Juron Criner was the only all-conference player for Arizona from its 2008 recruiting class. Photo by Chris Morrison-USA Today Sports

The Arizona Wildcats football recruiting class of 2008 is in the books.

Arizona was coming off a 5-7 season in coach Mike Stoops fourth season and hadn’t had a winning record in nine seasons.

The Cats weren’t operating from a position of strength and finished 39th nationally in the recruiting rankings of Rivals.com and Scout.com, which put Arizona slightly below average among BCS conference teams.

So, how did Arizona do with its 2008 recruiting class?

Somewhere around average sounds about right.

The Cats hit on about half of the class, with “hit” defined as a starting player, but there wasn’t a lot of star power and not nearly enough defense.

Let’s take a look …

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Keola Antolin tries to make some headway against Oregon last week. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

In an effort to stir Arizona’s sleepy running game, three backs might be better than one.

And all at the same time.

The Wildcats are getting more comfortable with the full-house backfield formation it practiced through spring and fall, using it several times to reasonable effect against Oregon on Saturday. Arizona deployed it four times on its first scoring drive, getting a 15-yard carry from tailback Ka’Deem Carey, who was following lead blocks from Taimi Tutogi and tight end Drew Robinson.

Here’s how it looks:

Quarterback Nick Foles lines up in the shotgun, flanked by two backs (Tutogi and Robinson). A tailback lines up behind Foles, as in the Pistol formation. Tutogi often went in motion behind Foles to get a running start toward the line of scrimmage as he and Robinson tried to open holes.

Arizona put two receivers out wide, looking for single coverage somewhere if defenses committed a safety to stopping the run. If not, then Arizona has seven blockers for seven defenders — and the tailback has to make a play.

“What it does, it just gives us versatility,” said running backs coach Garret Chachere.

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Keola Antolin

Arizona Wildcats running back Keola Antolin, if he really wanted a nickname, could have picked all manner of summer blockbuster superheroes.

He instead chose to borrow a phrase from short, blue, cartoon characters.

“He wanted to be Smurftastic tonight, he told me,” quarterback Nick Foles said after Arizona’s 41-10 victory over NAU on Saturday night. “And he was. He ran the ball well, and he was Smurftastic.”

Arizona’s Running Back Smurf rushed six times for 41 yards and caught five passes for 51 yards and a touchdown. That 18-yard score came one play after Trevin Wade’s momentum-turning interception early in the third quarter.

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Keola Antolin scores on a 67-yard run at Arizona State in 2009, one of his 12 career rushes of at least 20 yards. Photo by Cheryl Evans/The Arizona Republic

RELATED LINK: Arizona football preview: Running game

Arizona Wildcats football coach Mike Stoops has talked in the offseason about being more “explosive” in the running game.

Well, let’s see just how the Cats have done in that area.

If we define explosive running plays as those of 20 yards or more, then we can do this research with a flurry of clicks on cfbstats.com, which has the breakdown of the past five seasons of statistics.

Arizona, in the past three years, has been in the middle of the Pac-10 in runs of 20-plus yards, ranking fifth with 47 such gains.

The UA is tied for seventh in the past five seasons, with 63 runs of at least 20 yards.

So, in terms of explosion, the Cat’s running game has been only occasionally ignitable.

Keeping in mind that not all offense schemes are built the same (hello, Oregon’s read-option offense), here are the Pac-10 leaders in big running plays over the past five seasons:

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RELATED LINK: Arizona’s running game: How ‘explosive’ has it been?

Keola Antolin was Arizona's leading rusher in 2010. Photo by Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic

In collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic, we will be providing a weekly series throughout the summer, previewing the Arizona Wildcats football team.

The Republic sent a photographer to Tucson three times in the spring to capture the pictures needed for its slick presentation of the preview, which you can find here at azcentral.com. You can also read about those other guys all summer in the ASU preview.

At TucsonCitizen.com, we can’t offer the cool look of the preview that you’ll find on azcentral.com, but we’ll give you the text and some of the photography.

