Pac-12 Media Day kicks off our coverage of the college football season on Tuesday.

I’ll be in Los Angeles for the media festivities, filing throughout the day, which will be the beginning of what will be daily coverage (or really close to it) of Arizona Wildcats football from me and the rest of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network.

(So, there is no better time than to start “liking” the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network on Facebook or following me on Twitter or following our entire roster of writers on Twitter.)

You can watch for yourself Tuesday as Pac-10.org will have streaming live video of the main press conferences. Here is the schedule:

9 a.m.: Commissioner Larry Scott opening remarks
9:05 a.m.: California – Coach Jeff Tedford/WR Marvin Jones
9:20 a.m.: Oregon – Coach Chip Kelly/TE David Paulsen
9:35 a.m.: Oregon State – Coach Mike Riley/S Lance Mitchell
9:50 a.m.: Stanford – Coach David Shaw/QB Andrew Luck
10:05 a.m.: Washington – Coach Steve Sarkisian/RB Chris Polk
10:20 a.m.: Washington State – Coach Paul Wulff/WR Jared Karstetter
10:35 a.m.: Break
10:45 a.m.: Arizona – Coach Mike Stoops/QB Nick Foles
11 a.m.: Arizona State – Coach Dennis Erickson/QB Brock Osweiler
11:15 a.m.: Colorado – Coach Jon Embree/QB Tyler Hansen
11:30 a.m.: UCLA – Coach Rick Neuheisel/RB Johnathan Franklin
11:45 a.m.: USC – Coach Lane Kiffin/QB Matt Barkley
Noon: Utah – Coach Kyle Whittingham/OT Tony Bergstrom

The Pac-12 media poll will be released in the morning. Here is how I predict the races in each division.

ASU quarterback Brock Osweiler celebrated in Tucson after beating Arizona last season; can the Devils capture bigger prizes this season? Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

The expanded and re-branded Pac-12 will hold its football media day Tuesday in Los Angeles … so it’s prediction time.

There is a certain “sameness” to many of the league predictions, a certain it-makes-sense-on-paper logic to it all. But for the Pac-12 South in particular, there is a larger-than-usual range of options for the teams, if only because all of them all flawed and none seem truly worthy of being a frontrunner.

But the picks must be made, even if there is no rock-solid conviction behind them, so here we go:

Pac-12 South
1. USC
2. Arizona State
3. Utah
4. Arizona
5. UCLA
6. Colorado

OK. I have been going back and forth between the Trojans (who are ineligible to participate in the new conference title game because of NCAA sanctions) and the Sun Devils. The tipping point for me: Matt Barkley over Brock Osweiler at quarterback.

When in doubt, go with the better, more experienced quarterback.

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Former Arizona Wildcats softball player Matte Haack, who decided to transfer after last season, has chosen to play at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Our Gannett partner, the Lafayette Advertiser, reported the news last week.

Haack, who has two seasons of eligibility with the Ragin’ Cajuns, was a backup infielder last season, hitting .130 in 23 at-bats.

Playing time figured to be equally scarce for Haack next season.

“I wanted what would make her happy,” Arizona coach Mike Candrea told the Advertiser. “She’s a good kid and a hard worker. There were no issues with her attitude, her effort or anything like that. It was just a matter of her not getting enough playing time.

“We discussed it and I didn’t know how much playing time she would get. We decided that if she’s going to do it, this was the time to do it. Sometimes things just don’t work out. It happens. Rather than sitting somewhere for four years and not being happy, sometimes it’s better to transfer.”

Haack’s freshman year highlights in 2010 included a game-tying ninth-inning home run against Hofstra in NCAA regional play.

Coming off a disappointing junior season, Trevin Wade was more dedicated this spring. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Here is the ninth part of our Arizona Wildcats football preview in collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic.

We write the words, and they have taken the cool photographs and put it all together in a slick presentation at azcentral.com.

Check back here and at azcentral.com every Friday as we roll out more of our preview every week, all the way into August.

This week: I talked with new secondary coach Ryan Walters to get his breakdown of a position group that should be the strength of the defense.

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Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops added one of the nation’s top offensive guards to his recruiting class.

Zach Hemmila, from Chandler High School, announced his commitment to Arizona on Thursday, picking the Cats over Arizona State and Oregon State, among others.

“It just felt right,” Hemmila told WildcatSportsReport.com, one of the partners in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network. “I felt in my stomach that’s where I want to go.”

Hemmila is rated the 217th-best player in the country by 247sports.com and the eighth-best guard in the country. (Click here for 247sports.com’s full list.) Rivals.com rates him as a four-star recruit (out of five) and also pegs him as the eighth-best guard.

