Saturday storylines: Foles, Waldrop Arizona's captains, new rules, last look at NAU win, more

Arizona football storylines for the Wildcats' season opener against NAU: A different kind of look at that 2021 NAU win, legends Rob Waldrop and Nick Foles back as honorary captains, changes to college football rules for 2023 and more.

UA legends Nick Foles, Rob Waldrop kick off list of honorary captains for 2023 season

Ever since Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch took over the program, one of the several tasks he emphasized was welcoming back previous players and UA alumni in an effort to connect the current era of Wildcats football with the past.

Besides evolving Arizona's spring game into alumni weekend, Fisch introduced honorary captains for every home game during the regular season. Notables have included Rob Gronkowski, Lance Briggs, Ortege Jenkins, Ka'Deem Carey, Brooks Reed, Willie Tuitama and Scooby Wright, among others. Even Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was an honorary captain and led the team on the "Wildcat Walk" in Fisch's home debut. 

"It's something I feel very strongly on," Fisch said. "It's a really, really important part of the tradition we're trying to build. Since I've been here, we try to do everything we possibly can to make those honorary captains a special select crew." 

The honorary captains for the Wildcats' season opener against Northern Arizona on Saturday is a two-fer: UA all-time passing yards and touchdowns leader Nick Foles and "Desert Swarm" defensive tackle and College Football Hall of Famer Rob Waldrop.

Foles led the Wildcats to Holiday Bowl and Alamo Bowl appearances in back-to-back seasons under then-head coach Mike Stoops. Foles married former Arizona volleyball player Tori Moore and they have a six-year-old daughter, Lily, together. 

In 2018, Foles was named Super Bowl MVP after leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a win over the New England Patriots. He's also the only former UA quarterback to win a Super Bowl. Since his NFL journey started just over a decade ago, Foles has played for the Eagles (twice), Chiefs, Rams, Jaguars, Bears and most recently the Colts; he's currently not signed with a team.  

"I don't think I've ever met Nick, and I coached in the NFL for a lot of years and he played in the NFL for a lot of years," Fisch said. "There was never a crossover, whether he was a player and I was a coach, whether we were working him out, whatever it might've been. I had (former UA quarterback) Matt Scott in Jacksonville, but never had Nick. To have him back here is awesome. And it's great for our crowd, great for our fans."

Waldrop starred on Arizona's "Desert Swarm" defense under late coaching icon Dick Tomey and helped the Wildcats take down the Miami Hurricanes in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl. Waldrop was a two-time All-American and the 1993 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. In his last season at Arizona in ’93, Waldrop won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Morris Trophy and Outland Trophy. He concluded his UA career with 171 tackles, 22.5 sacks and 45 stops for loss. Waldrop was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Waldrop, Ricky Hunley, Tedy Bruschi and Chuck Cecil are Arizona's four representatives in the College Football Hall of Fame. 

"With Rob coming back, now you're talking about a Hall of Famer, and we've made a huge emphasis on bringing attention to the players at Arizona that have made it into the College Football Hall of Fame," Fisch said. "And there's only four of them — three of them are very active in our program, so to get Rob to come back as well, we feel like we won the honorary captain week.

"This is a big week for Arizona football to get those guys back."

Voice of the Jacks reflects on historic night for NAU — and provides insight

When Arizona fell to NAU 21-19 in 2021, marking the first triumph for the Lumberjacks over the UA since 1932, the top floor of the Arizona Stadium press box was awkwardly quiet. Then the doors flung open from NAU's coaches suite. 

"It's personal!" mocking Arizona's first mantra under Fisch and "We run this state" were heard from Lumberjack coaches. 

Mitch Strohman, longtime play-by-play broadcaster for the Lumberjacks, was in close proximity to the NAU coaches and, like every flagship announcer, celebrated arguably the most historic win in program history. 

Strohman joined "Spears and Ali" on ESPN Tucson this week and reflected on the previous contest between the Cats and Jacks, and the biggest storyline surrounding NAU heading into Saturday: 

How do you reflect on that night in 2021 and what it meant to the NAU football program?

A: "It was magic. It was arguably the single biggest victory in NAU's football history. It was the first time the Lumberjacks had beaten a team from a Power 5 conference. Start right there. ... It was one of those moments as a play-by-play announcer that you dream about. I've been doing this thing now for nearly 30 years and to have that moment is something you dream about as a play-by-play guy.

"For the university, it was beyond magic. It sent reverberations throughout Lumberjack alumni and fans all over the world.

"It was a program-defining win and it was one of those great moments as a college football fan you just soak up and live with for the rest of your life."

What did the win mean for NAU head coach Chris Ball and his staff?

A: "They talk about it even to this day, but they talk about it as something that happened in the deep past. It was just two years ago, but it's not on the current radar screen, and it's not something that they bring up on a daily basis or show film clips. It's not like that because it was two years.

"NAU was a completely different football team two years ago.

"U of A, the Cats, are definitely a different football team today than they were two years ago, and there's no connection between that moment and what is about to happen this coming Saturday in Tucson. This game is a totally different kettle of fish."

What's one NAU storyline we should be paying attention to for Saturday?

