Rob Gronkowski had a good time on the ESPYs red carpet with tennis player Daniela Hantuchova. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

NFL camps have started … do you know where your former Arizona Wildcats are?

Offseason news has been dominated by ex-UA tight end Rob Gronkowski, who followed up his record-setting second season with the New England Patriots with what is widely referred to as the “Summer of Gronk.”

Let the Boston Globe describe it:

“Gronkowski, in no particular order, won a celebrity home run derby at the Triple-A All-Star Game (reportedly hitting one 325 feet), appeared on The Choice, a dating show, co-hosted Access Hollywood Live, judged a celebrity bikini contest in Las Vegas and walked the ESPY’s red carpet. He also attended the premier of the movie “Ted,” hung out with Kim Kardashian, was one of the naked cover boys for ESPN The Magazine, and ran a viral video campaign trying to land on the cover of the Madden video game.

Oh, and he also signed a six-year contract extension worth $54 million – the richest deal ever given to a tight end. It includes $18.17 million in guaranteed money.”

Oh, to be Gronk.

Gronk is the headliner among the former Arizona Wildcats in the NFL, with 22 players on camp rosters.

Here is a look at who is where:

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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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Arizona Wildcats linebacker Paul Vassallo and kicker John Bonano earned first-team Pac-12 All-Academic honors, announced by the league Thursday.

It is the second such honor for Bonano, who has a 3.90 grade-point average in Physiology. Vassallo has a 3.48 GPA in Pre-Public Health.

Offensive lineman Carter Lees and defensive back Jared Tevis earned second-team All-Academic honors.

Two Wildcats earned honorable mention academic honors — offensive lineman Trace Biskin and Dave Roberts.

Paul Vassallo will be trying for his second season with 100-plus tackles. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Here is the eighth 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 linebackers.

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Vuna Tuihalamaka made 72 tackles for the Wildcats as a senior in 2009.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona coach Mike Stoops has signed on average five junior college recruits in each of his previous seven recruiting classes.

That’s how many he is expected to sign this year.

Three signed in December and enrolled for the spring semester — tight end Drew Robinson, center Addison Bachman and punter Kyle Dugandzic. Two more are expected to be announced today — defensive end Lamar De Rego and kicker Jaimie Salazar.

Stoops hasn’t signed any superstar from junior college as Dick Tomey did during his Arizona day. Tomey brought in, among others, punter Josh Miller, cornerback Chris McAlister and offensive linemen Glenn Parker, Edwin Mulitalo and Frank Middleton.

That’s a lot of NFL playing time right there.

Stoops hasn’t hit home runs like that but has found a steady stream of important pieces from junior college. The somewhat equal nature of all those transfers makes it tricky to create a beat-of list … but we’ll try.

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Arizona swarms to the ball to take down Washington running back Chris Polk/Photo by Chris Morrison, US PRESSWIRE

The focus, deservedly so, was on Arizona Wildcats quarterback Matt Scott in the 44-14 victory over Washington, but don’t forget about the standout performance by the defense.

Arizona, as I noted last week, had held four of its first six opponents to their season-low point total and had (in a different combination of teams) held four foes to their season-low yardage total.

How did the Cats do against Washington?

The Huskies’ 14 points tied their season low (against Arizona State) and their 290 yards were their second-lowest total of the year.

“As we keep going,” said senior defensive end Ricky Elmore, “every win gets more satisfying, makes us hungier and makes us want to work harder.”

It helped that Washington quarterback Jake Locker was bothered by a rib injury, which limited what the Huskies could do with him in the running game. He was 17 of 29 passing for 183 yards, and the Cats sacked him four times. He had only two other runs.

“He’s beat up,” said Washington coach Steve Sarkisian. “His ribs are hurting and I didn’t want to expose him.”

Arizona is seventh in total defense (13.43 points per game) and 10th in total defense (285.14 yards per game). Both marks lead the Pac-10.

It would be a quick show of hands from those who saw that coming.

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Was this game-winning TD pass from Nick Foles to Bug Wright against Iowa the Wildcats' Play of the Year so far?/Photo by Chris Morrison, US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats have reached the halfway point of their season at 5-1 overall, ranked 15th in the AP poll.

But it’s an uneasy time. Starting quarterback Nick Foles is out indefinitely with a knee injury, and while Mike Stoops said Foles will return this season, no one knows for sure exactly when that will be.

While the first half of the season was challenging — including Iowa — the second half of the schedule is ever more so, with Stanford, USC, Oregon and Arizona State in the final month.