Here is the fourth part: The running backs. Look for updates every Friday.

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Arizona starting running back Nic Grigsby, who has been battling a shoulder injury for most of the Pac-10 season, is out for this week’s game at Arizona State, coach Mike Stoops said during his weekly Monday news conference.

What’s more, backup running back Keola Antolin, who offers some of the big-play potential that Grigsby has, is questionable because of a shoulder injury that forced him out early in the second quarter of last Saturday’s game against Oregon. Antolin, however, was asked Monday about that, and he said, “I didn’t know that until right now.”

Antolin still has to be further examined before a decision is made.

Arizona likely will be down to third-stringer Greg Nwoko and fourth-stringer Nick Booth.

“It has hurt us,” offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes said, talking about dealing with chronic injuries to Grigsby and Antolin through the Pac-10 schedule. “We’ve not had as many big plays as we’re used to having around here.”

Also, slot receiver David Douglas is out for this week because of a thigh injury, Stoops said.

Cats beat Washington State 48-7. Says UA coach Mike Stoops: “For the most part , we played a very complete game today. It was great to see special teams getting those two touchdowns. This was a very positive game for us, especially going into Cal next week.”

Arizona moves to 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Pac-10, a half-game behind Oregon (5-1), which lost 51-42 at Stanford on Saturday.

* * *

Arizona goes up 48-0 with 7:06 left on a 1-yard run by Taimi Tutogi. John Bonano kicks the extra point at the end of an 8 minute, 7 second drive. Bring on Cal next Saturday.

* * *

It’s 41-0 heading into the fourth quarter. Matt Scott is back at quarterback for Arizona. The Cats are going for their first shutout of a Pac-10 team since Sept. 25, 1993, when they won 33-0 at Oregon State.

* * *

The Arizona defense has forced seven three-and-outs so far … halfway through the third quarter.

* * *

With 7:50 to go in third quarter, Arizona has gone to its second-string defense, which includes true freshman Adam Hall from Palo Verde High at free safety. (Former Tucson Citizen columnist Corky Simpson is in the press box representing the Green Valley News, and he comments that he is “greedy” and would like to see Hall pick off a pass to see what he can do with the ball.)

Another local true freshman, Jake Fischer from Ironwood Ridge, is playing linebacker.

* * *

Nick Foles is back at quarterback for Arizona. Why?

Arizona has freshman Taimi Tutogi — who has seen time at H-back this season — in at tailback, which is a sign that UA isn’t ready to take freshman Daniel Jenkins out of his redshirt.

* * *

Arizona entered the game with minus-1 yard on three punt returns for the entire season. In one swoop, Bug Wright just picked up up 86 and a touchdown. That was the fifth-longest punt return in UA history.

It was a classic case of Washington State out-kicking its coverage with a 61-yard boot. Wright started slowly, then picked out a spot along the right sideline. He got the blocks and sped the rest of the way into the end zone.

* * *

Looks like about half the student section didn’t come back for the second half.

* * *

Total yardage at halftime: Arizona 267, Washington State 91

* * *

Another way to track the Cats game is at the twitter feed from UA athletics — WildcatsLive. They’re experimenting this week with some video from the stands.

* * *

Shades of September. Matt Scott drives the Wildcats into the red zone, but the offense then stalls and settles for a field goal. Alex Zendejas connects on a 27-yard field goal for a 34-0 lead with 1:23 to go before halftime. It’s good to see Scott get some time, though. He did some nice running on the drive, including a 22-yard rush, but his passing is still inconsistent as he missed some throws he could have completed.

For Washington State, QB Jeff Tuel is out with a right knee sprain. Marshall Lobbestael is in. Tuel’s return is questionable.

* * *

Matt Scott comes in at quarterback for Arizona with 8:30 left in the second quarter. He runs from the shotgun formation on his first play, and completes a long pass to Chris Gronkowski on his second play … but it was called back because of a chop block. We’ll be seeing third-stringer Bryson Beirne in the second half.

