Tedy Bruschi with a sack dance in 1994. Photo by Stephen Dunn, Getty Images Sport

I’m scanning through my 1991 Signing Day issue of SuperPrep magazine, running my finger down the list of the top 100 recruits in the Far West.

No. 1, Napoleon Kaufman. No. 2, Jamir Miller. No. 3, Rob Johnson. No. 4, Steve Hoffman. Great list so far. I keep going.

There’s Arizona-bound running back Ontiwaun Carter at No. 14. Mario Bates at No. 15. UA coach Dick Tomey scored with lineman Warner Smith at No. 23.

Down the list I go until I near the end, past Mike Burns, Jamal McKenzie …

No Tedy Bruschi.

The too short, too small defensive lineman who played saxophone in the marching band at Roseville High School is now among the giants of the sports, a member of a far more exclusive list — the membership of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Bruschi was announced Tuesday morning as part of the 2013 induction class, joining 11 other former players, including Nebraska quarterback Tommy Frazier, Ohio State lineman Orlando Pace, Florida’s Heisman-winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel and Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde.

“I never played college football with this as my goal,” Bruschi said Tuesday at the ceremony to announce the 2013 class.

“My college football career was always about playing hard, doing the best you’ve got, and see how it went. And if you won or our lost, after the game was done, move on to the next game. I never really had any long-term goals of being in this prestigious class.”

Bruschi defied the recruiting expectations from the day he stepped onto Arizona’s campus, starting the first game he played as a true freshman in 1991. His season was cut short by injuries, and he received a medical redshirt before he and Arizona’s Desert Swarm defense emerged in 1992.

Tedy Bruschi after the Wildcats shut out Miami in the 1994 Fiesta Bowl shutout of Miami. Tucson Citizen photo

Bruschi, a high-energy sackmaster off the edge who worked in perfect tandem with the College Football Hall of Famer Rob Waldrop at defensive tackle, put the joy into those early 1990s defenses. Bruschi was the team’s smiling face, the emotional heart of one of the best defenses in college football history.

“He was crazy fast off the edge,” said former Arizona player Heath Bray, a team captain in 1992.

“It didn’t take a genius to see he had something special as a freshman. He made play after play after play.”

He had 19 sacks in 1993 — more than Arizona has had as a team in each of the past two seasons — and helped the Cats lead the nation in rushing defense (30.1 yards per game).

Bruschi earned second-team All-America honors in 1993, was a consensus All-American in 1994 and a unanimous All-American in 1995.

In his last game — a 31-28 win at Arizona State in 1995 — Bruschi tied the NCAA record of 52 sacks, shared by Alabama’s Derrick Thomas.

Bruschi went on to a storied career with the New England Patriots as a linebacker, winning three Super Bowl titles, earning two All-Pro selections and further inspiring by overcoming a stroke late in his career.

Bruschi, who serves as an NFL analyst for ESPN, is the fourth Arizona player to reach the College Football Hall of Fame. He joins linebacker Ricky Hunley (inducted in 1988), safety Chuck Cecil (2009) and Waldrop (2011). They all arrived at UA within 11 years of each other.

The induction will take place Dec. 10.

Related:

Football truth: Tedy Bruschi’s pep tale fires up the Arizona Wildcats in spring ball

From 2007: Bruschi’s book reveals his hero: His wife

Chuck Cecil spent the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans.

Arizona Wildcats legend Chuck Cecil is sitting out this season from coaching but has his eye on a return to the NFL.

In the meantime, he has done some work as a college football game analyst for the ESPN networks as a way to “keep your head in the game,” he said this week. “I might do a few more.”

Cecil was fired as the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans in January after spending 10 years in the organization.

“No question about it,” Cecil, 46, said of his desire to coach in the NFL.

“We’ll see next year. It’s a crazy, crazy business. I would not rule out college at this point, but I think I’d like to try the NFL first.”

Cecil, an All-American safety at Arizona in the late 1980s and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, said he was contacted last winter by Wildcats coach Mike Stoops after he was let go by the Titans.

