Bear Down Wildcats

Wright is a 6-1, 246, Junior, linebacker from Windsor, CA. Last year Scooby had one of the best years in Arizona history and one of the most dominant individual defensive performances in CFB history. His stats, awards, and accomplishments are in his official bio, but I'm going to try to focus on putting Scooby's season in perspective and try and guess how he will impact the team this year.



In his true Sophomore season, Scooby had the most tackles by an Arizona player since Byron Evans in 1986, was half a sack short of tying Tedy Bruschi's sack record, and set school records for tackles for a loss and forced fumbles in a season. The great news for Arizona fans is this year Scooby is bigger, stronger, and will still be playing with something to prove on every play.



Coach Rod said at media day that Scooby will be a better football player this year, but how do you measure better? He may not match his gaudy numbers from last year, but I think we need to watch how the entire defense improves starting with the effort and preparation of the individual players. Every man on the team has seen Scooby's success and hopefully learned the valuable lesson that hard work and relentless effort pays off. They've had an off season to try and emulate Scooby's effort on the practice field, in the weight room, and in conditioning drills. If the team comes out on the field bigger, stronger, in better shape, and better prepared, Scooby deserves some of the credit for being a living, breathing example of how to get the most out of your ability.



Yes, team's will be aware of where Scooby is on every down and he will see more double teams, but that should be negated by the improvement of the other linebackers. I have read great reports on Matthews and Turituri during the off season and expect to see a big jump in their production this year. Our increased depth will also let us rotate more linebackers and if you are running away from Scooby you will be running into a fresh body. Also, a bigger, deeper, more experienced D-line will make it easier for Scooby and other linebackers to fill the gaps.



Fans and media members may wonder if Scooby can match his numbers from last year, but Scooby is just worried about getting the next stop, giving the ball back to the offense, and winning. Scooby told Coach Rod the first day of spring practice that he didn't want his picture up with the other Wildcat All-Americans on the practice field wall (and told a player that if they put it up he'd burn the wall down). He's not playing for stats, awards, or recognition. Scooby is playing to win football games. Don't measure Scooby by if he can top last years numbers. Instead, give him credit if we make a big improvement in our overall defense. Now, if Arizona really needs a big play they will be still looking for Scooby to do what Scooby do.





33 is the most first downs Arizona gave up in a game last year and it was to Washington St. On average, the Wildcats gave up 24 first downs a game

I think he is the Greatest defensive player in this history of Arizona Football, and if he puts up another season like last year, potentially in the history of the PAC 12

Ok maybe a little bold but my god the guy was so productive last year

That fumble recovery on Marcus has to be a Top ten play in Arizona football history given when it happened and against that strong of competition

I kind of feel like even Chuck Norris would be scared of Scobby Wright

NO. 33

UA stuns second-ranked Oregon in most significant victory in Stoops era

SCORE: Arizona Wildcats 34, No. 2 Oregon Ducks 24

DATE: Nov. 15, 2007

Scooby Stats and other notes from AST including:

Matt Scott’s 33 touchdowns responsible for in 2012 (27 passing and six rushing) is a school record.

Open the tweet and check out the exchange. lol

Newportcat wrote:I think he is the Greatest defensive player in this history of Arizona Football, and if he puts up another season like last year, potentially in the history of the PAC 12

Ok maybe a little bold but my god the guy was so productive last year

That fumble recovery on Marcus has to be a Top ten play in Arizona football history given when it happened and against that strong of competition

I kind of feel like even Chuck Norris would be scared of Scobby Wright

He'd be the most productive for sure

Arizona football countdown: 33 days, Scooby Wright looks to build on his terrific 2014 season

SI Fan Sided with the top 30 players in CFB. #1 is:

1) Scooby Wright, LB, Arizona

Frightening. There are a lot of words that you can use to describe Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright, but if you want to choose just one, then your best bet may indeed be — frightening.

Last season in helping Arizona to the Pac-12 South title, the then-sophomore totaled 163 (YES, ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THREE) tackles with 29 of them being for a loss. Teams literally have nightmares about Scooby Wright roaming around in their backfield looking for prey. To further that point a little more, he also sacked the quarterback 14 times.

Again — frightening.

Each and every year we wonder whether or not a pure defensive player could have a shot at the Heisman Trophy. With all due respect to Jadeveon Clowney a few years ago, no one in this decade may have a better shot at accomplishing that feat than Wright. If he has a year like he did last season, or even better, then him not getting at the very least an invite to New York would be an absolute crime. When you look up the definition of a “football player” in 2015, Scooby Wright will pop right up in your face.