* * *

Arizona comes up with a defensive stop after Washington State reached first-and-goal from the 9. After a holding penalty and an incomplete pass, WSU quarterback Jeff Tuel scrambles to his left but is caught from behind by linebacker Xavier Kelley, who forces a fumble that Arizona recovers. Tuel, who grew up in Tucson and attended Salpointe Catholic as a freshman, was hurt on the play.

* * *

Total yardage with 13:28 to go in the second quarter: Arizona 178, Washington State 1.

* * *

Arizona capitalizes on the turnover, with Nick Booth scoring a yard out for a 31-0 lead with 13:28 to go before halftime. We’re going to see some seriously deep reserves in the game for Arizona in the second half.

* * *

Brooks Reed, returning from an ankle injury, makes an impact on his second series of the game, speed-rushing past the left tackle and coming around to knock the ball loose from Washington State quarterback Jeff Tuel for a sack. Defensive tackle Lolomana Mikaele recovers for UA at the WSU 14. Reed’s early play is the best sign of the game for the Cats.

* * *

Arizona is finally stopped. Kind of. Washington State holds UA to a 21-yard field goal from Alex Zendejas after the Cats had first-and-goal from the 8. Arizona leads 24-0 with 24 seconds to play in the opening quarter.

* * *

Arizona defensive end Brooks Reed makes his first appearance of the game in Washington State’s latest series. On second down, he bull-rushed left tackle Alex Reitnouer and knocked him down, but QB Jeff Tuel threw the ball to the other side before Reed could get to him. On third down, the Cougars kept in a running back to help block Reed.

* * *

No worries. Arizona drives 65 yards for a 21-0 lead with 7:21 to go in the first quarter. Keola Antolin leaps for a 1-yard touchdown to cap the drive … now, the question is, how many times will he get tackled by his hair?

* * *

In about as pretty a play as you will see, Nick Foles threw from the left hashmark to the right corner of the end zone, where the ball dropped nicely into the hands of Terrell Turner just over a defender and inside the sideline for a 28-yard touchdown. Arizona is doing what it should do — jump all over Washington State. It’s 14-0 with 11:43 to play in the first quarter.

* * *

A couple of quick things from WSU’s first possession: UA’s Brooks Reed did not start at defensive end, and Arizona already has a sack of Jeff Tuel. The Cougars allow a national-high 5.0 sacks per game.

* * *

How do you like that? That didn’t take long. Arizona goes up 7-0 on a 95-yard kickoff return by Travis Cobb, and there is only 13 seconds off the clock. That is UA’s first kickoff return for a touchdown since Chris McAlister went 100 yards on the first play of the 1998 season at Hawaii.

I was there at that game in 1998, and if there was ever a sign of a great season, that was it. It was a stunning reversal of a season earlier when Oregon’s Saladin McCullough returned the opening kick of the season for a touchdown against Arizona. Anyway, that’s my little trip down memory lane.

PREGAME

Normally, we would do three “keys to the game,” but there are no keys other than for Arizona to avoid disaster with turnovers. Straight-up, there should be no way for Washington State to hang around.

So, instead, let’s go for “Three things to watch:”

1. Comeback players. UA receiver Delashaun Dean and defensive end Brooks Reed both could use this game to launch into the final difficult four weeks of the season. Dean has been banged up since training camp and hasn’t spent much time at full health. He said earlier this week that is he “95 percent.” Close enough. Reed has missed almost all of the Pac-10 season because of a sprained ankle, but went through pregame warm-ups today.

2. Will Daniel Jenkins play … and, if so, how much and how well? Jenkins, a true freshman running back, might be pulled out of his redshirt today because of shoulder injuries to Nic Grigsby and Greg Nwoko. It’s a little late in the season to come out of a redshirt; if he plays, that might be a sign than the injuries to Grigsby and Nwoko are going to last beyond this week’s game. Jenkins was one of the most highly rated recruits from the last signing class.

3. How the Wildcats respond to success? Good teams come out and step all over inferior opponents. Arizona has been receiving unusual attention in the past couple of weeks, entering the rankings and moving to second in the Pac-10 with a 3-1 mark. Coaches and players say none of it will go to Arizona’s head. We’ll see.

