The series is live: Follow it all at this link.

The season-opener is bearing down on us, and I still have a traffic jam of interviews, information and story ideas to dispense before it all reaches an expiration date.

Arizona kicks off Saturday night against NAU, and there’s little sense in trying to preserve and potentially use these stories at a later date.

So … here is what we’re going to do.

Starting at noon on Thursday, we’re launching 24 Hours of Arizona Football Blogging — one story at the top of each hour. Features, Q&As, rankings, analysis, breakdowns of the new Pac-12, whatever … we’re putting on the blitz, journalism-style.

Missed anything from more than a month of preseason football coverage? Check out my TucsonCitizen.com archives and check in with the home page of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network as our other bloggers are ramping up their coverage now that the season is upon us.

Arizona added a slippery quick inside receiver to its recruiting class last week. On Tuesday, a big-play outside receiver joined the class.

Julian Brooks, a Scout.com three-star recruit from Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon High School, averaged more than 25 yards per catch as a junior and had 15 touchdowns on only 34 receptions.

“I play fast and I like to hit hard,” said Brooks, who also plays linebacker and in the secondary. “I’m just kind of a playmaker.”

Brooks, 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, said he picked Arizona over ASU — “Arizona State was a close one,” he said — and added that Oregon State wanted him as a safety.

Brooks said he likes what he sees for him as a receiver in the Wildcats’ spread offense, calling it “just an opportunity to shine,” although he is leaving the door open for a switch to defense at some point.

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If Rob Hankins really wanted to be like Tedy Bruschi, he's start riding a scooter around campus.

Arizona freshman linebacker Rob Hankins, at this early age, often is compared to Wildcats legend Tedy Bruschi. Maybe that’s fair. Maybe not. But here’s one more thing to feed into the connection.

Hankins, like Bruschi in 1991, could start the first game he plays in at Arizona.

“I’m getting a lot more reps,” Hankins said after Monday’s practice, “and I feel the light bulb is coming on right now.”

Now, whether he starts or not depends on two factors:

–The decision of the coaches, who are also evaluating junior college transfer David Lopez at middle linebacker.

–The kind of offense that Northern Arizona puts on the field for its first play on Saturday.

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Nick Foles had ample respect and adulation after Arizona beat Iowa last season. Photo by David Kadlubowski, The Arizona Republic

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit released his annual Herbie Awards, picking Arizona quarterback Nick Foles at the top of his “Rodney Dangerfields.”

Foles, he says, just doesn’t get enough respect.

That’s a tough thing to judge from this close distance. Foles gets all due respect from most in Tucson and from Arizona fans across the country. But does the regular college football fan give Foles enough credit?

Clearly, Herbstreit doesn’t think so.

Foles completed 286 of 426 passes for 3,191 yards, with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, last season.

“I don’t really care about the yards or anything,” Foles said. “Whatever it takes to get it done out there and get on the JumboTron.”

Herbstreit also picked Foles as the nation’s fifth-best pocket passer, and he chose Juron Criner as the fifth-best receiver.

That huge sigh of relief you heard from Tucson when Arizona Wildcats basketball coach Sean Miller didn’t change jobs last spring?

It wasn’t big enough.

Relief that Miller didn’t bolt for Maryland after two seasons at UA has turned into pure joy about what the future holds for Arizona basketball.

In college, it’s always about having the right coach at the right time, and Miller is leaving little doubt that he is all that. The latest evidence was Monday’s commitment from power forward Brandon Ashley, rated the fourth-best player in the 2012 class by ESPNU.

Flash back to when Miller was hired. Critics wondered, somewhat reasonably, if Miller and his coaching staff could recruit on the West Coast after a lifetime of being in the East. They wondered if Miller could handle the big-boy recruiting world, regularly bumping up against Kansas and Kentucky and UCLA and all those blue-bloods.

It’s not even a debate now.

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Ka'Deem Carey

Running back Ka’Deem Carey is one of the potential impact true freshmen for the Arizona Wildcats, and the one with the most hype.

