Continuing our countdown of the 10 most valuable Arizona Wildcats of 2018 … other than quarterback, Heisman Trophy candidate and obvious No. 1 choice Khalil Tate.
The junior’s top-dog status is so secure that it’s pointless to include him in this list. A more instructive exercise would be to rank the next 10 most valuable Wildcats, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do over the next several weeks.
First, a couple of quick notes:
- “Most valuable” does not necessarily mean “best.” Rather, we’re defining it as the contributions and traits that most influence winning football. They include talent, leadership and projected role and production.
- Newcomers were not eligible. Although freshmen played a huge role on last year’s team, it’s just too hard to predict who will have an immediate impact before training camp gets underway.
NO. 9: DT DERECK BOLES
Ht/Wt/Yr: 6-2, 296, redshirt senior
Comment: Interior defensive linemen aren’t the stars in Marcel Yates’ defense. For the most part, they do the dirty work, enabling others to make plays.
Boles produced last season despite that structure. He recorded 42 tackles – easily the most among interior linemen – including 1.5 for losses. He also broke up two passes.
Those numbers won’t earn you a spot on the All-Pac-12 team. But they'll earn you the respect of your teammates. The blue-collar efforts of Boles, among others, enabled Colin Schooler, Tony Fields II and Kylan Wilborn to earn national all-freshman accolades.
There’s great value in that. As the leader of the interior linemen, Boles merits a spot in our top 10 for 2018.
It should be a beefed-up group this year. Junior-college transfer PJ Johnson was running with the ones in the spring game – alongside Boles, who had to exit early because of what appeared to be a minor leg injury.
Johnson is listed at well over 300 pounds, as are freshman Mykee Irving and now-healthy redshirt junior Sione Taufahema. Another redshirt junior, Finton Connolly, also has bulked up.
Boles relies more on quickness than raw power. As such, he’s an ideal complement to the 300-plus-pounders who are now prevalent in the D-line room.
Arizona should have better depth inside than in recent years; in addition to the aforementioned players, Kurtis Brown enters Year 2 after a promising freshman campaign.
But besides Connolly – who has played a lot but has only one career start – most of the interior defensive linemen are relatively unproven. Taufahema was supposed to make an impact last year but missed the season because of a knee injury. Johnson clearly impressed the coaches in spring, but his next Division I snap will be his first.
Boles has ample experience. He began his career at Boise State and appeared in all 13 games last season, his first at Arizona, including 12 starts. That’s 26 appearances in all in FBS games.
Arizona has only eight scholarship seniors on its current roster, nine if you include grad-transfer punter Dylan Klumph. Only three of them play defense: Boles and defensive backs Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Jace Whittaker.
Boles arrived relatively late last summer. He quickly went from newcomer to starter.
The next step is to become a team leader. Lining up in the middle of Arizona’s defense, Boles is perfectly positioned to assume that role.
10 MOST VALUABLE CATS (BESIDES KHALIL TATE)