Arizona is a 31-point favorite this week against Washington State. How rare is that? Well, the last time UA was favored by that much, the year was … uh, 2008.

Grigsby

I did some research on this last season before UA played Washington on Oct. 8. The Wildcats ended up being 24-point favorites. At the time, that matched the biggest point spread in Arizona’s favor since at least 1990; finding anything beyond that was going to require time in the archives/library that I didn’t/don’t really have.

But when UA played at Washington State last season, on Nov. 8, the spread was 41 points.

Safe to say, that is the largest point spread for Arizona in the Pac-10 era. This week’s game likely is No. 2.

In any case, it’s pretty rare stuff that coach Mike Stoops is having none of.

Stoops said Washington State “is more than capable of coming in here and winning. Does anyone expect that? Probably not. But it happens every week.

“Anyone can beat anybody on any given day. That’s been proven. I feel foolish even talking about it. … I think our kids understand that. Hopefully, we’re smart enough to understand that.”

Stoops was asked, in so many words, at his regular Monday press conference if the quality of this week’s opponent would factor into a decision to rest running backs Nic Grigsby and Greg Nwoko.

That’s not a question that a coach is going to answer completely honestly — why, yes, Washington State is so lame that we’re going to use only our second-stringers — but it’s a reasonable point.

There really is no need to hurry Grigsby and Nwoko back onto the field against the Cougs. Those guys need the extra time off to heal shoulder sprains.

As it is, Stoops said both running backs are “very questionable,” for Saturday’s homecoming game, which begins at 1:30 p.m.

The time-off debate is different for defensive end Brooks Reed, whose ankle injury has kept him off the field for almost all of the past four games. His inactivity means it’s a good idea to get him re-acclimated to the speed of the game before a season-defining four-game stretch to end the season.

“Getting Brooks back this week will definitely improve our defensive position and our ability to rush off the edge,” Stoops said. “That is something that he consistently gives you every time he steps on the field.”

At running back against Washington State, Stoops can use heavy doses of Keola Antolin and Nick Booth. Or the Cats could throw abut 50 screen passes. Those are basically runs, anyway.

True freshman H-back Taimi Tutogi, who is a solidly built 250 pounds, played running back in high school and could be used in short yardage situations, Stoops said.

Preparing for a code red emergency, Arizona will have true freshman Daniel Jenkins ready to rip off his 2009 redshirt. But, if all goes well, he stays on the sideline with Grigsby and Nwoko.

Consider WSU’s defensive stats:

• 119th out of 120 teams in total defense (511.13 yards per game).
• 114th in rushing defense (220.38 yards per game).
• 114th in scoring defense (37.38 points per game).

So, the theme of the week for the Wildcats is not overlooking 1-7 Washington State, not getting heads that grow too big for their helmets with everyone congratulating them for being ranked for the first time in nine years.

Stoops joked that one of the benefits of being ranked — Arizona is No. 21 in the AP poll and No. 18 in the BCS standings — is seeing the team name scroll across the ESPN ticker during other college football games.

“I think you have to take pride in it to stay there,” Stoops said of the rankings.

“But we don’t want to be a one-shot wonder. We have played some awfully good football the last two years. You want to build a consistent Top 20, Top 25 program, and this is something you can take pride in.”

Arizona running backs Nic Grigsby and Greg Nwoko won’t practice this week while rehabbing shoulder sprains suffered last Saturday against UCLA, coach Mike Stoops said this afternoon. He didn’t make any prediction whether they would be available when UA resumes play after its bye week, at home against Washington State on Nov. 7.

“Nic and Greg will be week to week,” said Stoops, adding that he didn’t know which one would be back first. “”We’ll know more as they progress throughout the week. Keola is back healthy, and that was a big bonus for us, offensively.”

Keola Antolin, coming back from an ankle injury, played just the second half against UCLA, but rushed 16 times for 77 yards. He is strong enough to handle a significant workload, with a bit of a break from Nick Booth, if Grigsby and Nwoko can’t go against Washington State.