Stoops was gauging Cecil’s interest in coaching the UA secondary after Duane Akina returned to Texas in February after only a few weeks on the job.

“I was flattered,” Cecil said. “It just wasn’t good, time-wise. It wouldn’t have been fair to keep him hanging on.

“I love Tucson, and I love the fans, and when I think of my long-term, down-the-road plans, I would love to coach there.”

Titans defensive coordinator Chuck Cecil won't be back next season after the unit struggled much of the season, especially on third downs.
Photo by George Walker IV, The Tennessean (file)

Arizona Wildcats legend Chuck Cecil is out after two seasons as the defensive coordinator with the Tennessee Titans, fired Thursday by coach Jeff Fisher.

“Do I feel like the defense was to blame?” Cecil told the Tennessean newspaper.

“I felt like the entire team was to blame. People are going to have different opinions about that, and everybody is entitled to their own opinion. But I have my own and I’ll take it with me.

“I have no regrets. I think my players on defense played hard, and we showed up pretty much week to week and executed. I think the guys bought in to what we were selling, and they bought in and played hard. We just needed to be better than we were.”

Cecil is one of (by my count) 11 former Arizona Wildcat players who are coaching in college or the professional ranks. (Thanks to ZonaDennis at UASports.net for contributing Adam Austin to the list.)

There are countless ex-Cats who are in coaching in junior college (such as Brandon Sanders assisting at Pima Community College) or high school or youth leagues.

But let’s look at the status of the guys in college or the pros:

Adam Austin (quarterback, 2002-06)
Austin, who got some starts as a senior for injured Willie Tuitama, is an offensive graduate assistant at Marshall.

Tony Bouie (safety, 1991-94)
As first reported at TucsonCitizen.com this week, Bouie, 38, is beginning his college coaching career as a graduate assistant at Akron.

Charlie Camp (linebacker, 1991-95)
He coaches the linebackers at Akron for Rob Ianello, who was an Arizona assistant for part of Camp’s time as a player at Arizona. Camp’s previous stops include Oregon State, San Jose State, Nevada and Arizona (2002).

Chuck Cecil (safety, 1984-87)
The Arizona All-American is out at Tennessee but will be paid by the Titans in 2011.

Charlie Dickey (offensive lineman, 1983-84)
Dickey, whose daughter Tasha plays for the Arizona women’s basketball team, coached at Arizona from 1992 to 2003. After stops at Washington and Utah, he’s been coaching the offensive line at Kansas State for the past two seasons for Bill Snyder.

Dave Fipp (safety, 1994-97)
He just finished his third season as an assistant special teams coach for the San Francisco 49ers, although that job is up in the air with the change in head coaches to Jim Harbaugh. There has been no word about the fate of the assistants, according to this recent blog post from the Sacramento Bee.

Jeff Hammerschmidt (safety, 1987-90)
Has been the special teams coordinator/defensive ends coach at Arizona for the past three seasons. Improvement on special teams will be a key factor for the Wildcats in 2011.

Peter Hansen (special teams, 1998-2001)
A two-sport athlete at Arizona — the 6-7 Hansen also played basketball for Lute Olson — he used his height to block seven placement kicks. He has been a defensive assistant at Stanford for the past two seasons for Jim Harbaugh; what now?

Ricky Hunley (linebacker, 1980-83)
Hunley, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, has extensive coaching experience in college and the NFL. He spent the past two seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Sacramento franchise in the United Football League, but told us last month he is “ready to move on.”

Tom Quinn (linebacker, 1988-90)
Has spent the past five seasons with the New York Giants, including the past four as the special teams coordinator. He spent the previous 15 season coaching in college, including at Stanford.

Joe Salave’a (defensive tackle, 1994-97)
The NFL veteran has two years of coaching experience under Dick Tomey at San Jose State, and he’s one of the new assistants for Arizona coach Mike Stoops. (Related: Stoops hires a tough guy in ex-Wildcat Joe Salave’a)

Anybody I missed? Help me out in the comments section … or e-mail me at agimino@tucsoncitizen.com … or, by all means, follow me on Twitter: @AGWildcatReport

Cecil is entering his second season as the defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans.

