Nick Booth/WildcatSportsReport.com

For the average Arizona Wildcat football fan, if you mentioned Nick Booth and pro football career, they’d probably say “who’s Nick Booth?” Well, Booth may not be a household name, but he took the first steps towards playing at the next level on Friday.

Arizona held its pro timing day on Friday and no player turned more heads than Booth. The running back put on a show, especially running the 40-yard dash. He ran times of 4.4 and 4.5, turning the heads of several NFL and UFL scouts.

Although the time in impressive, Booth has gone that fast before.

“I’ve ran it a couple times in junior college and high school,” Booth explained. “I wanted to stay relaxed, run hard, run fast.”

At 6-2, 221 Booth has NFL size, but he has a lot to prove. He began the season as the fourth string running back and only carried the ball 36 times for 150 yards and only had 209 yards in his two-year career. Booth’s best game was against Washington State where he carried 18 times for 84 yards and a score.

“I didn’t get to play as much as some of the other guys,” Booth said. “A lot of these guys see me as an unknown and are just learning about me. I knew I had to come out here and run hard, do all the drills hard and take advantage of every opportunity I am given.”

It remains to be seen just how much Booth impressed scouts. Although back-up running backs can get noticed due to their physical gifts (think Willie Parker or Chris Henry) it is hard for a guy who had limited playing time in college to get pro teams to take a flier on him. One option might be the UFL. Scouts from the second year league seemed quite impressed with Booth’s time in the 40. At the very least, Booth felt that he impressed some people.

“I am not sure, hopefully a lot,” Booth answered when asked if he felt he impressed people. “I am just going to take what they say, learn off of it, work as hard as I can and hopefully someone picks me up.”

The Arizona Wildcat football team began spring drills last week and have a number of questions to answer, especially on the defensive side of the ball. One of the biggest questions involves the defensive line.

QUESTION: Can Arizona replace Earl Mitchell and Donald Horton?

Answer: The Wildcats lose two of their top three defensive tackles, and while they will not be easy to replace, all is not lost. The Cats have a lot of quality bodies, even if they are relatively inexperienced.

The Cats return starter Mana Mikaele and Dominique Austin who saw a lot of time last fall. Austin will miss spring drills but will be full strength by the time fall camp opens.

Wildcat coaches are high a number of players including JC transfer Jonathan Hollins. Hollins was a JC transfer last year but was able to redshirt and still has two years of eligibility remaining.

Also impressing the staff is redshirt freshman Justin Washington. He’s another big, athletic tackle. He isn’t a huge run stopper, but could be a very similar player to Mitchell.

Jowyn Ward has seen action the past two seasons, but has yet to be more than a role player. Ward is one of the strongest players on the team as well the second biggest of the interior defensive linemen.

Chris Merrill is another big body inside that has impressed and Sione Tuihalamaka is arguably the fastest, most athletic of the big guys inside.

This group will need to impress in the fall. The Cats signed four defensive tackles in the recruiting class. Ohio State (via a JUCO) transfer Willie Mobley has been brought in to play right away and the Cats are high on the three freshmen, especially Kirifi Taula and Sani Fuimaono. While they’d love to redshirt all three, they won’t hesitate to play them if they are ready.

Spring practice starts for the Arizona Wildcat Football team at the end of the week. Here is the second of our series of questions that need to be answered this spring.

QUESTION: Who will step up as a playmaker at wide receiver?

ANSWER: The Cats bring back two solid playmakers at wideout in Delashaun Dean and Juron Criner, but need someone else to emerge. Gone is Terrell Turner, a solid player who made some big plays, but the rest of the group returns.

Juron Criner/WildcatSportsReport.com

David Roberts and David Douglas both had solid seasons as possession receivers. Roberts, especially, became a favorite target of Nick Foles, catching 43 passes last season, but getting just one score.

Douglas is Foles’ roommate and had some nice games, but had just six catches over the final seven games of the season, missing two with an injury.

