Rob Gronkowski running after the catch was one of the best parts of the Mike Stoops era. Tucson Citizen photo

Mike Stoops was the football coach of the Arizona Wildcats for 7 1/2 seasons, during which time he brought in some of the program’s all-time brightest stars.

Cornerback Antoine Cason won the 2007 Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back and was a late first-round pick in 2008.

Wide receiver Mike Thomas is the Pac-12 career leader in receptions.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski was a beast — albeit, all too briefly at Arizona — before quickly becoming a star with the New England Patriots.

Senior quarterback Nick Foles is on pace to rewrite several school season and career passing records in the next six week.

There definitely were some high notes, but in putting together an All-Stoops team, a couple of issues emerge — the dearth of standouts on the offensive line and a lack of explosive playmakers at linebacker.

Here is a look at the best who played for Stoops — the All-Stoops team:

QB — Nick Foles
For now, Willie Tuitama has Arizona’s career passing record with 9,211 yards, and his early commitment for Stoops’ 2005 recruiting class was perhaps the first big sign that the program was moving again in the right direction.

But Foles is closing in on Tuitama’s record with 7,931 career yards. If he continues at his pace in the first half of the season (375.8 yards per game), he’ll finish the season with 10,186 yards.

RB — Mike Bell, Nic Grigsby
Stoops inherited Bell, who rushed for a combined 1,896 yards and 10 touchdowns in the coach’s first two seasons at Arizona. Grigsby battled injuries in his final two seasons and wasn’t able to replicate his sophomore season (1,153 yards and 13 touchdowns), but he did finish with 2,957 career rushing yards and 28 rushing touchdowns.

This is Mike Thomas scoring on a punt return vs. Washington in 2008. Photo by Gregory Shamus, Getty Images Sport

WR — Mike Thomas, Juron Criner
Thomas was a contributor from his very first game — seven catches for 92 yards and a touchdown at Utah in 2005 — and never stopped putting up good numbers. By the time his career ended with a catch on the final play of the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl, he had a Pac-12 record 260 catches.

Criner makes the list on the strength of his brilliant junior season (82 catches, 1,233 yards, 11 touchdowns). His 24 receiving touchdowns are tied for second in school history.

TE — Rob Gronkowski
He played in only 22 games at Arizona, sitting out 2009 because of back problems and then leaving for the NFL with two seasons of eligibility remaining, but he holds school season and career records for receptions, yards and touchdowns by a tight end.

Gronkowski, a third-team All-American in 2008, had 75 catches for 1,197 yards and 16 touchdowns in those 22 games. And UA fans will forever wonder if his presence in 2009 could have lifted Arizona past Oregon in a mid-November game. The Ducks won in double overtime, robbing the Cats of the chance to be in the driver’s seat for the Pac-12 title.

OL — Colin Baxter, Eben Britton, Adam Grant, Joe Longacre, Mike Diaz
Baxter, with a school-record 48 consecutive starts, is the clear pick at center. Britton was the only Arizona offensive lineman to earn first-team all-conference honors during the Stoops years.

Grant persevered through injuries and became a second-team all-league choice in 2009 and 2010. Longacre, a guard, provided stability with 40 career starts. Diaz started 20 games after transferring from junior college, the bulk of them at left tackle during 2009.

DL — Brooks Reed, Ricky Elmore, Earl Mitchell, Lionel Dotson
Reed and Elmore were high-energy ends for Stoops’ most recent teams. Elmore had 21.5 sacks in the past two seasons. Reed earned first-team all-conference honors last season and had 17 career sacks.

Mitchell and Dotson are the All-Stoops tackles. Mitchell was an anchor after moving from fullback for his final two seasons and developing into an NFL talent. Dotson’s senior season in 2007 — 50 tackles, including nine for loss and 6.5 sacks — was the best for an Arizona interior defensive lineman in several years.

Spencer Larsen takes on USC's Joe McKnight in a 2007 game. Photo by Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images

LB — Spencer Larsen, Ronnie Palmer, Xavier Kelley
Larsen returned from a two-year church mission after playing as a freshman in 2002 and joined Stoops’ squad for the 2005 season. He made 131 tackles as a senior in an All-Pac-10 season, and his 312 career tackles were the most for a UA player in the decade.

Palmer, who started 41 games, led the Cats in tackles (85) and tackles for loss (11) in 2008.

