Austin Hill dives for a 30-yard touchdown catch in last season’s opener vs. Toledo. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Austin Hill, coming off a brilliant sophomore season, suffered a torn ACL in practice Wednesday, endangering his 2013 season.

Coach Rich Rodriguez confirmed the news after Saturday’s spring game.

Hill (6-3, 210) caught 81 passes for 1,364 yards last season, earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors and tying the school record with 11 receiving touchdowns. Hill, known for his hands and acrobatic catches, seemingly was in line to make a run at some kind of All-America honors.

“It just makes me sick, because he was such a great player. But he still will be,” Rodriguez said.

“I don’t know when his time frame is to return, but he’ll be back bigger and stronger with the way technology is today and all that. I really felt bad for him. I know Austin is a tough, strong guy, and he’ll bounce back.”

Rodriguez said Hill will undergo surgery as soon as possible, and there is no further damage to the knee beyond the ACL.

Hill redshirted as a freshman in 2010, so he would lose this year of eligibility and be a senior in 2014. Hill, the son of former NFL tight end David Hill, attended the spring game, wearing his jersey and sweats.

Rodriguez has said several times this spring that receiver is the team’s deepest position, but this is still a significant blow to the offense, which also lost wideout Dan Buckner to graduation.

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B.J. Denker throws a pass in the Phoenix scrimmage. Photo by Pat Shannahan/azcentral sports

The Arizona Wildcats will hold their spring game Saturday, usually a time when coaches want to see what the younger guys can do.

One problem for coach Rich Rodriguez.

“We’re so low on numbers we have to play more of the upperclassmen than normal just to have a scrimmage,” he said.

Still, don’t expect to see a lot of All-American running back Ka’Deem Carey (if at all) as the Cats prepare to run 60 or so plays at Kindall/Sancet Stadium on campus. Admission is free; the Pac-12 Networks will televise the scrimmage starting at 1 p.m.

Here are some things to watch:

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Coach Mike Stoops and linebacker Ronnie Palmer celebrate beating BYU in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The Arizona Wildcats and BYU announced a three-game series in football, with the first game being held at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale in 2016.

Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne often his stated his desire to hold a neutral-site game in the Phoenix area, and now it’s a reality as the teams will play in the home of the Arizona Cardinals.

“I think it’s an important area for our fan base,” Byrne said on a Google+ hangout featuring representatives of both schools.

“We have a lot of alums up there. It’s our second-largest alumni base. It’s also an area in all of our sports, especially in football, that we recruit a lot to.

“I know Coach Rodriguez, from the time he came to the University of Arizona, said our No. 1 recruiting priority is the state of Arizona, and with the population base up there in Maricopa County, this will send a great message to our fans, to our recruits, to future regular students, the importance of that market for us.”

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Dick Tomey has a new hobby: Stand-up paddling.

Picture it. The former Arizona Wildcats football coach, nearing his 75th birthday, taking on the Pacific Ocean with a surf board and a paddle during those times when he’s home in Hawaii and not traveling all over the mainland to dote on his eight grandchildren.

Tomey was introduced to the sport by one of his star players at the University of Hawaii, Rich Miano.

“He and I used to go out, and I was awful,” Tomey said in an interview with TucsonCitizen.com.

“The only exercise I got was getting knocked off the board and climbing back on. I can’t handle the really, really rough water or the high surf. It took six to eight months, but I got a lot better.”

Life is good.

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Davonte’ Neal looks for running room against Michigan State last season. Photo by Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez has landed standout recruit Davonte’ Neal the second time around.

Neal, who returned punts last season as a true freshman at Notre Dame, has decided to transfer to Arizona and will apply to the NCAA for a hardship waiver to be immediately eligible for the 2013 season.

The story was first reported Tuesday night by Blue and Gold Illustrated, part of the 247Sports network.

The basis for the application of the hardship waiver will be that Neal, who attended Scottsdale Chaparral High School, left Notre Dame last month to be closer to his long-time girlfriend and their nine-week old daughter.

“The primary reason I chose Arizona was because it was close to my family and my daughter can come see me everyday — that was the most important to me and having that family support,” Neal told 247Sports.

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Matt Scott is prepping for the NFL Draft, which begins April 25. Photo by Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Former Arizona Wildcats quarterback Matt Scott has had promising offseason workouts but remains just a mid-round draft prospect, according to ESPN’s Mel Kiper.

Kiper, who called Scott a fourth-round pick during an appearance last week on ESPN, hedged his projection a bit Wednesday in a media conference call.

