Ricky Elmore (left) and Brooks Reed have been three-year mainstays at defensive end.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops was selling the future in his early days in Tucson, and recruits were listening.

His 2006 group was the highest rated among his seven recruiting classes — ranked 18th nationally by Rivals.com and 19th by Scout.com. That doesn’t always translate to success on the field, but, in this case, it did.

That 2006 class — “they’re the cornerstones,” Stoops said — makes its final stand Wednesday night in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State.

With a foundation that includes Colin Baxter, Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore — plus departed standouts Earl Mitchell, Devin Ross, Nate Ness and Cam Nelson — that 2006 class helped Stoops turn around the program.

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Former Arizona linebacker Spencer Larsen is now a full-time fullback for the Denver Broncos/Photo by Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

NFL teams have been holding minicamps and other offseason training activities, so let’s take a look at where former Arizona Wildcats stand as everyone gears up for the start of training camp in late July:

Mike Bell, RB, Philadelphia
Earned a Super Ring with New Orleans last season — leading the Saints in carries during the regular season (172 for 654 yards) — before signing a one-year free-agent deal with the Eagles worth $1.7 million. He is expected to back up second-year pro LeSean McCoy and be a more powerful change of pace.

Lance Briggs, LB, Chicago
The five-time Pro Bowl pick will be going for his seventh consecutive 100-tackle season as he welcomes back Brian Urlacher to the Bears’ linebacker corps this season. He’s a popular teammate and popular in the Windy City … hey, how else do you get chosen to be a judge at Chicago’s version of Playboy’s 50th Anniversary Party.

Eben Britton, OT, Jacksonville
A 2009 second-round pick, Britton started 15 games at right tackle last season and looks to be a fixture on the Jags’ offensive line, along with fellow second-year pro Eugene Monroe at left tackle.

Copeland Bryan, DE, Detroit
He was signed by the Lions last year after being cut from Buffalo at the end of training camp. He played in five games for Detroit, starting one, making five tackles, including one sack.

Antoine Cason, CB, San Diego
The Chargers traded Antonio Cromartie, so they expect Cason, who has been a nickel back, to take over as a starting cornerback. Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune blogged recently that Cason “is having an excellent offseason. He is always on the ball, is blanketing receivers, knows what he’s doing. Of course, he hasn’t been going against Vincent Jackson or Malcom Floyd (until recently) or even Legedu Naanee.” For sure, check out this great story from Acee in April, talking about how Cason spent several weeks training in Tucson with a UA assistant track coach.

Lionel Dotson, DE, Miami
Was on the Dolphins’ roster all of last season, but was mostly inactive on game days, appearing in two games. The 2008 seventh-round pick again will be fighting for a roster spot in training camp.

Nick Folk, PK, New York Jets
Folk was super in his first two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, making 46 of 53 field goal attempts and earning Pro Bowl honors as a rookie in 2007. But he had hip surgery after the 2008 season, struggling to regain his form. The Cowboys cut him in December, and then Folk signed with the Jets in February.

Chris Gronkowski, FB, Dallas
He is versatile as a blocker and pass-catcher, willing to do the blue-collar work. Coach Wade Phillips told DallasCowboys.com, “We’ll see when we get the pads on, but he looks good so far.”

Rob Gronkowski, TE, Patriots
The second-round rookie is helping to remake the position in New England, which also drafted Florida’s Aaron Hernandez in the fourth round. While Hernandez is considered more of a pure pass-catcher, Gronkowski has all-around tight end skills and, according to Patriots.com, made the play of the day at a recent full-squad scrimmage on a pass from Tom Brady.

Chris Henry, RB, Houston
He was the 50th overall pick in the 2007, drafted by Tennessee because of his excellent workout at the scouting combine rather than his production on the field. Henry got little use in his first two years, and the Titans released him early last season. He landed with the Houston Texans, but did not have a carry. He’s competing for a roster spot this summer.

Chris Jennings, RB, Cleveland
Jennings has been a nice success story, walking-on to Arizona as a junior college transfer and becoming productive in the running and passing games. Undrafted, he was playing in the Canadian Football League last season when the Browns called, and Jennings was able to stick with the team, rushing 63 times for 220 yards. He’ll be facing a roster crunch at running back in training camp.

Michael Johnson, FS, N.Y. Giants
He won a Super Bowl ring with the Giants in the 2007 season and became a starter in 2008, but neither he nor the team’s secondary was stellar in 2009. Considering the Giants signed ex-Cardinals safety Antrel Rolle to a five-year, $37 million contract, have youngster Kenny Phillips and veteran Deon Grant, and used a third-round pick on LSU safety Chad Jones … Johnson’s days in New York might be numbered.