The third spot is up for debate. Sterling Lewis? Vuna Tuihalamaka? Paul Vassallo? All were junior college transfers. Kelley — undersized but speedy — was a four-year player who was second-team all-league in 2009.

CB — Antoine Cason, Trevin Wade
Cason had 15 career interceptions, with highlight-making returns for touchdowns in a 2006 upset of No. 8 Cal and a 2006 upset of No. 2 Oregon a year later. Wade gets the nod over Wilrey Fontenot and others. Wade, a senior, has 11 career interceptions and 27 pass break-ups.

S — Darrell Brooks, Michael Johnson
Brooks was a leader on Stoops’ early teams and the coach’s first all-conference player, winning first-team honors in 2005. Johnson was a key junior college transfer, with 107 tackles and five interceptions in two seasons. Plenty of other solid candidates to consider: Cam Nelson, Nate Ness, Robert Golden.

P — Danny Baugher
A leftover from the John Mackovic era, Baugher punter for Stoops for two season and was leading the nation in punting in 2005 when his season ended in the seventh game because of an ACL injury. His average of 47.5 yards that season qualifies as the school season record.

PK — Nick Folk
Jason Bondzio was more accurate on field goals, but Folk had a big leg and went on to make a name for himself in the NFL. Folk, in 2006, also was the Pac-10′s first-team all-conference punter, averaging 44 yards per attempt.

AP — Syndric Steptoe
Steptoe was a versatile performer for the Wildcats, including two punt returns for touchdowns. He played briefly pre-Stoops in 2003, finishing his career with 1,584 receiving yards, 590 punt return yards and 1,757 kick return yards.

Rob Gronkowski celebrates his 10th touchdown of his rookie season, which came against Miami on Jan. 2. Photo by Stew Milne-US PRESSWIRE

Updates with the Vikings waiving OL Conan Amituanai, and the Lions waiving RB Mike Bell and S Michael Johnson on Monday. The Bengals, according to a report, reached an injury settlement with DT Lolomana Mikele before releasing him.

As of Monday night there were 19 former Arizona Wildcats football players on NFL rosters; teams have to cut to 80 by Tuesday and then to 53 by Sept. 3.

Several ex-Cats won’t survive those cuts but could end up on practice squads or hook on with other teams.

Since camps began, seven former Arizona players have been waived — rookie free agent OL Conan Amituanai (Minnesota), rookie free agent receiver Travis Cobb (Chicago), rookie free agent DT Lolomana Mikaele (Cincinnati), running back Chris Henry (Seattle), running back Mike Bell (Lions), defensive back Michael Johnson (Lions) and veteran tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, who failed his physical in Chicago.

Here is a breakdown of who is still standing, for now:

Colin Baxter, C, San Diego
Baxter, who started an Arizona Wildcats record 48 consecutive games, probably won’t crack the final roster as an undrafted free agent, but he does seem a good bet for the practice squad. He also has played guard in preseason games.

Lance Briggs, LB, Chicago
The six-time Pro Bowl player is the most-decorated of the former Wildcats in the NFL, and he has been a stalwart on the Bears’ defense for the past eight seasons, recording 864 tackles. But there could be trouble brewing.

The 30-year-old Briggs is unhappy about his contract, according to the Chicago Tribune, and will demand a trade if he doesn’t get a new one before the end of this season. He will make $3.9 million this season (with bonuses), $4 million next season and $6.5 million in 2013, according to the Tribune.

Eben Britton, OT, Jacksonville
Britton started 15 games at right tackle as a rookie in 2009 and appears to have a long career ahead of him. He missed the final nine games of last season with a shoulder injury, and is suffering from a back injury right now, but he hopes to be ready for the season-opener.

Antoine Cason, DB, San Diego
Cason flourished last season as a starting cornerback in his third year in the NFL, making four interceptions and breaking up 17 passes. He also averaged 16.5 yards on 14 punt returns.

Lionel Dotson, DT, Buffalo
Dotson has been on and off the Miami Dolphins active roster for the past three seasons, appearing in seven games. He seems to be on the bubble with the Bills.

Ricky Elmore, OLB, Green Bay
The rookie sixth-round pick has struggled in camp, according to various reports, as he adjusts to outside linebacker after being a standout defensive end for the Wildcats. He has to work to do to make the final cut.