The Arizona Wildcats’ ol’ No. 6, hard-hitting safety Chuck Cecil, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame over the weekend.

KOLD Channel 13 has some footage from the event … as well as the holy grail of UA highlights — Cecil’s 106-yard interception return against Arizona State in 1986.

It’s hard to see that clip too many times.

The Hall of Fame selection committee announced this enshrinement class back in April 2009, when the Tucson Citizen still had a print edition.

Here is part of my story for the newspaper from back then, starting with quotes from former UA assistant coach Duane Akina:

“I would say Chuck had the most dynamic personality of anybody I’ve coached,” said Duane Akina, who coached the secondary during Cecil’s senior season.

“He probably affected his teammates more than any player I’ve had. That is true leadership. I have never coached another like him who could carry the classroom to the field and who was so damn tough.

“I haven’t had anything close, and I have coached some good ones over the past 25 years.”

Cecil, from 1984-87, led by being one of the most feared hitters in the Pac-10 . . . ever. He didn’t stop there. Who can forget the Sports Illustrated cover of Cecil from October 1993, with the headline: “Too Vicious for the NFL?”

Out of San Diego’s Helix High School, he tried to get a football scholarship to Stanford, but the coaches there ultimately thought he was too small. By the time Stanford made its decision, Arizona, which had previously offered a scholarship, had run out of free rides.

“Back in the day, I was more of a geeky student kind of guy, I guess,” said Cecil, 44.

“My whole thing was to get an education and play a little football. No thoughts, dreams, aspirations of playing in the NFL. It never really struck me until my senior year when they talked about other guys.

“I was like, ‘I’m better than he is.’ ”

Especially as a senior in 1987, in Dick Tomey’s first season as coach.

The previous season, Akina was working with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, and he scouted running back David Adams in Arizona’s Aloha Bowl game against North Carolina.

“Chuck had some great hits. I remember sitting in the stands going, ‘God, I wonder who that kid is?’ ” Akina said.

“When I got to Arizona, everyone was talking him up. And then when I saw him, I was like, ‘That’s him? This scrawny 180-pound kid?’ I thought I was going to see Ronnie Lott.”

Akina ended up seeing something he hasn’t seen since. Akina, an assistant coach at Texas, has coached three winners of the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation’s top defensive back, but says he’s never seen a senior season as dominating as Cecil’s.

Cecil made 136 tackles, broke up 12 passes and intercepted nine – part of his UA career record of 21.

He picked off four passes against Stanford that season. Tomey told reporters Thursday that Cecil should have had six. Akina said Cecil should have had seven. Arizona assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt, who was on two UA teams with Cecil, said he should have had eight.

“After getting four, it’s hard to feel you really missed out,” Cecil said.

“But after the game, watching film, I was very disappointed because I really, truly should have had no less than six easily. Two were blatant drops. I could have had upwards of eight if I had done what I was supposed to do and made a reasonable play.

“And, possibly, if I had done something special, nine.”

Turns out, he’s friends with one of the Stanford quarterbacks that day – Greg Ennis, who threw the final interception. Ennis called Thursday to congratulate Cecil.

Cecil sent back a text: “Couldn’t have done it without your fourth pick.”

The next week, Washington coach Don James was so afraid of what Cecil might do from his center field spot that the Huskies, according to Akina, never once attempted a pass inside the numbers on the field.

That’s respect.

Hammerschmidt, also from Helix High, remembers Cecil as a great influence – “like family,” he said.

Hammerschmidt recalls his recruiting visit to Tucson. Cecil met him at the airport with a coach and drove him around town.

“We go through the drive-through at McDonald’s and the girl at the window saw Chuck and dropped the bag of food and was all excited,” Hammerschmidt said.

“I thought, ‘This is great. This is a college football town.’ ”

Chuck Cecil is mobbed by fans after the 1986 victory over Arizona State/Tucson Citizen photo

The Arizona Wildcats will be retiring the football jerseys of seven former players at the game against USC on Nov. 13.