“He’s probably in that four-to-five, four-to-six round area,” Kiper said.

“And he’s probably going to go to a team that doesn’t have as critical a need but wants to look at a young quarterback that maybe feels like, OK, let’s see if we can develop him, put him off the radar for a couple years and develop him old school way and see what happens there.”

Other draft analysts figure that Scott won’t slide past the third round.

According to various reports, Scott has or will soon meet for individual workouts with Philadelphia, Buffalo, Cleveland and Seattle.

Gil Brandt at NFL.com this week listed Scott among players who helped themselves the most with their pro day workouts. Brandy wrote:

“Scott didn’t play a lot until 2012, so people hadn’t seen much of him, but he had a good pro day. I think he surprised people with his arm strength. Here’s what happens: When you’re standing behind the drill, you get a better idea of what a guy’s velocity is on the ball than if you’re sitting up in the stands and watching him throw. You get a better idea of how he can move around. Scott also surprised everybody with his short-area quickness.”

Tevin Hood started three games for Arizona last season. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

At the worst of times, Arizona senior defensive lineman Tevin Hood had a friend on the coaching staff.

Head coach Rich Rodriguez had sent Hood home with his parents from the New Mexico Bowl for fighting on the sideline with teammate Cody Ippolito, missing the thrilling finish as the Wildcats scored twice in the final minute to defeat Nevada 49-48.

Hood said he got a phone call within five minutes after the game. It was defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich.

“He told me that whatever happened, he’s going to go to bat for me,” Hood said this week. “I know if I have him in my corner, I really wasn’t worried about too much.”

Hood and Ippolito, a linebacker, did work themselves back in Rodriguez’s good graces after the bowl game and were ready to go at the start of spring ball. Hood gives the Wildcats something they otherwise lack — a true 300-pounder in the middle of the defensive line.

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Davonte’ Neal looks for running room against Michigan State last season. Photo by Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Cue the speculation.

No Arizona Wildcats recruiting target in the 2012 class received as much attention as receiver Davonte’ Neal.

He dragged his recruitment a couple of weeks past signing day, and then was four hours late for a planned announcement in front of about 600 school children at his former elementary school.

Neal eventually signed with Notre Dame over Arizona (and Arkansas and North Carolina) but is back on the market, according to a report from 247Sports.com. The website quotes his father, Luke Neal, as saying his son is transferring and heading back west to be closer to his girlfriend and their 6-week-old daughter.

Neal was the Irish’s punt returner last season, albeit with limited success. The high school Parade All-American returned 21 punts for 46 yards, an average of 2.2 yards per attempt.

Neal, who was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Arizona, played for coach Charlie Ragle at Scottsdale Chaparral High School. Ragle joined Rich Rodriguez’s administrative staff after the 2011 season and is in his first season working on the field for UA, in charge of the tight ends and overseeing the special teams units.

We’ll see how much drama is involved with his recruitment the second time around, and if it involves the Wildcats. His father suggested that a school in California might be a good fit. Richard Obert at the Arizona Republic writes that Luke Neal had a falling out with Ragle after his son’s senior year.

(As the recruiting process dragged out in February 2012, I asked, ‘Is Davonte’ Neal worth it?“)

Neal would have to sit out the 2013 season; he would have three years of eligibility remaining after that. Arizona does have a scholarship available for the 2013 class.

Rich Rodriguez is steaming over his team’s spring performance. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats are halfway through spring football practice, and coach Rich Rodriguez realizes he made a mistake.

“I have been too nice,” he said.

Rodriguez dressed down his team after Monday’s practice, his voice carrying across the Kindall/Sancet practice facility, and he was still agitated when he met with a small group of reporters.

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Rich Rodriguez is hoping to score with the 2014 recruiting class. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez says the football program’s new facilities are a game-changer.

And that is allowing Rodriguez and his staff to take some big swings at some big recruits.

As Rodriguez prepares for his second season and his third recruiting class at Arizona, the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility isn’t just a concept; it’s a reality nearing completion. The team is scheduled to move into its new digs this summer.

I went through the major recruiting sites last week and made a list of top prospects who reportedly have a scholarship offer from Arizona.

The results: Arizona has offered 27 of the nation’s top 100 prospects, as rated in the 247Sports’ composite ranking of the major recruiting services.

Now, some are pipe dreams and only a handful of those players might end up with serious interest in Arizona. Some of these guys have dozens of top offers; Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, etc. But we’re looking at the bigger picture here.

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