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A: "Who's going to be our quarterback? That is our number one question right now. There are three guys who are in the mix — two that I think have the lead of the three guys.

"You've got the transfer from Cal in the Pac-12, a real exciting player, Kai Millner, a former four-star recruit; he's out of Gilbert. Then you've got a Southern Arizona player, Angel Flores, he's out of Casa Grande. He's come through for this program from the get-go. He has improved vastly over the last year as a backup last season to today. He's in the hunt. He's just an incredibly gifted runner and quarterback. He can throw the ball with authority. Fun to watch and he commands the team out there. It's a fun battle between those two guys. I honestly think Coach Ball won't let folks know who the starter is until close to game time.

"Who will start at quarterback and take that first snap? That's going to be a great question to look forward to at 7 o'clock." 

Star freshman Raymond Pulido bolsters Arizona's promising offensive line

For the second year in a row, Arizona's most impactful newcomer on the offensive line is a true freshman right guard.

Raymond Pulido, a 6-6, 335-pounder from Apple Valley, California, who flipped from Alabama to Arizona, will debut his collegiate career in tandem with his predecessor in right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea, a 6-5, 330-pound sophomore, who started all 12 games at right guard last season, before converting to tackle in the spring.

"It's kinda ironic they're both right guards," said Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch. "There wasn't a plan, like, 'Play the freshman right guard.' It just happened to have worked out that way. The size Pulido walks in with and his high school film told us that ... 'We're expecting this guy to walk in and start.'"

Fisch added there "was a big discussion we had as a coaching staff" about whether Pulido would start at right tackle and keep Savaiinaea at guard or vice versa.

"Coach (Brennan) Carroll felt the best way to get the best five out there for opening day was to have Raymond at guard and Jonah at tackle," Fisch said.

Carroll said if the Wildcats hadn't invested in Savaiinaea as a mainstay on the offensive line as a true freshman, "then maybe we'd have a little bit more anxiety about playing the young guy (Pulido), but that's just kind of how we're doing it right now."

Savaiinaea, Pulido, junior center Josh Baker, redshirt freshman left guard Wendell Moe and senior left tackle Jordan Morgan, who is playing in his first game since tearing an ACL in November, round out Arizona's offensive line.

"We've built it from both ways with a couple kids that have been through the tough times. ... And then bring in some new talent, new blood to meld those two groups together and combine the old with the new," Carroll said.

As a group, the average weight of the UA's offensive line is 327 pounds; NAU's defensive line is 282 pounds, which potentially spells a run-heavy attack by the Wildcats.

"The offensive line as a whole is a really big offensive line, which should be really fun throwing the ball and running the ball behind them," said Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura.

New NFL-style clock rules 'great for everybody'

Just like in the NFL, college football will no longer stop the clock after first downs aside from the final two minutes of each half. The rule is new this season.

In the final two minutes of the half, however, the clock will stop for the ball to be spotted and started on the referee's signal. 

Fisch, on the updated clock rules in college football: "I love the new clock rules. I wish we just took the NFL timing and just did that. I think the NFL has it figured out on a lot of levels, and I still don't understand why we try to fight that sometimes. I wish we put the field the same way, I wish the hashmarks were the same, the goalposts were the same, the timing was the same. But we're getting there.

"Who wants to sit through a three-hour and 45-minute football game? Sit through a three-hour and seven-minute football game and enjoy every minute. That's what we need. We need the games to go about three hours and 10 minutes and then go to the next one. If we can do that and get the timing right, it's going to be great for everybody," Fisch added. "I don't think we miss much by stopping the clock on every first down." 

Home-state cookin'

Arizona and NAU have a combined 102 players — scholarship or walk-on — from the state of Arizona on their rosters.

The Wildcats have 29 in-state players — scholarship or walk-on — and will have five Arizona natives starting on Saturday: wide receiver Jacob Cowing (Maricopa), left tackle Jordan Morgan (Marana), nickel back Treydan Stukes (Goodyear Millennium), safety Gunner Maldonado (Chandler) and punter Kyle Ostendorp (Phoenix Desert Vista).

NAU's first starting offensive and defensive lineups of the season will have 11 starters from Arizona, including Tucson native and former Cholla standout Daniel Robledo, who is in his first season in Flagstaff after spending the last two seasons at Missouri.

Former Ironwood Ridge star and NAU defensive backs assistant coach Harrison Beemiller led the Lumberjacks in tackles and forced a fumble in NAU's win over the Wildcats in 2021.

“He jokes that it’s a prophecy for a hometown kid to shine,” Robledo told the Arizona Daily Sun this week. “So I have to try to do my thing.”

Those in-state numbers for the Wildcats could increase next season for the Wildcats. Arizona's 20-player 2024 recruiting class, which ranks third in the Big 12 behind UCF and Texas Tech, according to 247Sports.com, has seven in-state commits — the most the Wildcats have picked up since 2015. Arizona's ’24 class is headlined by five-star Salpointe Catholic edge rusher Elijah Rushing and four-star Chandler Basha quarterback Demond Williams.  

“Our goal is to keep kids in Arizona at home,” Fisch said. “Our goal is to keep kids from Tucson at home. We’re working very hard to achieve that goal.”