C.J. Parish

There hasn’t been a lot of breaking news in Arizona’s football camp — not a lot of high-profile position battles or apparently serious injuries — so this will have to do:

C.J. Parish is now playing fullback!

It’s a small transaction and you might be wondering: Who is C.J. Parish?

You’d probably have to be a Wildcat fan of more than modest proportion to know the name. He was a junior college transfer last season from Blinn College in Texas, mostly seeing time on special teams. He had three tackles.

Parish entered camp as a backup to Jake Fischer at strongside linebacker, but second-string there is kind of a dead-end job. Arizona figures to play a lot of nickel coverage, putting in an extra defensive back (hello, Adam Hall) and taking out that linebacker spot.

So, the coaches have experimented with Parish, trying him at middle linebacker and as a pass-rush defensive end, and then they went into more of a mad scientist role and approached him about a week ago about switching sides of the ball.

His reaction?

“I said, ‘I have no problem with that,” Parish said. “When (running backs coach and co-offensive coordinator Seth Littrell) brought me over, it was instant; I liked it because it was physical.”

A fullback was born.

Well, maybe.

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Rob Gronkowski catches a pass during training camp with New England/Photo by Stew Milne, US Presswire

Former Arizona tight end Rob Gronkowski is one of 21 ex-Wildcats in the NFL, and the New England Patriots rookie is off to a good start.

Gronk had four catches in the Patriots’ second preseason game Thursday night, including a 24-yard touchdown catch from Brian Hoyer.

“It was a great feeling. It was the first touchdown of my career in the NFL,” Gronkowski was quoted as saying by the Boston Herald. “It was pretty cool. I was happy and it was a great thrill. You just got to keep working hard.”

Below is the list of the former Cats in the NFL, and I started a thread on the new message boards at our partner WildcatSportsReport.com to be the one-stop shopping for all the news on the guys who used to wear cardinal and navy.

Mike Bell, RB, Philadelphia

Experience: 5th season

Earned a Super Bowl Ring with New Orleans last season, leading the Saints in carries during the regular season (172 for 654 yards).

Signed a one-year free-agent deal with the Eagles worth $1.7 million.

* * * * *

Lance Briggs, LB, Chicago

Experience: 8th season

Five-time Pro Bowl selection.

Has had six consecutive 100-tackle seasons.

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Adam Hall had an interception return for a touchdown in the team's scrimmage/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

Fall camp is usually a back and forth between the offense and defense. Finally, the Arizona Wildcats’ defense went forth and got back at the offense.

“All the coaches have been riding us to get better,” senior defensive end Ricky Elmore said after Wednesday night’s closed scrimmage, “but I think we came out and answered that call.”

Elmore said the first-string defense did not allow a touchdown to the first-string offense Wednesday night, and that sophomore safety Adam Hall returned an interception for a touchdown. That was a big change after the more-experienced offense had its way in the first two scrimmages.

“I think they came on a lot today and had a great day,” quarterback Nick Foles said of the defense.

The defense, replacing seven starters, has been a work in progress during fall camp, but the coaches have been paring down the practice rotation this week and settling guys into roles.

“We’re trying to give guys opportunities, but we got to a point where we have to solidify the first 11 because they have to build up that camaraderie and get familiar with playing with each other,” co-defensive coordinator Tim Kish told me earlier this week.

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Nick Johnson will be a senior this season at Findlay Prep in Las Vegas.

Arizona coach Sean Miller has landed one of his biggest recruiting targets — super-athletic 6-2 point guard Nick Johnson from Findlay Prep in Las Vegas.

Johnson committed to the Wildcats on Wednesday night. According to Gary Randazzo of TucsonCitizen.com partner WildcatSportsReport.com, Johnson and his mother, Michelle, drove to Tucson in the afternoon to deliver the news in person to the coaching staff.

“Nick feels like this is the best fit,” Michelle told WildcatSportsReport.com. “He wants to help Arizona get to the next level and bring back the winning tradition.”

Johnson joins power forward Sidiki Johnson in Miller’s Class of 2011. The coach has said he would like to take three players in this class. He doesn’t currently have the scholarship space, but potential transfers and a possible early entry to the NBA (sophomore forward Derrick Williams?) could take care of that.

Johnson was setting up to take official visits to Kansas and Louisville next month, but Miller and his staff convinced the guard to commit now. Johnson, whose family lives in the Phoenix area and spent two years at Gilbert Highland High School, had been leaning toward the Wildcats for some time.

Johnson averaged 14.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game last season for Findlay. His father is former ASU player Joey Johnson, who once set a world record by making a dunk with the rim at 11 feet, 7 inches. Nick Johnson’s uncle was the late NBA star Dennis Johnson.

Naturally, Johnson has quite the vertical jump. Javier Morales of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network saw Johnson play last month at a tournament in Las Vegas and wrote that Johnson’s potential is literally through the roof.

Nick Johnson is ranked as the 45th-best prospect by Rivals.com. Sidiki Johnson is No. 67.

Robert Golden was one of Arizona's top recruits in its 2008 class/Photo by Mark J. Rebilas, US Presswire

If the Arizona Wildcats’ season began today, junior Robert Golden would be a starting cornerback.

The coaches have mixed and matched their secondary personnel since the spring, looking for the right combinations. In fall camp, they continue to see what a pair of freshmen — safety Marquis Flowers and cornerback Shaquille Richardson — can do.