Nick Folk, PK, New York Jets
Folk, who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie with the Dallas Cowboys in 2007, connected on 30 of 39 field goals last season, his first with the Jets. He re-signed with New York on a one-year deal and is battling Nick Novak for a Jets’ roster spot in the preseason. Folk has made 94 of 120 field goals in four NFL seasons (94 of 120) and all 168 of his extra-point attempts.

Adam Grant, OT, Denver
Overcame injury problems at Arizona to land as a rookie free agent with the Broncos.

Nic Grigsby tries to get away from Atlanta linebacker Robert James in a preseason game. Photo by Dale Zanine-US PRESSWIRE

Nic Grigsby, RB, Miami
Grigsby, probably the most intriguing of the rookie free agents from Arizona, wowed the scouts at UA’s Pro Day in the spring. The Dolphins’ recent signing of veteran Larry Johnson adds to the competition, as Miami already has Reggie Bush and rookie second-rounder Daniel Thomas ahead of Grigsby on the depth chart.

Chris Gronkowski, FB, Dallas
Gronkowski became the Cowboys’ starting fullback last season after joining the team as an undrafted free agent. He’s fighting for a roster spot now with Shaun Chapas and Jason Pociask.

Rob Gronkowski, TE, New England
Had an excellent 2011 season, making 42 catches for 546 yards and 10 touchdowns, which was a franchise record for a rookie. He finished the regular season with his first 100-yard day — with six receptions for 102 yards against Miami. No former Arizona Wildcat had ever made more than seven TD receptions in an NFL season.

Chris Jennings, RB, New York Jets
Jennings, who walked-on to Arizona as a junior college transfer, was playing in the Canadian Football League in 2009 when the Cleveland Browns called. He ended up rushing 63 times for 220 yards that season. He didn’t play in the NFL in 2010, but signed with the Jets in January. Jennings, trying to make the team behind Shonn Greene, LaDainian Tomlinson and Joe McKnight, had a 69-yard run against the Bengals in a preseason game.

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 is exclusively an offensive player, and he appears headed for a more prominent blocking role as the Broncos will feature more of a power running game this season.

Earl Mitchell, DT, Houston
Second-year pro is battling with former USC Trojan Shaun Cody for a starting spot at nose tackle in the Texans’ new 3-4 scheme. Mitchell made 28 tackles last season as a rookie.

Nate Ness, DB, Miami
Has spent time with four teams after originally signing with the Cleveland Browns as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2009. Hooked up with the Dolphins during the 2010 season after being released by Seattle. He played in three games with Miami.

Brooks Reed, LB, Houston
The second-round pick is making a successful transition from defensive end to outside linebacker, and had two sacks in a preseason game against New Orleans. From the Houston Chronicle: Texans rookie Reed a real stand-up guy.

D’Aundre Reed, DE, Minnesota
Reed, despite being a backup at Arizona, was intriguing enough as an athlete to be a seventh-round pick in 2011. Reports indicated he looked good early in camp before suffering a camp injury. He’s a solid bet to survive the final cut.

Mike Thomas, WR, Jacksonville
Thomas, a fourth-round pick in 2009, set a franchise rookie record with 48 catches for 453 yards. He followed up in 2010 with team-highs in catches (66) and receiving yards (820), highlighted by one of the plays of the year in the NFL, catching a deflected Hail Mary pass from David Garrard for a last-play touchdown for a 31-24 win over Houston (see video below).

Vuna Tuihalamaka, LB, Indianapolis
He signed in early August after spending the 2010 camp with the Colts as an undrafted free agent. He spent brief time on the Seattle Seahawks practice squad late last season.

Arizona's Nic Grigsby makes a move against Cal last season. Photo by Chris Morrison, US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona running back Nic Grigsby was set to sign as a free agent with the Miami Dolphins, according to various reports Monday night.

Grigsby, who was not drafted in April, couldn’t talk to teams until the NFL lockout ended — which happened Monday — and now he will have to try to make up for lost time.

He should be one of the more intriguing signings among the undrafted free agents because, after battling injuries in his final two seasons at Arizona, he wowed NFL scouts at the Wildcats’ Pro Day in March. He posted a vertical jump of 45 inches and ran a sub 4.4-second 40-yard dash.

After a big sophomore season, Grigsby was on pace to become the school’s career leading rusher, but the nagging injuries left him well short. He still finished with 2,957 career yards and 28 rushing touchdowns.

Grigsby recently talked to KOLD Channel 13 about the lockout, his offseason workouts and his injuries (you can see the interview on KOLD.com.)

