Greg Hansen's Notebook: This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook.
Subscribers can read this week's "Hansen's Notebook" in its entirety in the Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, edition of the Arizona Daily Star (Page C2) — either in print or at Tucson.com/EEdition. Or, dig into the Hansen archives at Tucson.com/Hansen.
Greg Hansen is the longtime sports columnist for the Arizona Daily Star and Tucson.com.
Arizona junior Tetairoa McMillan has caught passes for 2,557 yards in his brief UA career. Sounds impressive, right?
For perspective, T-Mac’s yardage would today rank No. 50 in Pac-12 history. He must reach 3,000 yards just to be ranked No. 23. The career leaders are Stanford’s Troy Walters (4.047 yards) and ASU’s Derek Hagan (3,939 yards). I do think T-Mac is better than Walters and Hagen were, but both played four full seasons.
Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan practices some over the shoulder catches as the Wildcats run through some drills before their game against Northern Arizona on Sept. 7.
The most catches in a season in UA's old conference seems out of T-Mac’s reach. In 2013, Oregon State’s Brandin Cooks caught 128 passes for 1,730 yards. To break Cooks’ season record, T-Mac would have to average 10.6 receptions per game (counting a bowl appearance) this season.
T-Mac has only caught 10 or more passes in four UA games to date — four of his last five games — but I wouldn’t put anything past him, especially if QB Noah Fifita can find reliable No. 2 and No. 3 receivers as the UA goes through its Big 12 schedule.
Some suggest T-Mac is the best football player in Tucson history. That’s jumping the gun and missing far too much history. Tedy Bruschi was a two-time consensus All-American who had 52 sacks, then the most in NCAA history. Ricky Hunley made 566 tackles and was a two-time first-team All-American; only one player in the Pac-10/12 years, Washington’s David Rill, had more tackles.
T-Mac has nine difficult games remaining this year. He’ll receive the opponent’s best shot. The record business can wait.