Those seven are: linebacker Ricky Hunley, safety Chuck Cecil, placekicker Steve McLaughlin, cornerbacks Antoine Cason, Darryll Lewis and Chris McAlister, and defensive tackle Rob Waldrop.

Before you say, “Where’s Tedy Bruschi?” understand the criteria: According to university policy, jersey honors are reserved for athletes who were national players of the year or inducted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame.

Cason and Lewis won the Thorpe Award for defensive backs. McAlister won the Mosi Tatupu Award for special teams play. McLaughlin earned the Groza Award, given to placekickers. Waldrop won the Outland Trophy for the top interior lineman and the Nagurski Award as the defensive player of the year. Hunley and Cecil have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

(Cecil is part of the class that will be enshrined Saturday. You can watch the event streaming live from 5:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tucson time at www.footballfoundation.org, www.xosdigital.com or www.collegefootball.org.)

So, that is why Bruschi — and perhaps other of your favorite ex-Cats — have not been honored with jersey retirements.

Previously, UA has honored the jersey of running back Art Luppino, who has been invited to take part in the Nov. 13 event. Luppino’s jersey and the seven others will be displayed in a new location at Arizona Stadium. UA also honors the jersey of three players whose careers were cut short by tragedy — John “Button” Salmon, Damon Terrell and McCollins Umeh — will remain in their current locations.

It is important to note that the jersey numbers of those honored players will continue to be in use.

In a roster number quirk, receiver/kick returner Travis Cobb wore No. 89 (Hunley’s old number) last season before changing to No. 6 (Cecil’s old number) for this season, putting the senior in the company of the only two Wildcat players in the College Football Hall of Fame.

This is one of the photos new secondary coach Greg Brown is using for his collection of great UA defensive backs. That's Chuck Cecil being mobbed by fans after Arizona's victory over Arizona State in 1986, when he returned an interception 106 yards for a touchdown.
Tucson Citizen photo

Arizona has two new football assistant coaches. They inherited vastly different traditions.

Quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo takes over a position that hasn’t produced a player who has thrown an NFL pass since Bill Demory in 1973. Scelfo said when he took the job he figured Arizona had a couple of quarterbacks in the NFL.

“There’s none,” Scelfo said. “When someone told me, I was surprised. I really was.”

Meanwhile, secondary coach Greg Brown takes over a position that has produced two Jim Thorpe Award winners (Darryll Lewis, Antoine Cason) and two others who were certainly good enough to win it (Chuck Cecil, Chris McAlister).

In all, Arizona has had five consensus All-American defensive backs — the four mentioned, plus Tony Bouie — through the Pac-10 years. USC also has five in that span; no Pac-10 team has more.

Greg Brown

“I know I would probably be slighting some other schools, but when I think of defensive backs, I have always thought of the University of Arizona,” Brown said.

“When you think of linebacker schools, you think of Penn State. U of A comes to mind to me when you think of defensive backs.”

Brown knows about good defensive back play. When he was at Colorado from 1991 to 1993, he tutored two Thorpe winners — Deon Figures (1992) and Chris Hudson (1994).

Brown, 52, is completely embracing the Wildcats history. He has been acquiring archival photos of the great UA defensive backs to display in his office, perhaps serving as inspiration for his new charges.

He has been showing old game tape of Cecil and Lewis to his secondary, which includes potential all-conference cornerback Trevin Wade and returning starting safety Robert Golden.

“He brings out the film and shows us how they used to play and everything like that,” Golden said. “He is teaching us a lot of technique stuff, so it’s pretty good. It’s really good, actually. We’re applying that to our game.”

Brown has a lot of game film on Lewis, who won the Thorpe Award — given to the nation’s top defensive back — in 1990. Brown was the secondary coach with Tennessee in the NFL in 1997 and 1998, when Lewis was there.

“Terrific person, terrific player,” Brown said.

Brown said he recently spoke with Lewis, who had legal problems after his playing career. Brown said he hopes to have Lewis, who is in Los Angeles, informally visit with the team in the fall.