Grigsby stunned NFL scouts with his vertical jump at Saturday's pro day on the Arizona campus. Photo by Channel 13's Damien Alameda, via Twitter

NFL scouts couldn’t believe it. They had arrived in Tucson for Saturday morning’s pro day on campus with preconceived ideas about most of the Arizona Wildcats prospects.

So when running back Nic Grigsby — generally considered a late-round possibility — went up, up, up for a vertical jump of 45 inches, scouts figured something must be wrong.

“They said it was bent. They said it was on a hill. They said it was the wind,” Grigsby said. “I don’t care. They said they had never seen it before.”

Scouts re-measured the bar and made Grigsby do it over again.

He jumped 43.5 inches.

Even going with that number, that was better than anybody who participated in the NFL scouting combine last month.

“You’ve got to make a statement,” Grigsby said.

And then Grigsby made scouts rub their eyes again.

He posted scorching times in the 40-yard dash, including unofficial times of 4.34 seconds for his first attempt and 4.40 seconds (with a slight stumble) in his second attempt. Grigsby said a couple of scouts had him in the 4.2 range on his first run. Another estimate was 4.31 seconds.

Whatever the fractions are, fast is fast and high is high … and Grigsby very well might have made himself some money Saturday morning.

“My trainers were hitting me up this morning, talking about 4.2 this, 4.2 that,” Grigsby said. “I was like, ‘That’s blazing.’ But 4.31 is pretty good.”

All this doesn’t quite sound like the Grigsby of the past two seasons, when he battled injuries. When healthy as a senior, he split time at tailback with Keola Antolin. Grigsby could never duplicate his sophomore season, when he rushed for 1,153 yards and 13 touchdowns.

So, what happened to Grigsby since the Alamo Bowl?

His said his first instinct was to stay in Tucson and train with Arizona strength coach Corey Edmond. Edmond, however, advised that Grigsby find a facility that could offer him more attention, which is how the running back ended up in Scottsdale, working out for about 10 weeks at ZONE Athletic Performance.

He said he checked in Saturday at 202 pounds.

Again, scouts — representing 28 teams — sensed that something must be wrong.

“When I weighed in, they were like, ‘Step back on the scale again,’ because I was a little guy when I was playing here,” Grigsby said.

This was Grigsby’s first major chance in front of the scouts; he said he was bumped from the Combine because of juniors leaving early.

A draft profile published on the Sporting News website on Friday projected Grigsby as a sixth-round pick. And that was with old information: 194 pounds, a 4.54-second 40 time.

Grigsby said he has been hearing fourth- to seventh-round projections.

“Hopefully, I go higher,” he said.

At least now he has the scouts’ full attention and their compliments.

He’ll continue his training in Tucson before April’s draft … and he’ll continue that training with a new bounce in his very-fast step.

“Now, I feel much better waiting,” he said. “I don’t have to walk around with my head down.”

Nic Grigsby runs against Toledo in the 2010 season opener.
Photo by Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Neither of running back Nic Grigsby‘s final two seasons at Arizona went as planned. A shoulder injury in 2009. Ankle problems in 2010.

Nothing he can do about that now.

For Grigsby, it is all about looking forward, trying to show the pro scouts the promise of his earlier years as an Arizona Wildcat, which included a 1,153-yard sophomore season.

He is training in Scottsdale at ZONE Athletic Performance and will play Sunday in the Eastham Energy College All-Star Game at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Fox Sports Arizona will carry the game starting at 5:30 p.m.

In terms of a showcase, it’s not the Senior Bowl, or even the East-West Shrine Game, but it’s an opportunity nonetheless.

“All the scouts here come every day and talk to you about what plans you have and what plans they would like to see from here,” Grigsby told Kevin McCabe on 1060-AM The Fan in Phoenix on Wednesday afternoon.

“Lots of scouts have been talking to me. Lots of scouts know what I’m capable of doing, but they know I can’t run on a bad ankle, can’t run with a bad shoulder. They know that. They just want me to do my best and just explode come camp time.”

Grigsby is one of three running backs on the “Stripes” team. The others are Oklahoma’s Mossis Madu and Iowa State’s Alexander Robinson. One of the quarterbacks for the Stripes — the other team is the Stars — is Jeremiah Masoli, formerly of Oregon and Ole Miss.

