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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Jake Fischer (left) and Paul Vassallo are two of Arizona's three returning starting linebackers.
Photo by Chris Morrision-US PRESSWIRE

The Arizona Wildcats depth chart at linebacker has taken a hit, as sophomore R.J. Young and redshirt freshman Trevor Erno have left the team.

“We’re working with five linebackers right now,” coach Mike Stoops said after Wednesday’s practice. “Yeah, we’re thin.”

The three starters return — 2010 leading tackler Paul Vassallo, Derek Earls and Jake Fischer. The backups for now are freshman Kyle Benson, a Tempe Corona del Sol graduate who redshirted last season, and senior Bilal Muhammed, who walked-on to the team last August.

The good news?

“We’re two-deep with our nickel package,” Stoops said.

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Jake Fischer

Three Arizona Wildcats made the Pac-10 All-Academic football team, announced Tuesday morning.

They are starting sophomore linebacker Jake Fischer, who has a 3.42 grade-point average in pre-Business; starting senior safety Anthony Wilcox, who has a 3.05 GPA in Religious Studies, and junior placekicker John Bonano, who has a 3.90 GPA in Pre-Physiology. Bonano is the team’s kickoff specialist.

Two Wildcats earned second-team honors — redshirt sophomore linebacker R.J. Young (3.41 GPA, Journalism) and sophomore safety Adam Hall (3.12, Psychology).

Four Arizona players earned honorable mention honors: redshirt freshman tight end Jack Baucus; junior quarterback Nick Foles; junior receiver David Roberts; senior tight end A.J. Simmons.