C.J. Parish, here tackling Stanford running back Tyler Gaffney, would like more chances to be on the other side of these kind of collisions. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

There was a player down on the field, injured, late in the first half at the Casino Del Sol All-Star Game at Kino Stadium.

Someone mentioned that it was former Arizona Wildcats defensive end C.J. Parish. How could that be? His team was on offense. He was supposed to be on the sideline.

But it was Parish. When scouts asked him during practice last week to show them what he’s got at fullback, he gave them a nod and a smile and said, “Yes, sir.”

“Everybody has a dream to go to the next level,” Parish said after the Monday night’s game.

“So you do whatever you can to put yourself in that position. The scouts wanted to see me at fullback and we didn’t have one. I caught on fast. The plays came to me naturally. It was good.”

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Robert Golden breaks up a pass intended for ASU receiver Gerell Robinson in the November game. Photo by Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Former Arizona Wildcat defensive back Robert Golden will get a chance next week to start showing NFL scouts where he might end up in the secondary.

Golden is one of five ex-Cats who have committed to play in the Casino Del Sol All-Star Game, which will be played Jan. 16 at Kino Stadium.

The others are defensive ends C.J. Parish and Mohammed Usman and linebackers Paul Vassallo and Derek Earls.

Golden figures to be the best pro prospect of the bunch, ranked 244th overall by NFLDraftScout.com, which would put Golden near the end of the seventh round. His position flexibility — he started at cornerback and safety for Arizona — could be a plus.

“I feel I can be anywhere between a corner and a nickel back,” Golden said. “As a safety, I like to get physical in the box and I feel I can cover just as well as any corner out there.”

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Mohammed Usman

Mohammed Usman recounts his junior college exploits with a big smile, talking about sacking Cam Newton.

“That is a source of pride,” Usman said.

Usman, a new starter at defensive end for the Arizona Wildcats, will soon get a chance to add notches against Stanford’s Andrew Luck and a bunch of other top-flight quarterbacks on UA’s schedule. The production of Usman and the team’s other new starting end, C.J. Parish, will be critical to the defense’s success.

“It’s my last time to prove myself at the Division I level and show everybody I am capable of moving up to the next level,” said Usman, a senior who transferred from Navarro Community College in Texas after the 2009 season.

“I’m going to hold my own. I’m going to make sure every play the quarterback feels me, knows I am coming off that edge and make him think twice about running the ball my way. I have to instill that.

“Don’t run it my way, don’t throw it my way, don’t look my way, don’t even speak my way. My side is my side. That’s my edge. I don’t want anybody over there.”

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A shoulder injury kept Justin Washington on the sidelines for much of spring. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Here is the seventh part of our Arizona Wildcats football preview in collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic.

We write the words, and they have taken the cool photographs and put it all together in a slick presentation at azcentral.com.

Check back here and at azcentral.com every Friday as we roll out more of our preview every week, all the way into August.

This week: The defensive line.

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C.J. Parish celebrates with linebacker Jake Fischer (left) after a defensive stop in Saturday's scrimmage.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats senior C.J. Parish figured his career was over. He suffered a concussion last year against Iowa in the third game of the season. Symptoms lingered.

It wasn’t as if he was playing a lot anyway as a hybrid linebacker/defensive end/fullback.

“I was like, ‘This is all over,’” he said.

The bad news was the head injury kept him out of action for the rest of the season.

The good news is that the head injury kept him out of action for the rest of the season.

Because of that, Parish, who had never redshirted, qualified for a medical hardship. The NCAA approved the application, and Parish regained his season of eligibility.

Now, he is one of the big stories of Arizona’s spring ball.

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