Grigsby finished his senior season with 118 carries for 533 yards and eight touchdowns. His career total of 2,957 rushing yards is the sixth-best total in school history. He also had 85 receptions for 508 yards and three scores.

He had more carries as a sophomore (214) than he did in his final two seasons combined, and that had a lot to do with injuries.

“There is a lot of frustration because I could have been out there doing good for my team, doing anything I could to help my team, just being a sparkplug,” he said in the radio interview.

“I wasn’t able to be a sparkplug for the team this year as much as I wanted to. It was very frustrating because I hate spectating. I knew I could be out there making plays. … Just gotta stay healthy, that’s all.”

Grigsby said he is hearing he could be a fourth- to seventh-round selection, although NFLDraftScout.com doesn’t even list him as a free-agent possibility.

Workouts for pro scouts — this week and in the next few months — will tell the tale.

NOTES

–Grigsby is the only Arizona player in the game, but he has three former Arizona State players on his team. As often happens at all-star events, players ask other players to exchange helmet stickers. “One of the ASU guys came up asking for an ‘A,’ and I said, ‘You’re crazy. Nah, you can’t get one of these. I don’t want one of yours,’” Grigsby said. “It was pretty funny.”

–Two former Wildcats — defensive end Ricky Elmore and offensive tackle Adam Grant — will participate in the East-Shrine Game in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday.

–Defensive end Brooks Reed was officially added Wednesday to the Senior Bowl, the most prestigious of the postseason all-star games. The Senior Bowl will be held Jan. 29 in Mobile, Ala.

Arizona's Nic Grigsby has 82 carries for 423 yards this season. Photo by Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats running back Nic Grigsby has only six carries in the past two games, and it’s starting to look like 2009 all over again.

Grigsby, after a sophomore season in which he rushed for 1,153 yards and 13 touchdowns, had the bulk of his 2009 season wiped out with a lingering shoulder injury.

He rushed for 400 yards in the three non-conference games last season but then suffered the shoulder injury on the first carry of the first Pac-10 game.

Grigsby was never healthy after that, carrying just 26 times in the conference season. Thankfully for the Wildcats, one of those was a brilliant 57-yard game-winning touchdown late in the comeback over Stanford.

Now, he’s at a moment of frustration again.

He suffered a sprained ankle in the first half at UCLA on Oct. 30, and he tested the ankle for one carry at Stanford last weekend before shutting it down.

“With ankle injuries, an awkward little moment, an awkward little twist and turn, it can be not good,” he said.

While he’s not running, he’s running out of time.

This hasn’t been the big comeback senior season he might have wished for, but the Cats could still use Grigsby in a tough closing stretch, which is why the word is he is pushing himself hard in practice.

He has only four games left, including a bowl.

Grigsby, after Tuesday’s practice, called his status for this week a game-time decision.

“I’ll see how it feels in pre-game and then go from there,” he said.

“It’s very frustrating. It’s just a thing where you have to let it heal and come back whenever you’re ready. I mean, running backs can’t run on bad ankles or bad knees.

“You have to go to treatment day in and day out, three or four times a day, which I’ve been doing, so we’ll see what happens.”

Even when Grigsby was healthy, the running back position has been a time-share with junior Keola Antolin, a hard-running fireplug of a tailback.

Antolin has rushed 82 times for 473 yards in the past five games.

“The good thing is we have depth at that position,” said co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Seth Littrell.

But neither Antolin nor third-stringer Greg Nwoko has Grigsby’s scatback moves, and Grigsby is also the team’s best back at threatening the perimeter of the defense.

Yeah, sometimes he dances too much instead of being decisive in attacking the line of scrimmage. But while he occasionally makes nothing out of something, he also will, sometimes spectacularly, make something out of nothing.

There was a time early last season before the shoulder injury when it looked as if he could break Trung Canidate’s school record of 3,824 rushing yards. Not going to happen. Too many injuries.

His 2,847 career yards rank sixth in UA history.

How much does he have left?

How much can he do on the balky ankle?

“With me, my body is going this way and my legs are going that way, so it’s tough,” he said of the sprained ankle. “You just have to stay positive about it. Stay watching film, just stay prepared and stay mentally focused.”

Arizona's NIc Grigsby is averaging 8.4 yards on 19 carries this season/Photo by Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

(NOTE: We bring you an Iowa view from our Gannett sister paper in Des Moines. For more, visit Hawk Central, a collaboration of Gannett’s Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen).