Fans likely will see more of him than expected in Saturday’s opener against NAU.

Carey’s window of opportunity is a bit wider now that second-stringer Daniel Jenkins is doubtful because of a sprained left ankle, coach Mike Stoops said Monday morning. Jenkins suffered the injury in the final scrimmage on Aug. 22.

Arizona will go with senior starter Keola Antolin … and then it should be Carey and sophomore Kylan Butler.

“Ka’Deem makes me very confident,” Stoops said.

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Rob Gronkowski celebrates his 10th touchdown of his rookie season, which came against Miami on Jan. 2. Photo by Stew Milne-US PRESSWIRE

Updates with the Vikings waiving OL Conan Amituanai, and the Lions waiving RB Mike Bell and S Michael Johnson on Monday. The Bengals, according to a report, reached an injury settlement with DT Lolomana Mikele before releasing him.

As of Monday night there were 19 former Arizona Wildcats football players on NFL rosters; teams have to cut to 80 by Tuesday and then to 53 by Sept. 3.

Several ex-Cats won’t survive those cuts but could end up on practice squads or hook on with other teams.

Since camps began, seven former Arizona players have been waived — rookie free agent OL Conan Amituanai (Minnesota), rookie free agent receiver Travis Cobb (Chicago), rookie free agent DT Lolomana Mikaele (Cincinnati), running back Chris Henry (Seattle), running back Mike Bell (Lions), defensive back Michael Johnson (Lions) and veteran tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, who failed his physical in Chicago.

Here is a breakdown of who is still standing, for now:

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The Arizona Wildcats released a new football depth chart Monday morning as part of their weekly game notes, and here are a few quick observations.

–True freshman Rob Hankins is listed as the first-team middle linebacker, ahead of junior college transfer David Lopez. Senior Derek Earls has been in that spot but is listed as an outside linebacker.

It will be interesting to see who much Hankins, from Parish Episcopal in Dallas, plays because Arizona might not be in its 4-3 base too much, preferring its nickel package, when Earls and senior Paul Vassallo are the linebackers in the game.

Another true freshman linebacker, Hank Hobson, is listed as a backup to Earls.

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Cortez Johnson comes down with an interception in front of fellow true freshman Patrick Onwuasor during camp. Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

Back on Signing Day, when Arizona safety Adam Hall and cornerback Jonathan McKnight still had intact and original ACLs, the Wildcats’ secondary was one of the deepest positions on the team.

The Cats also had returning starters Trevin Wade and Robert Golden, plus gifted sophomores such as Shaquille Richardson and Marquis Flowers, as well some redshirts looking to make a depth-chart move — Jourdon Grandon and Josh Robbins.

With such a crowd in the defensive backfield, coach Mike Stoops nonetheless looked at his list of new Wildcats on Feb. 2 and singled out a kid who had committed just a day earlier — cornerback Cortez Johnson from New Orleans.

“Cortez will be a guy who will compete right off the bat for playing time,” Stoops said.

Not only compete, as it turns out, but win that playing time.

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Arizona has 15 football commitments in its 2012 class — the latest being New Orleans speedster Jarrell Bennett — with the early emphasis on linemen.

Linemen aren’t easy to track during the season, considering they don’t often show up in game stories, but it should be easy to follow the two quarterbacks who have committed to the Wildcats.

For the first week, it was a mixed bag for those two quarterbacks.

Nate Sudfeld completed 11 of 18 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns, as Modesto (Calif.) Christian defeated Tokay 34-28. Sudfeld connected with Zack Megee on a 46-yard pass with about a minute to go for the game-winning points.

Josh Kern had a rougher outing, under pressure all game as his San Antonio Clark High School team lost to Churchill 38-14. Kern was 8 of 15 for 64 yards, with a touchdown and an interception, and was bothered by leg cramps in the second half.

Elsewhere …

DB Leo Thomas (San Antonio Sam Houston High) caught a 41-yard touchdown pass and had an interception as his team beat Brackenridge 45-13.

Arizona Wildcats 2012 football recruiting class