Three returning players seem to have a shot at stepping up. Terrence Miller burned his redshirt but had just two catches in mop-up duty against Washington State. The 6-4 Miller has a lot of tools. He’s big, physical and fairly athletic for a player his size.

Bug Wright seemed poised to be Mike Thomas’ replacement, but a knee injury cost him three games and it took him a few more games to get back into the flow of the offense. The last three games of the season Wright had 14 catches for 157 yards.

The wild card of the group is Travis Cobb. Cobb may be the fastest player on the team as he showed on his kickoff return against Washington State. Cobb struggled to learn the offense but has committed himself to his senior season. He worked hard, in the classroom, weight room and in film study. Cobb wants to make an impact this season and it starts this spring.

After signing day Arizona Wildcat football coaches said that that program would feel the effect of their second place finish in the Pac-10 and their Holiday Bowl invitation would be felt more in the 2011 recruiting class than in the 2010 class. The early returns seem to support that argument.

Arizona has a pair of 2011 commitments and if they wind up signing with the Wildcats, they will be the earliest commitments of the Mike Stoops era.

A pair of Oklahomans have already committed to the Wildcats. Quarterback Daxx Garman pulled the trigger just days after signing day and this week Lawton linebacker Jabral Johnson pledged to the Wildcats.

Previously, the earliest a player has committed, and signed, was April. Kylan Butler committed to the Cats in April of 2008 and last April Chase Gorham and Mickey Baucus chose the Wildcats.

Getting players to commit in February, especially players who have no family ties to the Wildcat program, show that the Wildcats’ message is being received.

Commitments this early usually go to elite, top-tier players or by recruits who have some ties to the program. Of the 12 commitments the Wildcats have gotten June or earlier, two were by younger brothers of Wildcat players (Baucus and Hans Phillipp), one was by a local product whose brother signed to play baseball at Arizona (Devin Veal), while a fourth had his father and grandfather played at Arizona (Gorham).

Of course an early commitment is not a guarantee of success. The player who actually verbally committed the earliest in the Stoops era never signed with the Wildcats. Phoenix’s Gerrell Robinson committed to Arizona in November or 2006, nearly a year and a half before he was supposed to sign. That did not work out so well as Robinson eventually signed with ASU.

The Arizona football team has added three “surprises” to the 2010 recruiting class. Two players committed and signed with the program this morning, while a third made his two-month old commitment known Tuesday night.

For full signing day coverage including interviews, video and bios make sure you check out WildcatSportsReport.com.

Arizona received two surprises when Fabbians Ebbelle and Jonathan McKnight each faxed in Letters of Intent.

Ebbelle is a huge 6-8, 295-pound offensive lineman from Chicago’s Simeon High School. Ebbelle chose Arizona over Illinois and Kansas. He is a rare commit from Illinois, but is the fourth player from the state to commit to the Wildcats in the past two seasons.

Assistant coach Bill Bedenbaugh has worked hard to open up the area and so far it is paying dividends with the big fellas. The Cats have landed three offensive linemen and a blocking tight end from the area.

The Cats also ventured to another unusual area to land their second surprise of the morning. Jonathan McKnight hails from the New Orleans area and become the second player from the Crescent City to commit to the Wildcats in the Mike Stoops era. Linebacker

McKnight is an athlete who can play either cornerback or wide out and had some nice SEC offers, including Arkansas and Tennessee.

He is also the brother of USC running back although they are different players.

“They are two different types of players,” McKnight’s high school coach J.T. Curtis told NOLA.com in August. “Jonathan is a pure corner/receiver type.”

Honolulu defensive tackle Defensive tackle Sani Fuimaono has actually been committed since December but was just a “soft commit” and wanted to keep things quiet until he was sure Arizona was the place for him.

Fuimaono fell in love with Tucson and the school.

“The main reason is probably just the place, you know, Tucson,” Fuimaono said. “It’s a great college town and I fit in real well. I like the campus and everything just fits me.”

The Cats’ entire class was signed by 11:30 local time and we’ll have a full re-cap this afternoon.

One player who did not sign was OL Matthew Jakubiec, who will likely go the junior college route.