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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This season wouldn’t have been possible without the play and leadership of Matt Scott. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Soon after Arizona hired Rich Rodriguez, the seniors-to-be filed into his new office, one-by-one, to hear the same message.

Center Kyle Quinn remembers Rodriguez saying something like this:

“This is your team. It’s the seniors’ team. I may not have recruited you guys, and this is your last year, but I want you guys to have the best senior year possible. You’re my guys.”

This is always the worry with a coaching change — the tenuous relationship between the new coach and the old players. The guy with the long-term plan doesn’t always have use for the short-timers. The short-timers tune out the guy with the long-term plan.

“We really bought into his philosophy and his mindset,” Quinn said.

“We were eager to change,” said senior defensive lineman Chris Merrill. “We knew we had to buy in for change to be implemented.”

“It started with us,” added senior fullback/defensive end Taimi Tutogi. “We talked to the guys and said, ‘Look at this guy’s record; he’s done a lot of good things at previous schools.’ The guys followed their leaders.”

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Arizona linebacker Hank Hobson is carted off the field with a neck injury at UCLA on Nov. 3. Photo by Andrew Fielding-US PRESSWIRE

RELATED: Arizona likely to seek medical hardship for Terrence Miller

The Arizona Wildcats’ injury problems started during their spring game. That’s when safety Adam Hall tore his ACL for the second time in a year.

The bad news kept coming for Rich Rodriguez in the summer and fall camp.

Four players never made it to the start of the season, including sophomore linebacker Rob Hankins, who had to give up football because of a concussion. Senior Greg Nwoko, who moved from running back to linebacker in camp, suffered a career-ending hip injury.

Injuries hit hard at offensive tackle. Jack Baucus, a converted tight end who might have been able to help, succumbed to a knee injury and is no longer on the roster. Promising redshirt freshman Jacob Arzouman suffered a torn ACL in August practice. Another redshirt freshman tackle, Lene Maiava, played in four games before tearing his ACL.

The offensive line further had to be a mix-and-match unit to cover for in-season injuries to guard Trace Biskin, center Kyle Quinn and guard/tackle Chris Putton.

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Chris Putton worked as the starting left guard in spring practice. Photo by Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic

In collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic, we will be providing a weekly series throughout the summer, previewing the Arizona Wildcats football team.

The Republic sent a photographer to Tucson three times in the spring to capture the pictures needed for its slick presentation of the preview, which you can find here at azcentral.com. You can also read about those other guys all summer in the ASU preview.

At TucsonCitizen.com, we can’t offer the cool look of the preview that you’ll find on azcentral.com, but we’ll give you the text and some of the photography.

Here is the third part: The offensive line. Look for updates every Friday.

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Trace Biskin jumps rope before practice. Photo by Michael Chow, The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops was asked what quality new offensive line coach Robert Anae brought to the team.

“Patience,” Stoops said with a chuckle.

Anae has been working this spring with a bunch of pups. Big pups to be sure. But pups nonetheless. The all-new offensive line will display the results of Anae’s work Saturday at the team’s final spring scrimmage at Arizona Stadium (1:30 p.m.).

“Everybody since day one after the bowl game has been saying, ‘What’s going to happen with Arizona with their offensive line being young?’” said junior guard Trace Biskin. “You know, whatever.

“We come out here and just try to get better. We don’t care how old we are. We’re just looking to get better every day. Coach Anae stresses that as long as we play tough, we’re going to be fine.

“You can correct mistakes, but you can’t correct toughness.”

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Freshman Fabbians Ebbele works out during fall camp.
Photo by Brad Allis, Wildcat Sports Report

The Arizona Wildcats have eight-and-a-half-months to figure out an all-new offensive line, under an all-new offensive line coach, trying out a slightly new philosophy.

First things first. The coach, Robert Anae, while new to Arizona is a veteran coach whose recent stops include Texas Tech and BYU. He replaces co-coordinator Bill Bedenbaugh, whose departure to West Virginia leaves running backs coach Seth Littrell as the sole coordinator.

“Hiring Robert Anae, it couldn’t be a better fit for us,” said coach Mike Stoops said.

“He has an expertise on the offensive line that is desperately needed at this level of football. I couldn’t be more pleased with that element of our staff.”

Anae will be the run-game coordinator and will collaborate with the play-calling Littrell on the game plan.

“I’m just happy that he’s here,” Stoops said of Anae. “I didn’t think this opportunity would ever arise. He’s a guy who I have competed against for many years at BYU and at Texas Tech. I certainly was well-aware of the preparation of his players and how they played.”

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