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Longing for the good old days now that Arizona has fired its second consecutive head coach midway through a season?

John Mackovic did not survive a horrid start in 2003, going 1-5 against quality competition (the Cats played four ranked teams in that stretch). Sound familiar? Mike Stoops suffered the same fate Monday after his team started 1-5 against the likes of Oklahoma State, Stanford, Oregon and talented USC.

Alas, the schedules were only part of the demise of Mackovic and Stoops. They lacked community support for how they were perceived to lead their teams. Instead of creating a sense of invincibility and aura with some of their players, like their predecessors Larry Smith and Dick Tomey, they brought most of the public’s attention to themselves and their shortcomings.

One criticism of Stoops is that his teams did not rise to the challenge of playing highly-rated teams. Arizona is in need of a new generation of badass players. Here’s our next installment of the Top 10 Badass Players in Arizona Wildcats football lore:

DEFENSE

No. 9: JIMMIE HOPKINS, defensive end (1990-93)

The unsung hero of the Desert Swarm defense, Hopkins took pride in overpowering the man lining up against him. Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen once wrote, “Jimmie Hopkins rarely allowed an opposing tight end to get off the line of scrimmage.”

Hopkins opted out of spring practice in 1993, leading up to the season that the Wildcats finished 10-2 and beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl. What’s so badass about that, you say? Hopkins missed spring practice because he joined the Army. His goal was to become an Airborne Ranger. And he later did serve in the military.

Hopkins, overshadowed on the UA’s defensive line by Rob Waldrop, Ty Parten, Tedy Bruschi and Jim Hoffman, remained on campus, rejoined the team for fall drills and was an important contributor to the Desert Swarm defense.

He embodied the tough-as-nails characteristic of those who comprised Arizona’s best defensive unit in the program’s history. He played with a broken foot against ASU in 1993.

“We were nothing but a bunch of misfits,” former UA linebacker Brant Boyer — a badass in his own right — told the Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel in 1994 while trying to make the Miami Dolphins roster as a sixth-round pick.

Hopkins was part of that Dolphins camp as a free-agent signee.

“Too small, too slow, too fat, you name it,” Boyer continued. “But we could play like hell.”

OFFENSE

No. 9 DENNIS NORTHCUTT, wide receiver (1996-99)

Northcutt, Arizona’s season receiving yards leader, caught eight passes for 121 yards and a touchdown in Arizona’s 31-24 win over USC in Tucson when he was a senior in 1999. That was only half of his contribution to the Wildcat victory.

Also playing cornerback, Northcutt virtually shut down USC receiver R. Jay Soward, according to an Associated Press report of the game.

Northcutt was on the field for 90 plays. Afterward, his legs cramped when he was in the interview room. He writhed on the floor in pain.

As a freshman in 1996, Northcutt switched from cornerback to tailback to wide receiver to tailback to defensive back to receiver. He had two interceptions against Illinois that season, returning one 63 yards for a touchdown.

He later became the only player in Arizona’s history to score a touchdown four different ways — on a reception, run, punt return and interception return.

Some other viable badass Wildcats when Tomey coached, such as Eli Wnek (halfback and defensive end), Scooter Sprotte (halfback and linebacker) and Brandon Manumaleuna (tight end and defensive tackle), played on both sides of the ball.

“You want to get the best guys on the field that can handle it,” Tomey told reporters after the USC game. “I repeat, handle it. You have to learn the stuff and then perform.”

Arguably no other receiver has performed like Northcutt at Arizona. His 1,422 receiving yards in 1999 rank as the most in a season in the program’s history. He also holds the record for most consecutive games catching a pass (42 from 1996-99) and career 100-yard receiving games (13).

THE BADASS LIST

DEFENSE

9. Jimmie Hopkins, defensive end (1990-93)
10. Al “Bubba” Gross, safety (1979-82)

OFFENSE

9. Dennis Northcutt, wide receiver (1996-99)
10. Nick Foles, quarterback (2009-11)

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 7:21 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Brant Boyer, Dennis Northcutt, Dick Tomey, Jimmie Hopkins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.