Matt Scott shows off his Offensive MVP award after Arizona rallied to beat Nevada in the New Mexico Bowl. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

I remember talking to then-Arizona Wildcats quarterback coach Frank Scelfo after his first spring practice in Tucson in 2010.

He was new to the area, having spent most of his career in Louisiana. We talked about UA’s woeful quarterback history, and he was shocked to learn that the Wildcats hadn’t produced a quarterback who had thrown a pass in the NFL since 1973.

“That’s OK,” Scelfo said. “We’ll get us one pretty soon here.”

How about two?

Scelfo helped develop Nick Foles, who was a third-round pick in this year’s draft and is now in the middle of an extended audition as the Philadelphia Eagles starter.

And Scelfo helped improve the passing fundamentals of Matt Scott, who just completed an excellent senior season and appears to be climbing draft boards.

NFLDraftScout.com, which had been ranking Scott as a fifth- to sixth-round possibility has upgraded his status to the third- to fourth-round range.

Rob Rang, senior draft analyst for NFLDraftScout.com/CBSSports.com, quoted an anonymous NFL scout as saying this about Scott:

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Matt Scott is fourth nationally with 352.3 passing yards per game. Photo by Cary Edmondson-US PRESSWIRE

I talked to Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com last week about Matt Scott — “Raw, but talent worthy of developing” — and then Rang wrote more about Scott on his blog at CBSSports.com.

Rang, after having viewed Arizona’s 54-48 overtime loss to Stanford in which Scott completed 45 of 69 passes for 491 yards, wrote “talent evaluators couldn’t help but be impressed with the unique skill-set from the Wildcats’ quarterback.”

More from Rang:

“Scott is leaner than scouts would prefer at 6-2, 198 pounds but demonstrated the toughness, mobility and most importantly the arm talent to reward an NFL team willing to gamble on his upside. Scott was particularly impressive during the third quarter of this contest. He showed off his legitimate NFL arm on a pair of 3rd quarter touchdown passes to wideout Austin Hill to twice give the Wildcats the lead in the back and forth game.

“Scott was the beneficiary of good pass protection on both plays, as he had the time to fake the hand-off to Ka’Deem Carey before setting his feet and throwing perfect strikes. On the first touchdown, Scott rolled to his left and drilled the ball into Hill, who’d himself started left and was then crossing back over the middle heading right. It was a difficult throw and one easy to nitpick if Scott’s accuracy and arm strength hadn’t been up to the task, but they were.

“Scott demonstrated the same intriguing combination of zip and ball placement on Arizona’s next drive, firing a deep ball between Stanford’s cornerback and safety playing in a Cover-2 to hit Hill for a 17-yard touchdown.”

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Trevin Wade broke up 13 passes this season. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Nick Foles is the Arizona Wildcats’ top draft prospect, a possible top 50 pick, probably the third or best fourth quarterback available.

Opinions vary on ex-Cat receiver Juron Criner, who has size and a history of big plays, but he perhaps lack desired NFL speed … and he will be scrutinized for being away from the team last summer for what were described as “personal and family matters.”

Then, there is cornerback Trevin Wade.

Wade is a solid draft prospect who will enter the scouting season as a mid- to late-round pick.

“I would characterize him as a day three pick, somewhere in rounds four through seven,” said Rob Rang, senior analyst for NFLDraftScout.com.

“It’s going to come down to workouts. If he runs in the 4.4s, considering how well he has played, that really helps him. The reality is he played better as a senior than he did as a junior, and scouts are looking for that.

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Nick Foles passed for a conference record 361.17 yards per game this season. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

It doesn’t much matter right now if former Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles is rising or falling on the NFL draft boards.

He will begin his first major post-graduate exam in a few weeks — and that will start to tell the tale.

Foles is headed to the Senior Bowl, his father Larry confirmed Friday, where he will get a chance to work out for a week in front of scouts from every NFL team. The game will be played Jan. 28 in Mobile, Ala.

“He just has to go out and prove himself,” Larry Foles said.

“I told him, ‘It’s all you now.’ You can’t say this or that anymore. Now, it’s how well you prepare and how you do.”

For the record, Foles’ stock does seem to be on the rise. NFLDraftScout.com — which supplies analysis for CBSSports.com — recently elevated Foles to the 49th-best prospect nationally and the fifth-best quarterback available.

