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Arizona football notes: Pac-12 Networks pick Carey; recruiting updates

Ka'Deem Carey was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, as chosen by the league coaches. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Ka’Deem Carey was the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year, as chosen by the league coaches. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s one more “best of” honor for Ka’Deem Carey as he heads off to the NFL.

The Pac-12 Networks picked the Arizona Wildcats running back as the league’s best player in its episode of The 12 Best: Football Players of 2013 that debuted last weekend.

Commented former UA offensive lineman and Pac-12 lead analyst Glenn Parker: “Offensive MVP, best running back in the country, I don’t know if that it’s even close for second place on the list behind him.”

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota was second.

Carey averaged 157.1 rushing yards per game and earned consensus All-America honors for the second consecutive season. He announced last week he would give up his final year of eligibility to turn pro.

“I don’t know what you say about a guy who 16 times in a row goes for 100 yards when everybody in the stadium knows he’s getting the ball almost every down,” Pac-12 Networks analyst Rick Neuheisel said on the show.

“I don’t know what you say about that. A phenom. A true phenom.”

The league coaches selected Carey as the Offensive Player of the Year, with Arizona State defensive tackle Will Sutton winning the Pat Tillman Defensive Player of the Year award.

NOTES

– Ex-Arizona cornerback Shaquille Richardson played in the East-West Shrine Game last weekend and intercepted a pass from Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch. The play starts at about the 46-second mark of this video from NFL.com. …

– Arizona hosted about a dozen of its committed players on official visits last weekend, plus uncommitted offensive tackle Nick Gates from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman, the school that produced UA redshirt freshman quarterback Anu Solomon. Gates is rated the 243rd-best player in the country by 247Sports. Texas A&M, Nebraska, UCLA and Oregon are also vying for Gates’ signature on a letter-of-intent. …

– Wide receiver Jordan Morgan from Southridge High in Beaverton, Ore., tweeted last week that he would greyshirt, which means he plans on delaying his enrollment until spring 2015. Morgan, chosen first-team all-state in Class 6A by the Portland Oregonian, wrote on Twitter that he was “cool with it.” The Wildcats have plenty of depth at receiver for the 2014 season. Morgan took his official visit to campus last weekend. …

– The coaching staff is checking in on its recruits all over the country, sending four coaches to visit quarterback Brandon Dawkins on Monday. Dawkins posted a picture on Instagram of (from left) quarterbacks coach Rod Smith, receivers coach Tony Dews, head coach Rich Rodriguez and defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. …

– While it might take a committee to replace Carey next season, it appears incoming freshman running back Nick Wilson will actually fill his jersey number. From his official visit, Wilson tweeted a picture of him wearing No. 25. …

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