Stoops said the coaching staff will look at freshman running back Daniel Jenkins as an option, if UA gets any thinner at running back. Jenkins is one of two freshman running backs who are trying to redshirt. Wide receiver Bug Wright is another possibility.

Stoops said starting defensive end Brooks Reed, who has missed almost all of the Pac-10 season because of an ankle injury, will continue his rehab this week in an effort to be close to 100 percent for the Cougars game.

“We need to get Brooks back,” Stoops said. “He’s such a huge part of our defense. That is a huge part missing for us — his consistent pressure off the edge.”

UA-UCLA game blog

Arizona coach Mike Stoops said after Saturday’s 27-13 victory over UCLA that starting running back Nic Grigsby and third-string back Greg Nwoko each suffered sprains of the AC shoulder joint during the game.

For Grigsby, it’s an aggravation of an injury he has been playing with for a few weeks. He left the game in the first half. Nwoko left the game late in the third quarter and had his left arm in a sling as he left the field.

“How severe, to what degree, I will know more next week,” Stoops said.

Second-string back Keola Antolin, who didn’t practice late in the week and didn’t play in the first half as he was trying to rest an ankle injury, came in during the second half. He rushed 16 times for 77 yards and made what offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes called the play of the game.

Antolin gained 11 yards on a draw on third-and-10 from the UCLA 36 in the third quarter. Arizona scored on a 25-yard catch-and-run by Juron Criner one play later for a 20-6 lead.

“He still has been bothered by that ankle, but that’s the best he has looked in a while,” Stoops said. “It was good. we needed him. We needed to run the football.”

Fourth-stringer Nick Booth added a 6-yard touchdown run with 34 seconds left in the third quarter for the game’s final points.

Dykes joked that maybe some of UA’s receivers can help at running back; UA did have good luck running several fly sweeps to its wideouts (a combined nine carries for 95 yards). But running back depth could really be an issue for the next game — vs. Washington State on Nov. 7 — and beyond.

Who is behind Booth on the depth chart?

“Open tryouts for running backs,” Dykes joked.

You have to go down to Kylan Butler and Daniel Jenkins, both of whom are true freshmen who are redshirting.

“Hopefully, we won’t get to that point,” Dykes said. “We’ll probably get those guys some reps this week and see who we feel is a little bit further along, and go from there.”

Elsewhere, quarterback Nick Foles was suffering from the flu, which helps explain his mixed night. He threw three interceptions — two on deflected passes — and made a bad handoff exchange with Nwoko for a lost fumble on the first play of the second half. In general, he just wasn’t quite as sharp.

He threw a lateral that linebacker Akeem Ayers broke up and safety Tony Dye scooped up for a touchdown on a fumble return. Dykes said Foles had the option to call a run or a pass on that play, and should have called a run based on the defense.

“We kind of made a bad decision,” Dykes said. “The thing is, we’ve run a thousand of those this year and he’s made the (right) decision probably 98 percent of the time.”

Dykes said Foles seemed to wear down as the game went on, although Foles’ other numbers don’t look bad — 22 of 34 for 247 yards and two touchdowns.

“Probably didn’t play as well as he has been up to this point, but at some point, he was going to have to come back to earth,” Dykes said. “Tonight, he did. It was humbling. The good thing is he was tough enough to overcome it and make enough plays for us to have a chance to win. The defense, obviously, played fantastic.”

Speaking of that defense, it was without starting defensive end Brooks Reed again. Reed has missed almost all of the past four games because of an ankle injury. D’Aundre Reed, who has been playing with a broken hand, started the game in Brooks Reed’s spot, but aggravted the injury and came out in favor of Apai Tuihalamaka.

Stoops said the goal is to get Brooks Reed healthy during the bye week and especially have him ready to go for a rugged finish to the season — at Cal, vs. Oregon, at ASU, at USC.

“We’re trying to get Brooks back to full strength,” Stoops said. “The back end of our schedule, there is a lot there.”