Wildcats Week in Review: Richardson, Ashley, Pac-12 Media Days and More

Nov 23, 2013; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats cornerback Shaquille Richardson (right) tips a ball in bounds prior to a teammate intercepting it against Oregon Ducks wide receiver Bralon Addison in the first quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Even though we aren’t in season with any of the Arizona Wildcats major sports, there’s still a lot going on in the offseason.

Two former Wildcats signed Professional contracts this week:

Brandon Ashley

Forward Brandon Ashley signed a partially guaranteed multi-year contract not with the Atlanta Hawks, but with the Dallas Mavericks.  According to Doyle Rader of MavsMoneyball.com, it seems Dallas was impressed during their last game in NBA Summer League play, “He poured in 16 points and grabbed five rebounds off the bench against the Mavericks as the Hawks eliminated Dallas from the tournament.”

The Mavericks have 18 players on the bench, will trim it down to 15 before the season starts, either way Brandon will be playing in some capacity for the Mavericks this season even if on their D-League team the Texas Legends. Ashley averaged 10.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in seven games for the Atlanta Hawks’ summer league team in Las Vegas.

Shaquille Richardson

Corner Back Shaquille Richardson signed yesterday with the Arizona Cardinals, he’s going to be playing in the state of Arizona once again. Richardson was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers and released on Oct. 15 after spending most of his time in practice squads. Then he was released again on April 21 after signing in February with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was having a rough go of it, the operative word is “was,” but now he will have plenty of University of Arizona Alumni to cheer him on in University of Phoenix Stadium.

A favorite at Arizona, he started in 37 out of the 49 games he played in racking up 189 tackles and 10 interceptions. Who could forget what he accomplished in the game against Oregon last November? It was almost a basketball play, he saved the football from going out-of-bounds and batted it to teammate for an interception denying Ducks wide Receiver Bralon Addison a reception and the No. 2 NFL draft pick Marcus Mariota a completion. Richardson showed up to training camp in Phoenix today wearing the number 37.

In case you missed it, Derrick Williams signed with the New York Knicks, ZonaZealots sports writer Mark Barrera gave us his perspective on how New York could be the best thing that happened to Derrick who will hopefully have a breakout season in the NBA this year.

Former Wildcat Derrick Williams is in a New York State of Mind

Next: Wildcats Football Commits!

Wildcats to be…Football

Jul 31, 2015; Burbank, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez at Pac-12 Media Day at Warner Bros. Studios. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Football coaches had a huge couple of weeks racking up eight commitments from players coming from all over the country. Commits are coming from Arkansas (Markell Utsey), Hawaii (Michael Eletise), British Columbia (Harper Sherman), Pennsylvania (Tyliek Raynor) and California (current teammates Devaughn Cooper and Sean Riley, and Jacob Colacion)

Michael Eletise

By far the most exciting commit for the program is the No. 1 recruit from Hawaii, Offensive Tackle Michael Eletise who announced his commitment on the news in primetime. ZonaZealots wrote a preview article prior to the announcement and one shortly after:

Arizona Recruit Michael Eletise is Our Kinda Guy

Mike Eletise No. 1 Offensive Guard on the West Coast Selects..Arizona!
Tucson News Now

ZonaZealots’s excited about all the Arizona Football commits as we had a chance to talk to a few and get more insight into why they chose Arizona.

Their answers are pretty similar; they love the coaches, the campus feels like home and they feel like they are part of a family and they haven’t even started school yet.  A number of these athletes visited Tucson at the same time and were shown all over campus as well as off campus. They were impressed with what they saw. This is consistent with what Coach Rodriguez said during Pac-12 Media days: if he can get a recruit to visit they love what they see and feel on campus. Here are our articles on a number of our new commits:

Meet Arizona Commit Wide Receiver DeVaughn Cooper

East Coast Running Back Tyliek Raynor Can’t Wait to Move Out West

Arizona Commit Jacob Colacion is a Winner Who Hates to Lose

Harper Sherman is a Wildcat and Our Kinda Guy

Next: Wildcats Basketball Recruiting

Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Wildcats Recruits…Basketball

There was a lot of action in Las Vegas last weekend when the city was taken over by 6′ or taller young men 17 or younger strolling on the strip after long days in the gym showing college coaches what they’re made of. Coach Sean Miller and his staff were hard at work and spent a lot of time watching a few player intensely. One of these players was point guard De’Aaron Fox who has not narrowed his list down as of yet, but promises to narrow it to six or seven soon. Another notable target for Miller was De’Ron Davis, a power forward out of Aurora, Colorado.

De’Aaron Fox May Add Arizona to His Short List of Universities

Even more exciting than the possibility of landing De’Aaron was that  the University of Arizona landed in De’Ron Davis’s top three choices!

Arizona Makes the Cut for Power Forward De’Ron Davis

Next: Great Showing at Pac-12 Media Days

Jul 31, 2015; Burbank, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats safety Will Parks (left), coach Rich Rodriguez (center) and receiver David Richards at Pac-12 Media Day at Warner Bros. Studios. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Pac-12 Media Days were entertaining and educational for everyone, but most entertaining were our Arizona Wildcats representatives, Head Football Coach Rich Rodriguez, his Wide Receiver David Richards and his Safety Will Parks.  We also heard from Larry Scott on the future of the Pac-12 referee team, all the new rules with regards to the athletes and what their scholarship covers, their relationship with DIRECTV now owned outright by AT&T, and more.

Pac-12 Conference Media Days – Commissioner Larry Scott Update

Coach Rich Rod was full of one-liners, notable one-liners that we can use all season long. He used films as analogies, but not sports films, and not action films, films such as the Lion King and Dumb and Dumber.  I could not get enough of all the answers he gave to good questions and outright dumb questions he was asked through the weekend.  We include video and more in our summary on the Arizona Wildcats Pac-12 Media day.

Coach Rich Rodriguez and His Players Make a Splash on Pac-12 Media Day

ZonaZealots writer and co-producer of the documentary “88” about Lute Olson’s 1988 basketball team Brad Malone took a shot at comparing the two coaches whose team play for the Territorial Cup each year. This coming season the game takes place in Tempe, but it is NOT during Thanksgiving break, so hopefully the students will travel north to support the team.

Rich Rodriguez Vs. Todd Graham (includes video of an interview with the two coaches discussing the Territorial Cup, the rivalry between the schools and more, notice Coach Graham can barely look at Coach Rodriguez)

Next: Coach Rich Rod makes a splash at the Pac-12 Media Days, so do his players!