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Arizona's Nick Foles looks to flip the ball to a teammate against Oregon last season. Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images

There is still a whole season to play — and then an important offseason of workouts — but the early NFL draft projections for the Arizona Wildcats’ biggest stars are all over the board.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper, at the end of the 2011 draft, rated Arizona senior Nick Foles as the No. 2 quarterback prospect, behind Stanford’s Andrew Luck.

Rob Rang of NFLDraftScout.com told TucsonCitizen.com last month that he had talked to one NFL talent evaluator who loves Foles as a high second-round pick.

But Rang reported on CBSSports.com that Foles received a substantially lower grade at recent meetings of National Football Scouting personnel — who provide about half of the NFL teams with early information on prospects (for a price).

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Juron Criner catches this pass from Nick Foles for a 52-yard touchdown against Arizona State last season. Photo by Christian Petersen, Getty Images Sport

One thing you can say about Arizona coach Mike Stoops: He has upgraded the talent level with the Wildcats.

That should be fairly obvious with three consecutive bowl seasons, the current five-game losing streak notwithstanding.

But Stoops also is producing steady NFL talent, as Arizona is in the midst of a streak of producing a top 50 player in the draft for five consecutive seasons.

Here is how it breaks down:

2007 — RB Chris Henry (second round, 50th overall)

2008 — CB Antoine Cason (first round, 27th overall)

2009 — OT Eben Britton (second round, 39th overall)

2010 — TE Rob Gronkowski (second round, 42nd overall)

2011 — DE Brooks Reed (second round, 42nd overall)

This is the first time in Arizona history that it has produced at least a second-round pick in five consecutive drafts.

And next year could make six.

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Nick Foles threw 19 touchdown passes in the regular season.
Photo by Craig Mitchelldyer-US PRESSWIRE.

This might not fall into the breaking news category, but people have asked about it, so I put it to Arizona Wildcats junior quarterback Nick Foles after practice Thursday: What are your football plans after the season?

“I plan on being back,” he said.

Foles is considered an NFL prospect, which would be a first for Arizona since joining the Pac-10. In fact, considering that next season will be the debut of the Pac-12, the Wildcats figure to go all 33 seasons of the Pac-10 without producing a single player who was drafted as a quarterback.

That’s assuming Foles is waiting for the 2012 draft after his senior season.

“It was always a dream of mine as a kid to play college football,” Foles said. “I want to enjoy this while I can. I think a lot of time people overlook where they’re at. I’m fortunate to be here and be in a situation where I’m playing football at a great university.

“That’s not going to change. I want to be here. I love it here.”

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Juron Criner is running away with some postseason honors.
Photo by Rick Osentoski/US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats junior receiver Juron Criner has been chosen a second-team All-American by CBSSports.com.

And yet he’ll be the second-best receiver in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29.

Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver on Thursday night. Blackmon has 102 receptions for 1,665 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Criner was one of the four unanimous selections to the All-Pac-10 team, announced earlier this week, after a season in which he made 73 receptions for 1,186 yards and 10 touchdowns.

I asked Criner, a junior, after last week’s loss to Arizona State if he would use need to use the time before the bowl game to consider his future, perhaps petition an NFL advisory committee for his likely draft status.

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UA defensive end Ricky Elmore fires up his teammates late in the game against Iowa.
Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

Senior defensive end Ricky Elmore was the last Arizona Wildcat off the field last Thursday night. Helmet still on, Arizona State fans celebrating in the stands, he trudged toward the locker room.

“I just didn’t want to leave,” he said later in the interview room, choking up on the emotion.

“I wouldn’t have come off unless they had made me. I would have sat out there and just waited for everyone to leave. It’s rough. It’s the last time I was going to play in front of those fans. The last time I was going to play on that field.”

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Original artwork created by Rob Osborne, who was inspired by foles4heisman.com. You can check out Osborne's other creations at robosborne.net.

Arizona quarterback Nick Foles is only one-third of the way through his junior season, so it’s a little early to nail down any kind of draft projections.

I said a little early.

But not impossible.

Through four games of the season, in which Foles has led two late game-winning drives and hit 74.5 percent of his passes, Foles has risen to the second-best junior quarterback prospect in the nation, according to NFLDraftScout.com. He trails Arkansas’ Ryan Mallett.

Rob Rang, a senior analyst for NFLDraftScout.com, has carefully gone over Arizona’s games against Iowa and Cal. He isn’t completely comfortable putting a draft grade on Foles right now, but when pressed about the possibilities — assuming that Foles shows natural improvement over the rest of his college career — Rang said he could see Foles being a high second-round pick in 2012.

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