Arizona has nine known commitments, including three four-star recruits. The others are tight end Taylor McNamara (rated No. 2 at his position) and defensive end Kyle Kelley.

The Wildcats’ 2011 recruiting class featured only one Rivals.com four-star player — CDO running back Ka’Deem Carey.

Alicia Hollowell was a member of Team USA from 2005 to 2008, and was an alternate on the 2008 Olympic team. Photo by Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona All-American Alicia Hollowell, who has spent the past two seasons coaching at UC-Davis, is returning to the Wildcats in a non-coaching role.

She will join the program Aug. 8 in a newly created director of operations role, head coach Mike Candrea announced Thursday.

“Alicia gives us another resource and great mind in getting our team ready to compete,” Candrea said in a news release.

“We’re fortunate to have her back. She won’t have coaching responsibilities, but her expertise in the video area will free us up to do more coaching. This is a position I’ve wanted for many, many years.”

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Rob Ianello, in his second season at Akron, is one of six former Arizona assistants who are head coaches. Photo by Jason Miller-US PRESSWIRE

Football camps are soon going to be starting all over the country … do you know where your former Arizona Wildcats assistant coaches are? Hint: Start in Colorado.

Having updated my list from last year, there are, by my count, 46 former Arizona Wildcats football coaches who are active in coaching college or professional football.

(I guess that number should be 47 if you count Jeff Hammerschmidt, who is both a former and current UA assistant coach.)

Four of those ex-UA assistants are first-year coaches at new Pac-12 member Colorado, including two who jumped from Tucson to Boulder after last season — Greg Brown and Mike Tuiasosopo.

You have to have a longer, sharper memory to identify the other two — Bobby Kennedy (who spent one year at Arizona under John Mackovic) and Rip Scherer (who was the coordinator for run-heavy offenses in 1989 and 1990).

Going back the furthest? That would be Mike Hankwitz, whose first full-time coaching job came in 1973 at Arizona under Jim Young. Hankwitz, who later served as interim head coach for the Wildcats in 2003 after Mackovick’s dismissal, is still going strong as the defensive coordinator at a solid Northwestern program.

Six of these ex-Cat assistants are head coaches, including Rich Ellerson, a Salpointe Catholic High School graduate. In his second season last year, he took the Black Knights to their first bowl game since 1996.

Here’s a look at all the former UA assistants and where they are now in coaching, with years at Arizona followed by current occupation. Italics denote that the coach is in his first year with that team.

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Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic has the story behind the shoot of the new Arizona State football commercial, which includes quarterback Brock Osweiler throwing a football into a garbage can from 35 yards.

“People underestimate the garbage-can throw,” Osweiler told Haller.

“It’s so hard because you’re throwing it at such an awkward angle. You have to get the velocity just right so it travels 35 yards, but at the same time it has to drop straight down. So yeah, I can put a 35-yard ball on a rope and hit any target, knock a can down or something, but the garbage-can throw is the hardest throw out there, man.”

Between the difficulty of the throw and camera malfunctions, it took about 40 tries to get the take.

I’ll have to ask Arizona senior quarterback Nick Foles on Pac-12 Media Day next Tuesday about his trick-shot ability. Back when Foles was at Austin (Texas) Westlake High School, offensive lineman Andy Theodosis told the San Antonio Express-News that when Foles was messing around in practice, he would throw at players who weren’t paying attention — and hit them in the head from 50 yards away.

Paul Vassallo will be trying for his second season with 100-plus tackles. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Here is the eighth part of our Arizona Wildcats football preview in collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic.

We write the words, and they have taken the cool photographs and put it all together in a slick presentation at azcentral.com.

Check back here and at azcentral.com every Friday as we roll out more of our preview every week, all the way into August.

This week: The linebackers.

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The addition of South Carolina State in 2012 gives Arizona three non-conference games in front of the Zona Zoo that season. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona has completed its 2012 football schedule by adding a home game against South Carolina State.

The game against the Bulldogs, from the Football Championship Subdivision, will give the Wildcats eight home games for the first time since the 1988 season.

The game is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 15, 2012.

“It was just an opportunity to play an FCS opponent here in Tucson that had the same open date on their schedule that we had, and we were able to come to an agreement,” said Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne.

“It was just timing. We talked to a lot of different teams about playing, and this was the one that fit the best.”

South Carolina State has advanced to the FCS playoffs in each of the past three seasons and is ranked No. 17 in the preseason by Lindy’s. The game against Arizona will be the furthest the Bulldogs have ever traveled for a football game.

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