Javier Morales took first place in the 2010 Arizona Press Club’s Metro Sports Reporting category

Don’t forget: For all the links, Twitter feeds and news feeds related to Arizona and its opponents, go to Morales’ site WILDABOUTAZCATS.NET. No other Arizona sports Web site is like it!

RELATED LINK: Penn State coach, administrators let us all down — Andy Morales, TucsonCitizen.com

“Jerry Sandusky admitted to my face, he admitted it. He admitted that he lathered up my son when they were naked and he bear-hugged him. If they would have done something about it in 1998, and then again in 2002 — there was two chances they dropped the ball and I think they should all be held accountable.” — Mother of one of the alleged victims in the Sandusky case as quoted by CBSSports.com

If law authorities decided to press charges against Sandusky, after concluding an investigation of the alleged 1998 sexual-abuse incident involving him and this mother’s son, the future of Arizona football and coach Dick Tomey could have been altered.

Penn State, with Sandusky as defensive coordinator, and Arizona played in the Pigskin Classic to open the 1999 season. The Nittany Lions, ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll, routed No. 4 Arizona 41-7 before a national television audience and 97,168 at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa.

“It’s terribly damaging to them and for the conference,” former Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen was quoted as saying in an Associated Press story after the game.

After the UA posted the 12-1 record in 1998, it appeared that Tomey could have the Wildcats on the brink of finally making a Rose Bowl run and be a mainstay national power. The Wildcats, however, never recovered after that embarrassing loss to Penn State with Sandusky on the sideline coaching the Nittany Lions’ heralded defense, led by All-American linebacker LaVar Arrington.

Arizona running back Trung Canidate, mentioned as a Heisman candidate entering the game at Penn State, finished with only 37 yards on 10 carries. The Wildcats suffered an underachieving 6-6 season, losing their last three games.

Tomey was forced out following the 2000 season after the UA lost five consecutive games to finish 5-6. The mystique of the Desert Swarm and victory over Nebraska was — poof — gone.

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Javier Morales took first place in the 2010 Arizona Press Club’s Metro Sports Reporting category

Don’t forget: For all the links, Twitter feeds and news feeds related to Arizona and its opponents, go to Morales’ site WILDABOUTAZCATS.NET. No other Arizona sports Web site is like it!

DEFENSE

No. 4: TEDY BRUSCHI, defensive end (1992-1995)

Being a badass can be uplifting to not only a football program, but also a community, and, yes, a nation.

Tedy Bruschi is a Wildcat legend and a Tucson favorite because of how he emerged from obscurity, perceived to be too small and slow out of high school (6 feet and 230 pounds), to become the school’s all-time sack leader with 55. That’s more than double the next guy on the list — defensive end Ricky Elmore — who accumulated 25.5 sacks from 2007-10.

While with the New England Patriots, Bruschi — appropriately nicknamed “Full Tilt” — became a national hero when he returned to the field midway through the 2005 season after suffering a minor stroke. He played only seven months after doctors repaired a small hole in his heart that was the cause of his stroke.

“Getting back to playing football was a big part of why I wanted to come back, but how am I supposed to tell my sons (Tedy Jr., Rex and Dante) later in life that any obstacle can be overcome, that you can achieve anything in life, if I don’t live my life that way?” Bruschi was quoted as saying in a USA Today article.

“I want to draw off my experiences on how I lived my life and be able to teach them from what I’ve experienced. For me to be able to teach them about life and overcoming any challenge they’re presented with, I have to live my life that way.”

His sons — and all of us — can not have a better role model.

Bruschi, who grew up in an impoverished area of Sacramento, overcame a difficult upbringing after his parents divorced when he was 3. He didn’t start playing organized football until 14. He ran track, wrestled and lettered in football his last two years, when he was noticed by small colleges and former Arizona coach Dick Tomey.

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Javier Morales took first place in the 2010 Arizona Press Club’s Metro Sports Reporting category

Don’t forget: For all the links, Twitter feeds and news feeds related to Arizona and its opponents, go to Morales’ site WILDABOUTAZCATS.NET. No other Arizona sports Web site is like it!

DEFENSE

No. 5: MARCUS BELL, linebacker (1996-99)

One Associated Press report entering the 1999 season suggested that Arizona senior Marcus Bell “might be the best linebacker in the country.”

Former Arizona coach Dick Tomey, whose analysis carries more weight, said of the diminutive 6-2, 235-pound Bell in a Sports Illustrated article: “He’s the best linebacker we’ve ever had here. He’s a tenacious competitor, and he runs like a defensive back.”

Tomey likely meant that Bell was the best linebacker since he started coaching Arizona in 1987. Ricky Hunley, Byron Evans and Chris Singleton — all Larry Smith recruits — might have something to say about who is the best linebacker. Bell, however, is one of the elite linebackers in the program’s history and he certainly belongs on this badass list of Wildcats.

Marcus Bell, a lightly recruited athlete out of St. Johns, led the Pac-10 in tackles in 1998 and 1999 (Arizona Republic photo, Jack Kurtz)

And being a badass has nothing to do with Bell accidentally leveling an NFL referee during a game with Seattle in 2003 (of which he was fined $25,000) but some fans might beg to differ.

Bell would have fit right in with his predecessors — the vaunted Desert Swarm — but he wanted to carve his own niche with the Wildcats.

“You can’t live off of tradition or heritage,” Bell said in an Associated Press report in 1998. “You have to work hard and make a name for yourself.”

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