And there’s this little nugget from history: The last time Arizona was 5-1 was the 2000 season … and then the schedule turned tougher, the Wildcats lost some painfully close games, and they ended up losing their final five games, costing coach Dick Tomey his job.

That’s just a reminder that, as is usually the case at this point of the year, anything could happen. The Wildcats’ season could range anywhere from historical splendor to heart-stabbing disappointment.

Let’s take a look at the first half of the season:

Please continue reading my story at FoxSportsArizona.com

Freshman receiver Austin Hill makes a catch over the coverage of freshman Jourdan Grandon/Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

The alarm clocks rang early.

“I try to wake up as late as I can, but I woke up at 4:45 to be on the bus at 5:30,” said Arizona senior defensive end Ricky Elmore. “You wake up and stumble into the locker room and try to get to the bus on time.”

The Arizona Wildcats began fall camp Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m., and other than a little to-be-expected rust, coach Mike Stoops liked what he saw physically.

“Overall, I’m pleased with what our guys look like,” Stoops said.

“Our young guys, watching them move around for the first day, there are going to be some guys who are going to help us from the recruiting class of a year ago. I can see that already.”

It was only the first day, so we’ll just have to wait a little bit on exactly who those guys are … but certainly freshman safety Marquis Flowers is one to watch (especially if the Wildcats seem intent on using a lot of nickel coverage).

And, as you can see from the photo snapped by Brad Allis of TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network partner WildcatSportsReport.com, freshman receiver Austin Hill made a couple of nice, difficult catches.

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Derek Earls is the new man in the middle for Arizona.
Photo by Brad Allis, WildcatSportsReport.com

Arizona released its post-spring depth chart Wednesday, and the starting linebacker spots came into clearer focus.

“Obviously, it’s the biggest question mark,” said Tim Kish, the linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator.

There’s no experience to speak of, but there are reasons for reasonable optimism.

“That’s the way we always look at it, with the glass half full,” Kish said.

What we know at the end of spring ball that we didn’t at the beginning is that mid-year junior college transfer Derek Earls should be solid at middle linebacker. And that sophomore Jack Fischer, from Ironwood Ridge High School, is a real find. And that … well, maybe that’s about it.

Here’s how Kish breaks it down:

MLB Derek Earls, Jr., 6-3, 235
Kish said Earls is a “little bit behind concepts-wise, but I have never had a guy come in from a juco situation and be able to transition that quickly at that position. He made a few mistakes, but he did them playing fast. If you’re going to make a mistake early, make it playing fast.

“He really has a tremendous upside. I’m really anxious to see how he will progress over the course of the summer and fall camp, and I anticipate him being a leader as well.”

SLB Jake Fischer, So., 5-11, 220
He doesn’t fit the physical profile that the UA coaches would like from their linebackers, but Kish seems to like everything else about Fischer, who mostly played on special teams as a true freshman. Fischer did enough to impress in spring, moving from the weak side to the strong side, even though he was limited with a foot problem. Kish said Fischer underwent surgery Tuesday to remove an extra bone from a foot.

“That’s a guy who is a little bit of a throwback,” Kish said.

“I tell you what, I just think his potential is great because he’s such a tough nut and he can do so many things for you. He can come off the edge. He can be in the gap in the core in run situations. He’s quick enough to help on the perimeter in pass situations. His flexibility and his toughness overshadow any lack of size he might have.”

WLB Paul Vassallo, Jr., 6-3, 240 and WLB R.J. Young, So., 5-11, 232
Vassallo and Young are listed as co-starters heading into the summer.

“Paul probably has not picked it up as quickly as Derek from a concepts standpoint and probably is not playing as fast right now, but I think potentially he could have the same impact as Derek,” Kish said.

“I think R.J. has been fairly steady all spring. I’m not giving either one of those guys the nod right now. I want them to compete all summer and in the offseason program and come out ready to compete again in the fall. Hopefully, the good news will be that both will help us.”

Also on the depth chart are redshirt freshman Trevor Erno and senior C.J. Parish at middle linebacker, and redshirt freshman Cordarius Golston at strong-side linebacker.

On Parish, Kish said: “He is going to play a little bit of defensive end for us. We’re trying to get that fast rush group going, and he could be a factor in that. I’m really pleased in the progression he’s made.”

Arizona has one incoming recruit at the position — freshman Kyle Benson from Tempe Corona del Sol High School — but he is recovering from a knee injury, which limits his chances of contributing in his first year.