Here comes another No. 25 at Arizona. Photo by WildcatSportsReport.com

Arizona Wildcats running back Ka’Deem Carey is a true freshman. He’s 18. If he doesn’t know the school history of the jersey number he’s wearing, well, that’s mostly understandable.

Carey is wearing No. 25, his number from his days at Canyon del Oro High School … and those digits have a history of greatness at Arizona, especially when it comes to local running backs.

Remember Vance Johnson?

That’s Carey’s uncle, but he said didn’t know Johnson wore No. 25. Johnson, a Cholla High graduate, was a running back with the Wildcats before starring as a receiver as part of the Denver Broncos’ “Three Amigos” receiving corps.

Another No. 25 running back at Arizona: Pueblo High grad David Eldridge, part of the UA’s “Back Attack” of the late 1980s. He ran for 205 yards against UCLA in 1989 and earned second-team all-conference honors that season.

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Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo with Nick Foles in the spring. Photo by Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic

Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo didn’t wait for the question to be finished.

“When spread-offense quarterbacks are done in college …” I began.

” … they don’t translate to the NFL,” Scelfo concluded.

That’s the long-term question about the Wildcats’ Nick Foles as he enters his senior season with wide-ranging projections about his pro prospects.

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Joe Salave'a usually works up a good sweat coaching his defensive linemen. Photo by Anthony Gimino, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona defensive line coach Joe Salave’a sometimes prefaces interviews with the caveat, “Oh, I don’t have anything to say.”

And then he goes on to have lots to say.

Salave’a is a former All-Pac-10 defensive tackle at Arizona, a high-motor player who bulled his way into making 43.5 career tackles for loss from 1994 to 1997.

He spent nine seasons in the NFL with four teams before beginning his coaching career at San Jose State in 2008, working under his former head coach at Arizona, Dick Tomey.

Salave’a is in his first season on the Wildcats’ coaching staff.

Here is part of a recent interview I did with Salave’a (part II to come later):

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David Douglas celebrates a fourth-quarter touchdown pass against ASU last season. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first installment of our 24 Hours of Arizona Football Blogging — one post at the top of every hour. Keep checking back at TucsonCitizen.com through Friday at 11 a.m. or follow the entire series with the “24 hours of blogging” tag.

Arizona Wildcats receiver David Douglas is reliable. He’s solid. He’s a nice possession receiver.

Those are often thrown around as back-handed compliments.

Would you believe he’s more athletic than you probably think?

“The first time I saw him play basketball, I was like, ‘Wow, where is that on the football field?’” said receivers coach Dave Nichol.

“He is sometimes too passive on the football field. Frankly, that’s a challenge to him. What I said to him was that he wasn’t making certain plays that showcase the athleticism he has.”

Douglas is hoping that changes in his senior year. He has put on 15 pounds, playing at about 205. Somewhere behind that Opie-looking face is a maturing, tough athlete ready to punch through his previous stereotypes.

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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.