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Dear Mr. Football: Is sudden starter Tra'Mayne Bondurant the next Big Star of Arizona's defense?
A: Just 18, with one college start in his career - and a team- high eight tackles against UCLA - Bondurant is more accurately the Least Likely Wildcat Ever. He is a symbol of the current and fluid state of Wildcat football.
A year ago today, Bondurant was the starting quarterback for Fairfield (Calif.) High School in its 64-21 loss to Napa High School. He was a two-star recruit who played virtually everywhere: QB, linebacker, safety and special teams.
He was in such little demand that Washington State said it was going to offer him a scholarship - and never called back.
Arizona dispatched celebrity defensive backs coach Duane Akina to recruit Bondurant and then, a week after the two visited, Akina bolted for Texas and didn't speak to him again. Worse, Bondurant's only link to the Wildcats, former Fairfield High and UA receiver DelaShaun Dean, had been kicked off the team for wielding a gun in public.
And yet Bondurant still signed with Arizona and is now a starting nickel back/linebacker/you-name-it and is a desperately needed piece of a defensive puzzle caused by last week's brawl (and suspensions) at Arizona Stadium.
Dear Mr. Football: Has Arizona ever started two true freshmen defensive players in a game?
A: It did not do so in the Pac-10 years. But if Bondurant and freshman cornerback Cortez Johnson start tonight, it would be (a) history and (b) really scary.
A year ago this weekend, Johnson was playing for O.P. Walker High School in New Orleans, a stronghold of SEC recruiting that last year featured the No. 2 overall prospect in all of high school recruiting, defensive tackle Anthony Johnson, who now plays at LSU.
Cortez Johnson committed to play at Southern Miss but changed his mind when UA running backs coach Garrett Chachere, who also played high school football in New Orleans, was tipped off by Cortez's father, Ronald Johnson, a coach at Perry High School. Cortez still made the UA sweat it out, visiting Pitt two days before committing to the Wildcats.
Dear Mr. Football: Did Nick Foles celebrate after beating UCLA?
A: With an open weekend after a Thursday night game, Foles spent Friday afternoon in the weight room. Such is his diligence. He gets it.
Foles still has a chance to complete his career known as The Best UA QB Ever, if it matters, but to do so he'll have to beat the Huskies tonight and guide Arizona to a 6-6 finish and a bowl game.
No school can trot out its Best QB Ever as one whose senior season included the firing of the head coach for excessive losing. That's why, to this day, my vote for Best UA QB Ever remains: 1, Eddie Wilson, who finished with an 8-1-1 season in 1961; 2, Tom Tunnicliffe, who was 7-3-1 as a senior, 1983; and 3, Willie Tuitama, who was 8-5 as a 2008 record-setting senior.
Washington has 10 QBs who had superior college careers to any UA quarterback. I won't waste space typing all of their names, so let's just say that all of those ex-Husky QBs were named Huard, Billy Joe, Sonny Sixkiller, had their names stitched to the back of NFL jerseys and took it to a level with which UA fans are unfamiliar.
Dear Mr. Football: Is the Arizona-Washington rivalry one that Fox Sports eagerly wanted to put in a prime time slot tonight?
A: On game day, this series has not found both teams with a winning record since 2002. And even then, both were just 3-2. What's telling is that Arizona beat the Huskies even when they were 1-8 in 2003 and 1-6 in 2004
Tickets for tonight's game are available for $38. For next weeks' Oregon-UW game on the same field, the cheapest ticket is $80. UW fans are savvy shoppers. They probably know that since Mike Stoops was hired in 2004, Arizona is 42-50, and the once-proud Huskies, believe it or not, are 29-62.
Dear Mr. Football: Is UW tailback Chris Polk a franchise player?
A: Polk has rushed for 100 or more yards 17 times in his career. Arizona's career leader is Trung Canidate, with 18 games of 100- plus. But Polk is the type of punishing runner who is likely to make Arizona's oft-soft defensive front and raw secondary retreat.
Arizona hasn't had a 100-yard rusher this year. It would be fun to see what would happen if freshman tailback Ka'Deem Carey was given 20 carries, kill the clock and see if Washington's defense is as bad as the numbers suggest.
Remember, with Matt Scott at QB a year ago, Arizona gained 467 yards on Nick Holt's bend-until-you-break UW defense. Scott was named the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week.
Dear Mr. Football: Was Washington's 65-21 loss at Stanford a crippling blow to the Huskies? Are they done?
A: From 1978-2011, Pac-10 teams yielded 60-plus points 22 times. Only three of those teams won a week later:
After losing 77-28 at Nebraska in 1995, Arizona State beat a 1- 10 Oregon State team 20-11. After its 69-17 debacle at Texas in 1999, Stanford routed a 3-9 Wazzu team 54-17. And after Wazzu was belted 65-17 last year by UCLA, the Cougars rallied to edge Montana State 23-22.
The other 19 to allow 60-plus points were usually fodder a week later, most notably Arizona, which surrendered 60 or more just once in the Pac-10 era, losing 63-28 to Oregon in 2001 and returning a week later in a 38-3 loss to Oregon State.
The hard reality is this: Arizona is closer to those 1-10 OSU, 3- 9 Wazzu and 2010 Montana State teams than one that will add to Washington's defensive woes.
The Huskies aren't very good, and they probably couldn't beat Arizona in Tucson. But in Seattle, they're better than Arizona, and they might score 60 tonight. Washington 51, Arizona 34.
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