Spencer Larsen, FB, Denver
The former All-Pac-10 linebacker was a two-way player for his first two seasons in Denver, famously starting at fullback and at linebacker as a rookie. Now, he will be exclusively an offensive player … and you can be sure he’ll do it with a great attitude. “Football is football,” he told reporters earlier this month. “A lot of it is the same techniques. Linebackers have a different personality but to me it is all football. By doing this, I can still be a special teams member and it is something I care about.”

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Mike Stoops has led Arizona to back-to-back 8-5 records.

Last impressions matter, which is why expectations are again rather modest for the Arizona football team, which begins spring practice Friday.

The last time we saw the Cats on the field it was as if they weren’t on the field at all. With that 33-0 stink bomb against Nebraska, the perception of Mike Stoops‘ program went from “program on the rise” to “who are they again?”

That Holiday Bowl loss — combined with the departures of both coordinators, and tight end Rob Gronkowski‘s decision to enter the NFL Draft — has given anybody making preseason predictions reason to be bearish on the Wildcats, who were 8-5 last season.

ESPN.com’s Ted Miller picks Arizona seventh in his spring power rankings. He writes:

The Wildcats must replace 12 starters and two coordinators. That’s a lot of turnover. On the plus side, quarterback Nick Foles has a lot of skill around him and defensive ends Ricky Elmore and Brooks Reed could be the best pass rushing combo in the Pac-10.

CollegeFootballNews.com has Arizona eighth in the league in its pre-preseason rankings, although the writing staff was fairly optimistic in its writeup:

While the Holiday Bowl dress down gave Arizona a sobering measuring stick, the program has to like where it’s headed. Back-to-back postseason invites have done wonders for its psyche and its ability to recruit throughout the West. There’ll be losses on both sides of the ball, but nothing so devastating that the ‘Cats can’t keep rolling under head coach Mike Stoops. Another season with QB Nick Foles will help the offense, as will the return to health of RB Nic Grigsby. He’s too valuable to be in and out of the lineup, as he was throughout 2009.

I think both of those predictions are too low. But at this early stage, it’s not easy to pick among a muddled Pac-10 middle. Much like last season.

I spoke Thursday with the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta, who writes the Pac-10 report for Lindy’s College Football Annuals, picking the preseason all-conference teams and predicting the order of finish. His early thought on Arizona: Fourth or fifth.

As the Senior Editor of Lindy’s, I get to overrule whatever Condotta submits, but that sounds like an appropriate Arizona prediction to me.

UA FOOTBALL NOTES
Construction has begun on Arizona’s practice field, which is being extended to Sixth Street and will include areas of artificial turf. UA will have practice at the stadium and at Salpointe High School during the spring. … Former UA All-American and Jim Thorpe Award winner Antoine Cason was in attendance for Thursday night’s Arizona-UCLA basketball game. … Ex-UA cornerback Devin Ross had the second-best vertical jump among cornerbacks who worked out at the NFL combine. He had a jump of 40 inches. He ran about a 4.6 40-yard dash. … Defensive tackle Earl Mitchell helped himself with his combine workout. He was considered a “riser” by SI.com, which wrote: “Mitchell looked amazingly athletic for a defensive tackle who weighed in at 296. He was fast in the 40, twice breaking 4.75 seconds on stop watches, then practiced to that speed during drills.”

Sean Miller/Wildcat Sports Report photo

(UA notebook compiled from members of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network. Some of these notes first appeared in the weekly “Nothing but the Notes” column on wildaboutazcats.com. Find more notes there in this weekend’s edition.)

So much for the McKale magic.

It’s hard to believe. In less than three Lute Olson-less seasons, Arizona has lost at home to eight of the other nine Pac-10 teams. The only conference team that has failed to win in Tucson since 2008: Washington. Go figure.

Saturday night’s 63-55 loss to Oregon State might have been the most painful, the one that double locks the door against Arizona’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.

“This crowd and this arena is so spectacular, and they tried to will us to win,” coach Sean Miller said Saturday night. “And we had no answer.” …

Just too young?