But there is a time to gather information and a time to make decisions, and it’s definitely the latter for the Wildcats. With the Sept. 3 opener at Toledo looming, the coaches have to settle on a defensive lineup and try to establish camaraderie with that unit.

And so Golden, who arrived at Arizona as a four-star cornerback but was the starting strong safety last season, is back at cornerback in the team’s base set.

“We have moved him from corner to safety to nickel, and we’re not doing that anymore,” said co-defensive coordinator Tim Kish.

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UA assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt is working with perhaps the best group of defensive ends in the Pac-10/Photo by Nico Gimino

I caught up recently with Arizona assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt, who is in charge of the defensive ends and special teams. Not a bad gig this season.

At defensive end, he has senior starters Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore, each capable of double-digit sack totals. And there is also senior D’Aundre Reed, often overlooked, but coaches consider him to be a co-starter.

In fact, D’Aundre Reed, at 6-4 and 258 pounds, has the right combination of size and speed to move to a defensive tackle position when the Wildcats want to go “Cheetah.” That’s the name of their speedy pass-rush package that the coaches experimented with in the spring … and they continue to do so in fall camp.

(Arizona worked on this scheme in its two-minute drill Monday night, with D’Aundre Reed and fellow end Apai Tuihalamaka moving inside.)

“It’s just a matter of getting comfortable with it,” Hammerschmidt said.

On special teams, punt returner Bug Wright and kick returner Travis Cobb each had a return touchdown last season. Senior punter Keenyn Crier (42.9-yard career average) has one of the best legs in the Pac-10. Sophomore placekicker Alex Zendejas’ last kick in a game beat Arizona State on the final play.

John Bonano is back to handle the kickoffs, and Hammerschmidt said the team will be adding a walk-on who can also kickoff and provide some depth at punter.

A few questions for Hammerschmidt:

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I stumbled across a couple of YouTube clips that feature game highlights from Arizona’s early Pac-10 days, including USC’s 1980 victory over the Wildcats.

This logo was used only for the 1980 season.

That was the last season in which Arizona wore red helmets, and it was the only season in which they wore helmets of any color with that particular “A” logo.

It was the first season of the Larry Smith coaching era in Tucson.

Once you get by the USC cheerleaders in the KOLD-TV highlight clip, you’ll see highlights of Marcus Allen‘s big day in the second-ranked Trojans’ 27-10 victory. I had never seen highlights of this game (or much from this era), and, seeing that the video had only 30 views on Sunday night, you probably hadn’t either.

As an historical note, it was USC’s first-ever appearance in Tucson.

(More video after the jump)

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Mike Stoops triumphantly leaves Sun Devil Stadium after last season's last-second win over the Sun Devils/Photo by Mark J. Rebilas, US Presswire

Arizona Wildcats football coach Mike Stoops has outlasted Dirk Koetter and Karl Dorrell, two Stanford coaches, two Washington coaches, and he hasn’t brought the program any NCAA sanctions, as the regime of Pete Carroll did at USC.

Inheriting a team that had won four Pac-10 games in three seasons, Stoops won two conference contests in his first season of 2004. And then two more in 2005.

It’s been a steady climb — to four wins, and then four wins, and then five wins and, last season, six conference victories and a tie for second place.

Overall, he’s 23-29 in league play, but I was curious as to how it all breaks down.

So, I compiled all the main game stats from 52 conference games, threw them into an Excel sheet … and then waited to see what hit me.

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Mike Stoops at Pac-10 media day/Photo by Kirby Lee, US Presswire

There is a nice interview of Arizona coach Mike Stoops posted on FoxSportsArizona.com.

The video clip, with Todd Walsh asking the questions, runs for more than seven minutes. You can also see highlights from last season, including Juron Criner‘s game-winning touchdown catch vs. USC and Nic Grigsby‘s game-winning touchdown run vs. Stanford.

(As a side note and in the interest of full disclosure, I am also supplying Arizona football stories and video to FoxSportsArizona.com, which you can find on the site’s Wildcat page. Today’s story includes quotes about the team’s trip to Fort Huachuca, where the team will practice starting Thursday.)

In the video interview, Stoops talks about:

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Arizona junior quarterback Nick Foles has looked sharp through the first six sessions of fall camp, including in Tuesday morning’s scrimmage.

He completed 17 of 24 passes for 206 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, in the hour-long scrimmage at the team’s on-campus practice facility. He connected with Gino Crump, Bug Wright and Travis Cobb for touchdowns. You can find all the stats at the athletic department’s official site.

After the scrimmage, which was closed to the public and media, Foles talked about the impact of new quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo (check out the video). Scelfo is a personable guy who helped tutor four quarterbacks at Tulane who went on to the NFL.

Back in the spring, I was talking to Scelfo about how Arizona hasn’t produced a quarterback who has thrown a pass in the NFL since Bill Demory in 1973.

He was shocked to hear that, but with a nod to his starting quarterback, he added:

“We’ll get us one pretty soon here,” Scelfo said.

After Tuesday’s practice, Wright raved about Foles.

“Man, he’s back there throwing that thing,” Wright said. “He’s got that NFL size. He’s got the NFL arm. He’s just coming to work. He’s bringing it.”