By Andrew Logue

IOWA CITY — Glimpses.

That’s all Christian Ballard and his Iowa defensive teammates saw of Arizona’s three-pronged offense.

The Wildcats were still in the tinkering stages last September when they lost 27-17 at Kinnick Stadium.

When the Hawkeyes travel west for Saturday’s rematch, they’ll encounter a unit that prides itself on precision.

Arizona’s multiple-spread attack centers around three primary playmakers: Nic Grigsby (tailback), Nick Foles (quarterback) and Juron Criner (receiver).

They form the nucleus for one of the nation’s most prolific offenses, averaging 503.5 yards and 46.5 points.

“We were young last year,” Foles told reporters this week. “I think we’ve grown together as a team, and that’s going to be key in this game.”

With two days remaining before a showdown between Iowa (No. 9 in the Associated Press poll, No. 10 in the USA Today coaches’ poll) and Arizona (24th AP, 18th coaches’) it’s time to take a closer look at the Wildcat trio:

• Grigsby, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound senior, ranked among the NCAA rushing leaders when Arizona arrived in Iowa City last year.

He ran for 325 yards in two previous games, but finished with 75 on 11 carries against the Hawkeyes.

“He’s got a little shake to him,” linebacker Tyler Nielsen said. “He can avoid tacklers because of his speed and quickness.

“We’re going to have to be flying around out there.”

A sore shoulder plagued Grigsby last fall, but he returned healthy this season and is averaging 8.4 yards per rush.

“I didn’t say it publicly last year; but I’ll say it now, I was hoping he would come out in the (NFL) draft (last spring),” Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Now, we get to see him again.”

• Foles was the Arizona backup, until he replaced struggling quarterback Matt Scott in the fourth quarter at Iowa.

He completed 6-of-11 passes for 55 yards, and was named the starter the next week.

“This guy likes to stand in the pocket,” Ballard said. “He has a great arm, so we’re going to have to get some pressure on him.

“Their offensive line is really big, so we’re going to have to come up with some pass-rushing schemes so we can get around these guys.”

Foles (6-5, 245 pounds) owns the nation’s second-highest completion rate (83.1 percent), behind Northwestern’s Dan Persa (86.4 percent).

“Last year, we were more concerned with the run from the quarterback position,” Ferentz said, referring to Scott. “Foles is not looking to run; he’s looking to throw the football.

“He does it very well.”

• The Wildcats boast eight pass catchers who have made at least four receptions, but Criner creates the most concern.

He is listed at 6-4, 210 pounds.

“He brings a lot of problems to the table,” safety Tyler Sash said. “He’s a big, physical guy, with good hands.”

Criner leads Arizona with 19.7 yards per catch and 118 yards a game.

“They like to get him the ball in the slot,” Sash said, “or out in the open and run screens with him.”

Criner caught just one pass against the Hawkeyes, a 10-yard touchdown from Foles, with 1:53 remaining.

Earlier this week, Criner told reporters that Foles “changed the whole game.”

“Things started going a little faster. Things started clicking a little more,” he said. “We just needed a little more time.”

The Wildcats will have time, and a retooled offense, on Saturday.

“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Sash said. “It’s going to be a challenge for us all across the board.”

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had all nice things to say about Arizona, which he beat 27-17 last season/2009 photo by Andrew Weber-US PRESSWIRE

Lucky for us, Iowa is one of those schools that provides a full, court-reporter-like transcript of its football coach’s weekly news conference. You can read more than 4,500 words of Q&A here.

Or you can have someone parse the parts really relevant to an Arizona fan. You’re welcome.

One note: Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said it was doubtful that defensive coordinator Norm Parker would make the trip to Tucson. Parker, 68, is a diabetic and has been hospitalized recently.

On to the quotes from Tuesday (interesting stuff, I thought, about Nic Grigsby below):

Ferentz’s opening remarks on Arizona:

“We’re playing a team that a year ago we felt was an excellent football team coming into our game. We felt even stronger about that afterwards. They just had a very good football team. Certainly, after our game, they went on and had an excellent season, made a change at quarterback, shifted their philosophy a little bit offensively. And he (Nick Foles) certainly responded and did very well last year.

“And they’re off just to a tremendous start this year. So they’ve got a team that’s got good size, got very athletic players. They’re very experienced, and they’re off to a very, very strong start. And, again, I think it’s all good for them still. So I’m guessing they’ll be a team that’s going to contend for the championship in the Pac-10.”