“I hadn’t talked to him for three or four years,” Brown said.

“I got a hold of him this spring, and he knew I was here. He was excited to hear that I was here. He’s excited to come out this fall and hang out and meet the secondary.”

That would further bring the past to life for the current players, some of whom weren’t yet born in 1990, when Lewis was beating UCLA with a 70-yard interception return and crumpling Oregon quarterback Bill Musgrave at the goal line.

“We’ve been watching him a lot and learning his technique,” Golden said. “And that has been a good thing.”

The tradition lives.

Tedy Bruschi after the 1994 Fiesta Bowl shutout of Miami/Tucson Citizen photo

Former Arizona defensive end Tedy Bruschi, who is tied as the NCAA’s career sacks leader, is on the ballot for the first time for the College Football Hall of Fame.

Bruschi, who played defensive end at Arizona from 1991 to 1995, ended with 52 sacks, tied for the most in NCAA history with Derrick Thomas. Bruschi was a consensus All-American in 1994 and a unanimous All-American in 1995, when he was the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year.

Bruschi is one of 77 players on the ballot. The Hall of Fame class will be announced May 27.

Other first-time candidates on the ballot include 1995 Heisman-winning running back Eddie George from Ohio State and former Georgia offensive lineman Matt Stinchcomb.

Arizona has two former players in the College Football Hall of Fame — linebacker Ricky Hunley, who was enshrined in 1988, and safety Chuck Cecil, who was inducted in December.

Bruschi retired from the New England Patriots before last season and is an analyst for ESPN.

It is Arizona vs. Oregon. ESPN’s College Football GameDay is here. Fans are encouraged to turn Arizona Stadium into a “Red Out” on Saturday night. Control of the Pac-10 race on the line.

Chuck Cecil is mobbed by fans after the 1986 victory over Arizona State/Tucson Citizen photo

Arizona isn’t a spoiler, its usual role at this time of the year. With a one-two-three punch, the Wildcats can knock down the Ducks, defeat the Devils, conquer the Trojans and grab a few hundred bouquet of roses.

Do we expect that to happen? No. But everyone can still dream. That’s the point.

That’s what makes this the biggest, most important, most anticipated home game Arizona has ever played.

For now, we see the five other biggest home games like this:

1. Washington, Nov. 7, 1992
No. 1 Washington had won 22 games in a row, including a 54-0 whitewash of the Wildcats a year earlier, and had been co-national champs in 1991. Arizona, out of the blue, had won four in a row behind the early stirrings of the Desert Swarm defense. The nickname was so new that ABC sideline reporter Jack Arute mistakenly called it “Desert Storm” that day.

Everyone knew what it was by the end of the game. A sun-drenched crowd of 58,510 watched Arizona upset the Huskies 16-3 to improve to 4-1-1 in the Pac-10.

Although Washington would eventually make it to the Rose Bowl, this marked the beginning of the end for the Huskies, who learned that week of an investigation into quarterback Billy Joe Hobert.

Arizona lost its final two games of the regular season in painful fashion — 14-7 at USC on a fourth-quarter halfback touchdown pass from Deon Strother, and 7-6 to Arizona State on a 51-yard tackle-breaking run from Kevin Galbreath … the only time the Sun Devils crossed midfield all game.

If Arizona had won its last two games, it would have finished 6-1-1 in the conference, a half-game ahead of Washington and Stanford at 6-2.

2. UCLA, Oct. 10, 1998
Ortege Jenkins’ Leap by the Lake happened a week earlier, so Tucson was as amped as possible as the No. 10 Wildcats took on No. 3 UCLA, the first Pac-10 meeting of top-10 teams in seven years. ABC yawned, opting to televise No. 21 Notre Dame at 2-2 Arizona State instead.

It was still early in the season, so the game didn’t take on a winner-take-all quality, even though that is how it turned out to be. Arizona was 5-0 overall, 2-0 in the league. UCLA, with Heisman candidate quarterback Cade McNown, was 3-0 and 1-0.

