Arizona RB coach's connection to MC Hammer featured on 'College GameDay'

Seen and heard from Arizona’s Big 12 matchup against the Colorado Buffaloes at Folsom Field.

BOULDER, Colo. — Arizona running backs coach Alonzo Carter and his pre-football-coaching career were featured on ESPN’s “College GameDay” Saturday morning.

Carter was a backup dancer for hip-hop icon MC Hammer, who is a longtime friend of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders. Sanders and MC Hammer collaborated on a song, “Straight To My Feet,” in 1994. Carter and MC Hammer are both Oakland, California, natives.

When Carter was on the “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em World Tour,” they performed at the Tucson Convention Center in 1990 and stopped at a UA football practice, when the Wildcats were coached by Dick Tomey. Carter is the cousin of former UA linebacker and “Desert Swarm” member Marcel Wade, who recently retired from the Tucson Police Department.

Carter was known as the “posse leader,” and even though he “wasn’t the best dancer, I was the one that he felt had the most leadership,” he said last year.

“When (MC Hammer) was present, I could orchestrate and make sure everyone was aligned and working and rehearsing and training,” Carter said. “I was doing all of that for him.”

Carter has been coaching alongside Arizona head coach Brent Brennan since they were at San Jose State in 2017.

Before San Jose State, Carter was a head coach for 18 years at Berkeley High School and McClymonds High School in the Bay Area and held a 129-69-3 all-time record.

Carter became head coach at Contra Costa College, a junior college in Northern California, where he coached Davonte Sapp-Lynch, a Tucson Sugar Skulls running back and younger brother of former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch. Carter was inducted into the Contra Costa College Athletics Hall of Fame last year.

Brandy is the new Ralphie

One of Colorado’s longstanding traditions for nearly six decades is its live buffalo mascot, Ralphie, taking a lap around the field before the Buffaloes take the field.

Colorado had a different Ralphie the last time Arizona played CU in Boulder. Ralphie VI — also named Ember — retired before the season “due to an indifference to running,” the school said in a statement. Many people can relate, Ember.

Colorado determined “that it was in Ember’s best interest, based on her disposition, to focus on relaxing strolls on the pasture, which is her favorite hobby.”

Ember’s successor is Ralphie VII, a 700-pound, 1-year-old from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, who has earned the nickname Brandy for the 1972 hit song “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass, a song the current Ralphie enjoys.

Brandy made her Ralphie debut at Folsom Field — which replaced its natural playing surface with artificial turf — on Sept. 20 against the Wyoming Cowboys.

Lewis: ‘brotherhood’ lacking on CU team

Sanders pulled out all the stops to get his team motivated for Saturday.

“I know what buttons to hit and I’m trying to hit every button we can up until that game on Saturday,” Sanders said earlier this week.

Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Baltimore Ravens star linebacker Ray Lewis made his way to Boulder for the first time since 1993, when Lewis and the Miami Hurricanes beat the Buffaloes. Lewis and Colorado defensive line assistant coach Warren Sapp were teammates at Miami. Lewis and Sanders were also teammates with the Ravens in 2004 and ‘05.

In a team meeting with Colorado, which was shown on Well Off Media’s YouTube channel, Lewis was critical of the Buffaloes and their 3-5 start this season.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“Buffaloes, if you watch it on film, there’s no camaraderie,” Lewis said. “There’s no brotherhood. You putting on the same uniform, but you walking out with different spirits. If you don’t change the way you think — who you are by yourself defines who you are when the lights come on. If your heart is free when you walk on the field, everyone sees it.”

Added Lewis: “Learn your craft and stop letting Colorado Buffaloes be represented off a bunch of individuals. Let’s become a team. Let’s talk more, and let’s find out who hurting in their silent cries. Let’s fix it. Get on the football field and deliver the package that (Sanders) expects from each and every one of you.”

Season-ending injuries not listed on UA report

The Arizona-Colorado player availability report in the days leading up to the game was lighter than previous weeks for the Wildcats.

The initial report that was released Wednesday night only had left guard Jordan Brown listed as out. Brown and cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew were the only ones out on the availability report entering the game on Saturday.

Arizona’s availability report in previous weeks had multiple players with season-ending injuries, like defensive lineman Tre Smith and tight end Tyler Powell, among others.

Arizona’s availability report drew criticism on social media, but the Big 12 introduced a policy that allows teams to “make an official report to the conference office” for players with season-ending injuries.

“That player will be marked out for at least one game and then will not appear on further player availability reports,” according to the policy.

Another reason for Arizona’s healthy availability report: the Wildcats had two weeks to recover — and the only notable injury from the previous game was wide receiver Chris Hunter, who was a game-time decision and played.

They’re in the game!

In the latest update on EA Sports’ College Football 26 video game, Arizona safety Genesis Smith received a boost in his overall player rating. Smith went from a 78 to an 87.

At Big 12 Media Days in Frisco, Texas, this summer, Arizona nickel back Treydan Stukes said Smith’s 78 rating is “far too low” and “that might be EA’s biggest blunder of the year so far. It’s just inexcusable.”

Smith said he was “not too happy about” his player rating.

“It happens,” Smith said then. “There’s nothing I can do about it except go out and play in real life and ball out.”

Smith is one of Arizona’s top defensive players this season and was recently listed on ESPN NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr.’s “Big Board” of safeties for the upcoming draft.

Smith is tied with running back Ismail Mahdi for the second-highest player rating on Arizona. Quarterback Noah Fifita has the highest rating (89).

College Football 26 also added Arizona’s “Sandstorm” off-white uniforms and the red helmets with retro “cactus-sunset” decals.

ESPN inventory pulled from YouTube TV

After Disney failed to reach a renewal agreement with YouTube TV, the company pulled all of its ESPN and ABC inventory from the platform, including recordings from previous events and games.

“Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair deal, and starting (Oct. 30), Disney programming will not be available on YouTube TV,” the platform said in a release statement.

In addition to ESPN and ABC, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNU, ACC Network and SEC Network, among other Disney platforms, are no longer on YouTubeTV.

It's unclear how long the dispute will last, but Arizona’s upcoming game against the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. is on ESPN2. The Territorial Cup on Nov. 28 in Tempe is on Fox.