Q. What do you like about their defense? They’re really thriving, too?

COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, they graduated two very good defensive tackles last year. We thought they were excellent players. All three of their linebackers and a couple of DBs, you won’t even know those guys are gone.

I think they’re at the point — Mike’s been there for a long time. You can see this thing gradually being built. I said a year ago when we played them looked like all their efforts had finally paid off. They were becoming a very good football team the end of the ’08 season. Excellent team last year. Now like most teams they graduate some good players but they’ve got a lot of good guys that have stepped in and done a great job.

So we’re trying to find some weaknesses on that defense. I’m not sure — their linebackers are new. They’re inexperienced, but their older guys, JC guys, a couple of them at least. They’re not like they’re 18 years and just out of high school. It’s going to be a real challenge. They do a nice job keeping them protected.

Q. How about the receiver Criner, Juron Criner, they have a lot of guys that catch the ball, but looks like he’s maybe the most dangerous?

COACH FERENTZ: They do a nice job spreading him around. He’s a big, physical guy. 6’4″ guy. Strong. His size presents some problems. And Douglas is another guy that’s really a good football player. They do a good job getting the ball to their backs. They’ve got three backs the one guy is more of a runner. The other two guys are very good in the passing game. We saw last year firsthand how explosive Grigsby is. You let him loose, it will be bad quick. Good player.

Q. Was there a key to slowing Grigsby down last year?

COACH FERENTZ: It’s easier said than done. Everybody has to be in the right spot. Can’t let him get started. I didn’t say it publicly last year; wouldn’t have been appropriate. But I’ll say it now, I was hoping he would come out in the Draft after our game. Kind of made a mental note of that one. Didn’t happen. Now we get to see him again.

(Note: Grigsby had 11 carries for 75 yards against Iowa last season.)

Q. You mentioned Foles, does he remind you of anybody else you faced?

COACH FERENTZ: I don’t know. I’m not good in the comparison game. But he’s a very good thrower. He’s not looking to run, I’m not saying he can’t run. He doesn’t look to run. Whereas last year Scott, that was his game. Strongest part of his game. And he’s not hanging with the ball back there either. He’s getting it. He gets it out and spreads it around nicely. So they’ve got a lot of guys that can do something with the ball once they get it. They’ve got a good scheme. Looks like he’s really comfortable and confident in the scheme. So that’s the most important thing.

QB Nick Foles is showing complete command of the UA offense/Photo by Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

NOTE: This part of the weekly “Nothin’ But The Notes” column at WildcatSportsReport.com, written by me and Javier Morales. Follow the link for more football and loads of basketball recruiting.

One of the many encouraging things about Arizona’s opening game against the Toledo was the absolute control, the calmness, that quarterback Nick Foles showed.

Even when the offense sputtered in the first half, there was absolutely no panic, and first-year quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo said that comes from Foles being a dedicated student of he game in the offseason.

“The thing with Nick is that he’s knowledgeable,” Scelfo said. “He knew what he was doing. He felt comfortable with the game plan. It’s like taking a test and knowing the answers. He had a great offseason.”

One thing Scelfo and head coach Mike Stoops mentioned as an area of improvement is getting to the line and getting the ball snapped fast.

“We have a chance to put the defense at a little bit of a disadvantage is we can pick up the tempo a little bit more,” Scelfo said.

Trivia question
Did you know that there are seven former Arizona football assistants who are now head coaches at some level of college football? Probably not. Question is, how many can you name? Answer below.

More Matt
Backup Matt Scott has been earning positive offseason reviews from coaches and media for his improvement over last season. Here is Scelfo on how Scott did against Toledo: “We got the same guy in the game that we have been getting in practice which is what we wanted to see.”

Scott should get ample time Saturday night against The Citadel (perhaps Bryson Beirne, too, which would be good to see). The thing about Scott is that it looks as if he has a great chance to be more than just a running change-up when he comes in the game, which will keep defenses honest.

Run, Nic, run
The 36-yard touchdown run against Toledo was vintage Nic Grigsby, using his great change-of-direction kills to cut past defenders on the way to the end zone. He said that run felt a bit like it was in slow motion, as he was able to pick up the defenders and make adjustments to avoid them.

“When I first got here, it was going 110 miles an hour,” he said. “The next year it slowed down. The next year, it slowed down again. Now, it’s like I can feel everything. I can feel guys flowing on the field, and that’s just part of experience.”