A crowd of 58,738 turned out to see two dynamic offenses, and it was quite a show through three quarters, with the Bruins holding a 31-28 lead. But one play early in the fourth quarter broke Arizona … and its best player was the one responsible.

McNown, as he had earlier in the game, ran down the line to his left, showing option. This time, however, he stopped, dropped back and hit a wide-open Danny Farmer for a 64-yard touchdown. All-American cornerback Chris McAlister had fallen for the fake.

”We ran a couple of options on them a few times and the corners blew off the wide receivers,” McNown said after the game. ”We had a feeling that it was going to work.”

UCLA scored 21 fourth-quarter points and won 52-28. The Bruins wouldn’t lose until a hurricane-delayed game at Miami on Dec. 5, knocking UCLA out of the first BCS national title game. If the Bruins had been able to tackle Edgerrin James that day, Arizona, at 11-1 in the regular season, would have gone to the Rose Bowl as the Pac-10 representative while UCLA played for the national championship.

3. Arizona State, Nov. 27, 1982
ASU fans brought roses to Arizona Stadium as the Sun Devils, coming in ranked sixth in the nation with a 5-1 league mark, needed just to beat a 5-4-1 Arizona team to get to its first Rose Bowl.

Arizona State, thanks mostly to coach Frank Kush, had a headlock on the rivalry at that time, winning 15 of the previous 17 games. But with 58,515 on hand, the Wildcats turned those red roses black.

The signature play was Brian Holland taking a short pass from Tom Tunicliffe and racing 92 yards for a touchdown. UA held on to win 28-18, sending UCLA to the Rose Bowl instead of ASU.

For Arizona, it was the glorious start of a nine-year unbeaten streak against ASU.

4. UCLA, Nov. 9, 1985
The Wildcats came into the game at 3-1 in the conference, and they played only seven conference games that season in what was an unbalanced league schedule in those days. The Wildcats, if they could win their final three games, starting with 14th-ranked UCLA (6-1-1, 4-1), would be the Pac-10 champs.

Arizona trailed 17-0 at halftime, but began to rally when Chuck Cecil — who else? — blocked a punt that went out of bounds at the UCLA 7. James DeBow scored two plays later to cut the lead to 10. The Bruins regained a 17-point lead with the help of a long pass from (future Pac-10 TV analyst) David Norrie to (future UCLA head coach) Karl Dorrell.

The Wildcats weren’t done, scoring on another short DeBow run and getting a 61-yard interception return for a touchdown from lineman Dana Wells. Arizona missed the two-point conversion, however, to keep the score at 24-19. That was important because Arizona had the ball at the UCLA 32 as time ran out.

Think Max Zendejas could have kicked the tying field goal?

Arizona would win those final two games to finish 5-2 in the league. UCLA won at 6-2.

5. Arizona State, Nov. 22, 1986
The Sun Devils had already clinched the Pac-10 title and their first Rose Bowl appearance, but the Wildcats still found a way to be spoilers.

Playing in front of 58,267 — the second-largest crowd in Arizona Stadium at the time — Arizona shocked fourth-ranked ASU 34-17 with the most memorable play in school history. If you’ve seen it once, you’ve probably seen it hundreds of times, and it never gets old. Chuck Cecil’s 106-yard interception return for a touchdown.

“I just ran,” Cecil told the Citizen years later. “I still, to this day, don’t know why I ran it out.”

UPDATE: ValleyCat on UAsports.net points out that I missed one — the 1968 “ultimatum game” when Arizona beat 20th-ranked Wyoming 14-7 and then strong-armed the Sun Bowl to take the Wildcats over Arizona State, which then turned around and smacked UA 30-7. Too late, UA was headed to El Paso, and Phoenix officials were steamed enough to eventually create a local bowl — the Fiesta.

But, when I sat down to write this, my intent was to look at only the Pac-10 years. I forgot to include that caveat in the original version, which is one of the hazards of posting at 3:30 in the morning. Anyway, consider my top 5 list an examination of the Pac-10 years only.