson.

But when Baxter was Arizona’s special teams coach under Dick Tomey in 1990, the Wildcats blocked four punts and tackled the punter before he could kick another time.

Sure, the Trojans almost always have bigger, faster and more talented players on their special teams than Arizona does, but it’s to USC’s credit that it has invested in someone like Baxter, who was due to make $400,000 at year at Michigan when the Trojans hired him away from Jim Harbaugh in 2016.

Remember this: In the 2016 Arizona-USC game, the Trojans punted and kicked off 11 times. Arizona did not gain a single yard on those 11 kicks, a 48-14 USC victory.

Dear Mr. Football: What’s the future of Arizona football?

A: The future is also part of the past; put your stadium binoculars on No. 49, UA freshman linebacker Jalen Harris.

If you were around during the Desert Swarm years, 1992-95, he looks so familiar. Jalen is built and moves just like his father. Sean Harris was a two-time All-Pac-10 linebacker who played seven NFL seasons. Sean also wore No. 49.

Jalen had his coming-of-age game at Oregon State last week: five tackles and a sack. UA coach Kevin Sumlin was patent as Jalen began to improve in practice, saying that on some days Harris was almost invisible. He is now fully in focus.

The difference between father and son is that Sean, from Tucson High School, was 245 pounds as a starting freshman in 1991; Jalen is about 230. He’s got room to grow.

Sean Harris’ debut as an Arizona linebacker was totally different than his son's. Sean started at Ohio State in 1991. He told the Star: “I remember walking out there and seeing 100,000 people. I was really nervous.’’

Later that year, against USC in a 31-14 Arizona victory, Sean Harris sacked Trojan quarterback Rob Johnson to stop a USC comeback. After the game, Tomey said "I wouldn’t trade (Harris) for anyone."

Two years later, Sean Harris was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Dear Mr. Football: Is former USC lineman Kris O’Dowd the best-ever lineman from a Tucson high school?

A: O’Dowd, who is in Tucson this weekend as Salpointe Catholic retired his old No. 76, might not be the best, but he’s in the conversation.

Sahuaro’s Mike Ciasca, a tackle, was generally rated the No. 1 offensive line prospect in high school football in 1989. His Arizona career was scuttled by injuries.

Long before that, Tucson High’s Bill Dawson, 1966, and his brother Mike, 1971, were similarly evaluated among the leading line prospects in prep football. Bill went to Michigan State and Mike to the UA.

And don’t forget Sabino's Mike Saffer, 1997, who became an All-Pac-10 guard at UCLA, or Tucson High’s George Ahee, 1934, who signed with Washington when going to an out-of-state school of that scope was unprecedented for a Tucson player. Ahee later returned to Tucson and became an all-Border Conference tackle on some of Arizona’s best teams of the pre-1950s.

Dear Mr. Football: Why doesn’t USC put the name of its players on the back of football jerseys?

A: The Trojans insist they are the only FBS team in history never to put a player’s name on football jerseys. Arizona started doing it in 1977.

Maybe it’s because so many Trojans — Junior Seau, O.J. Simpson, Marcus Allen, Reggie Bush, Ronnie Lott, Lynn Swann — were immediately recognizable.

This doesn’t look like a vintage USC team, but if you put the 22 Trojan offensive and defensive starters into a pool with Arizona’s 22 starters, you’d probably pick about 18 to 22 Trojans to be on your first string.

Arizona isn’t big, and, sadly, not among the swiftest teams in the Pac-12 either. Its victory over Oregon State last week may not be an accurate gauge of the future. The Beavers seem sure to challenge the 0-12 Washington team of 2008 and those dreadful Washington State teams, 5-32 from 2008-10, as the worst teams in the league this century.

Has Arizona truly improved from the day it fell behind Houston 38-0? The Cougars have since lost to Texas Tech 63-49, yielding 704 yards.

Probably not much, with the exception of Layth Friekh’s addition to the offensive line, and Harris’ inclusion to the linebacking unit.

What’s unfortunate for Arizona is that this is the season USC appears to be beatable. It was thought to be the year Arizona would be 4-0, ranked in the Top 25, with every seat full at Arizona Stadium on Saturday night.

But all of that build-up was scuttled by Khalil Tate’s ankle injury, and by the reality that Arizona’s defense is a few pieces shy of a full load.

Trojans 41, Wildcats 30