Trivia answer
Trivia answer about former UA assistant coaches: Seven. They are (with years at Arizona in parentheses):

Sonny Dykes (2007-09), Louisiana Tech; Rich Ellerson (1992-1995; 1997-2000), Army; Pat Hill (1990-91), Fresno State; Rob Ianello (1993-2002), Akron; Ron McBride (1987-1989), Weber State; Mose Rison (2003), North Carolina Central; Eric Wolford (2004-06), Youngstown State.

Much, much more at WSR’s “Nothing But the Notes”.

Juron Criner is off to a fast start with 10 catches against Toledo/Rick Osentoski/US PRESSWIRE

I can imagine it’s a daunting task to rank all the senior wide receivers in high school, but it’s nearly impossible to fathom that Juron Criner was rated the nation’s 167th-best wideout after the 2007 season.

Yep. That was the judgment of Scout.com, which gave him a two-star rating, which is pretty much the basement-level rating for any recruit that signs with a major-college team.

You know who else was once a two-star recruit? Arizona junior cornerback Trevin Wade (by Rivals.com) in the 2007 class.

I was thinking about all this while contributing a story on Criner for FoxSportsArizona.com — Criner making the leap to elite receiver. There are some kids the recruiting services just miss on, for whatever reason.

But I think it’s worth noting that while fans cheer, puff out their chests and mock their rivals when their team signs four- and five-star recruits, a good eye for talent and player development is an acceptable substitute.

This is where Arizona coach Mike Stoops and his staff come in.

Make a list of UA’s best players. Criner and Wade we know were two-star recruits, almost ignored by one of the major recruiting services. Seniors Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore are now arguably the best pair of defensive ends in the Pac-10. Reed, back in the 2006 class, was Scout.com’s 80th-best running back; Elmore was the 79th-best defensive end.

Center Colin Baxter was the nation’s 76th-best offensive lineman in the 2006 class.

In 2007, Nick Foles was merely a middlin’ three-star quarterback headed to Michigan State. Nic Grigsby was the 99th-best running back in the country.

Not a four-star recruit in the bunch. Their signings mostly drew a collective shrug of the shoulders from fans.

Anybody would love a team filled with five-star guys like Rob Gronkowski. But Stoops has certainly developed a nice eye for talent, no matter the rating, and then strength coach Corey Edmond has to be given a huge assist in terms of molding that talent.

“Evaluation and development are two areas that you have to be good at if you want to continually improve your team,” Stoops said.

Let’s look at Criner. It’s not as if he was a super sleeper in high school. He caught 25 touchdown passes during his senior season at Canyon Springs High School in Las Vegas. At 6 feet 4 inches, he had size. He was working on his speed. He had what coaches call “ball skills,” the ability to have the body control to go up and out-maneuver a defensive back for the football, a product of his basketball-playing ability.

Dave Nichol, Arizona’s outside receivers coach, was one of the team’s grad assistants when the Wildcats were recruiting Criner.

“You look at a 6-4 guy who has good ball skills, you know that’s kind of an easy find. You could tell that if he grew and matured and we could get the rawness out, he was going to be pretty good,” Nichol said.

“You just saw him and it was like, ‘I can work with that kind of stuff.’”

Criner wasn’t a plug-and-play kind of recruit. He did play as a true freshman, but caught only seven passes. He began to emerge in the second half of last season, becoming Foles’ go-to-guy. He finished with 45 catches for 582 yards and nine touchdowns.

Basically, he worked and grew confident. And now …

It has taken him a couple of years, but he appears to have caught up to the consensus top receiver recruits from the 2008 class — Alabama’s Julio Jones, Georgia’s A.J. Green, Ohio State’s DeVier Posey, Southern Miss’ DeAndre Brown, Pitt’s Jon Baldwin and Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd.

From No. 167 to ranking with the best.

His huge opening game against Toledo — 10 catches for 176 yards and two Plays of the Day on SportsCenter — marks what should be a breakout season for the former two-star recruit.

“I think Juron has made a lot of strides in his maturity and his consistency,” Stoops said.

“Either you come to realize this is the way you are going to do it or you don’t. I mean, he’s got a whole bunch of talent. I think he’s starting to see it and realize he can be pretty special. But you have to work hard.”

From Oct. 2009: A little luck helped UA uncover a gem in Trevin Wade