ESPN and ESPN The Magazine have been in the McKale Center weight room recently, focusing on former Arizona Wildcat linebacker Lance Briggs, who has been working out in Tucson.

In the video above from the Arizona athletics official site, Briggs explains that ESPN is working on a story on veteran players — such as Briggs, an All-Pro with the Chicago Bears — returning to their alma maters.

ESPN paired Briggs with Arizona sophomore linebacker Jake Fischer in the photo shoot. Briggs said he hoped he could get together with all the UA linebackers and break down some game film.

Briggs, who leads the pack of ex-Wildcats in the NFL in terms of honors, has been a great representative of Arizona football.

As a three-time all-league linebacker, Briggs would have been my choice as UA’s Defensive Player of the Decade, although voters in a poll at TucsonCitizen.com went for cornerback Antoine Cason (also a very reasonable choice). Cason also trained in Tucson this spring, working on speed and flexibility with UA assistant track coach Francesca Green.

“The most important thing here really is U of A,” Briggs said in the video. “I could be a Bear for 16 years, I could be Washington Redskin, but I will always be a U of A Wildcat. And the pride starts here.”

In a story and video posted last month on the UA athletic department site, Briggs praised the work of strength coach Corey Edmond, who actually carries the title of Director of Performance Enhancement.

In any case, Edmond has been here with coach Mike Stoops every step of the way for the past six seasons, helping to shape a team that has the depth and the strength to compete week in and week out in the Pac-10. That was far from the case when both arrived.

And it only helps the cause when somebody like Briggs returns to give his endorsement of everything that is going on.

ESPN.com has done a series of stories this summer on strength coaches and training facilities, including this column from Pat Forde, and you’ll find plenty of other good reading in the related links box near the top of that story.