According to StatSheet.com, only two other major-conference Division I schools have at least five freshmen and no more than two upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) like Arizona. They are Iowa (which like the Cats has five freshmen, one junior and one senior) and Washington State (which has eight freshmen, no juniors and one senior). The Wildcats depend on their freshmen far more than the Hawkeyes and Cougars — or any other major-college program for that matter. The UA frosh account for 47.4 percent of the team’s scoring (34.2 points per game out of 72.1 overall). Iowa’s percentage is 34.2 (24.3 points per game out of 70.9) while Wazzu’s mark is 33.2 (25 points per game out of 75.2). With such an influx of talent, and a brand new coaching staff, it’s not really a surprise that Arizona is way on the wrong side of the bubble. …

TucsonCitizen.com video:
Miller talks about his five freshman (Feb. 9)

Miller talks about MoMo Jones (Feb. 11)

Wes Bunting at the National Football Post wrote this recently about ex-UA cornerback Devin Ross‘ performance in the week of the East-West Shrine Game practices: “For a guy who showcases as much closing speed as Ross in coverage, you’d think he would be able to make more plays on the football. However, he isn’t a real instinctive corner and consistently gets caught bailing out of his back-pedal and opening his hips too early in his drop. There’s no doubt this guy has the ability to play on the outside at the next level from an athletic standpoint, but as of now he simply gives up too many plays and lacks the instincts to be trusted on an island in the NFL.” … Don’t expect to hear much from former UA defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, who is now the coordinator at Florida State. New head coach Jimbo Fisher has put his assistant coaches off limits to the media, with a one-time exception for the new guys. Too bad. Stoops is a thoughtful interviewee who is pretty honest in his assessments. …

While it’s true that Arizona has offered a scholarship to power forward Jesse Perry of John A. Logan Junior College of Carterville, Ill., the UA coaches are likely keeping an eye on what Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice High School forward Kadeem Jack decides first. Perry will officially visit Arizona after Logan’s season ends next month. Perry, 6-foot-8 and originally from St. Louis, is averaging 15.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and nearly 2 blocked shots per game this season. In a victory over Olney (Ill.) Central College on Thursday, Perry made 17 of 21 free-throw attempts. Arizona stands apart from its competition for Perry: Southern Illinois, Alabama-Birmingham and Iowa State. Rivals.com reports that the UA is the only school that has offered a scholarship. …

Former UA running back Mike Bell, who fashioned a nice comeback season with a team-high 172 carries for 654 yards for the New Orleans Saints, had a regrettable play in the Super Bowl when he slipped on an off-tackle run on third-and-goal from the 1 late in the first half. The biggest television audience in history watched that play. But what you didn’t see was the exchange that took place as Bell returned to the sideline. Saints coach Sean Payton asks Bell, “What kind of shoes you got on?” and Bell shows him the bottom of his left shoe. Payton then yells as Bell walks away, “That (expletive) figures. Put on the cleats!” Yeah, it helps to have the right shoes. You can watch the NFL Films highlights, with wired sound from players and coaches, at NFL.com. Good stuff. …

TucsonCitizen.com blogger Matt Minkus interviewed ex-UA center and current Phoenix Suns player Channing Frye for his podcast at radioexiles.com. Frye recently had his jersey number retired at his high school, Phoenix St. Mary’s, an event that was attended by Olson. Frye, Olson, friends and family members went to dinner afterward. “Coach O is great,” Frye said. “He is probably in better health now than I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s healthy. He’s relaxed. His memory is great. We were just talking about old times and some of his players. We sat there about 2 1/2 hours and just talked and reminisced about the good old days.” …

Jennie Finch

Jennie Finch was selected the 2009 USA Softball Female Athlete of the Year. Finch was the MVP of the Japan Cup, throwing a one-hitter and hitting a two-run double in a 2-0 title game victory over Japan, to (somewhat) avenge a loss to the Japanese team in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Finch also led Team USA to the championship of the Canada Cup, with a two-out walk-off single for a 3-2 win over Canada. In three events — the U.S. also won the World Cup of Softball — Finch was 5-0 with a 0.54 ERA and she hit .447. “I am completely honored all the way around to not only play for our great country but also to be recognized out of a group of extremely talented athletes. I am surrounded by amazing women and feel blessed to be a part of USA Softball,” Finch said in a release. “I feel privileged to still have the opportunity to play the game I love at this stage in my life. Just to wear USA across my chest is a great honor and I am grateful for the opportunities I continue to have.” … UA’s next great pitcher, freshman Kenzie Fowler, struck out 18 batters in a 4-3 win over 15th-ranked Northwestern on Saturday. The school record for strikeouts is 20, set by Alicia Hollowell in a seven-inning perfect game against Indiana in 2004. Yep, she struck out 20 of 21 batters. That will be tough to top.