Unquestionably, there is not a better player in the country heading into 2015 then Rich Rodriguez’s prized linebacker.

I'm glad Scooby doesn't read his own press because it's starting to get over the top.

Scooby tied for 2nd in espn's list of the top 100 CFB players. He's the only Arizona player on the list.

T-2. Scooby Wright
Arizona Wildcats
Junior | Linebacker
Score: 9.26

The winner of almost every major defensive award last season, Wright redefined the middle linebacker position by tallying huge sack and tackles for loss numbers, which are usually reserved for outside linebackers and edge rushers. Besides leading the nation with 163 total stops (11.6 per game), he also notched 14 solo sacks and led the country with 29 tackles for a loss while helping Arizona to the Pac-12 South title and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. He also showed his nose for the ball by leading the league with six fumbles recovered.

Joey Bosa, Ohios State DE, is number 1 and Ezekiel Elliott, Ohio State RB, tied Scooby at 2. They used math and gave number scores, so it has to be accurate

That's duumb. If Scooby isn't going to be #1, why not put an offensive guy there since the final guy will be the heisman winner..

ESPN on Scooby's upside this year.

“I think he still has a huge upside,” Casteel said. “He did all of those things in his third semester as a true sophomore. He’s got a better handle on things and what he needs to work on. He’s a full-speed-ahead kind of player. To try to get him out of the game, you almost have to get into a fistfight with him. That’s the type of attitude that has rubbed off on the other players.”

“Probably the best feeling ever is when you’re on the backside of the quarterback and you beat the tackle clean off the edge and all you see is the quarterback’s numbers and he doesn’t see you,” Wright said. “That’s the best feeling in the world.”

“He has an unbelievable motor,” Casteel said. “You blitz him and put him in some one-on-one situations, he’s going to win a few of those each game. Even at the end of last season, when people knew about him, he was still getting to the quarterback. Hopefully this year we can keep finding those matchups that are going to work best for us.”

Great SI article on Scooby! What an impressive young man!

“People say I had a good year. I don’t think I had a good year,” Wright says. “I mean, I watch a game, I watch the missed tackles, the missed sacks, plays I could have done better on. The bad angles I took. That’s the way I look at it. That’s probably the last thing I’ll do, is look at myself and say, ‘That was a great play by me.’ I’ll never say that.”

seems reasonable.

I'll take the under. I think the scheming to stop him by other teams is going to mean more sacks for the other guys, and Scooby will be left more to patrol the gaps and stuff the run.

My story on Scooby, in which he talks about why lunges are his favorite exercise and he recalls the moment when he knew he LOVED football, not just liked it ...

AG, Great story! Thanks for putting it up.

Nicely Done, AG!!

Great article about his work ethic and leadership. I, personally, can't wait to see how Scooby plays this season.

Great article. Thank you for sharing.

Merkin wrote:

Per game? Wow, way low. I'll take the overs.

So tired of preseason talk and predictions. Hopefully, this is some of the last of it.

ESPN blog on who will P12 defensive POY. All three think it will be Scooby, but they do give us 2 other contenders - Budda Baker, Washington safety, and Su’a Cravens, USC linebacker.

It is time to stop talking and play football!

Jordyn Owen talks with Scooby at media day for goazcats.

The old adage is it is great for the team when the best player is also the hardest worker. I'm guessing it's also a good thing when your most famous player is also the most humble and team focused.

Let's stop talking and get Scooby on the field and into utsa's backfield.

Well this sucks

I'm not a doctor (but I'll play one on the Internet), however I have to think if it was a serious issue the doctors wouldn't have let him hobble all over the stadium with only a cane to protect his career.

Chi, damn I hope you are right

Chicat wrote:I'm not a doctor (but I'll play one on the Internet), however I have to think if it was a serious issue the doctors wouldn't have let him hobble all over the stadium with only a cane to protect his career.

As someone who has heard TMI from my mother who runs a rehab hospital, and also not a doctor, I agree. A can is even less then some idiot walks around with a single crutch.

The odds of his season not being done aren't good from the looks of it. Our defense is bad.

Seriously? Not even Tedy Bruschi meant that much to a UA defense. C'mon.

Praying its a sprain, because our D fell apart without him.

Chicat wrote:I'm not a doctor (but I'll play one on the Internet), however I have to think if it was a serious issue the doctors wouldn't have let him hobble all over the stadium with only a cane to protect his career.

You may not be a doctor, but you have an opinion that I hope is true, so I'm going to believe it.

RR: MRI tonight, We don't think its a full blown ACL, but it may keep him out a few weeks.

Hopefully it's minor. Remember when Foles had a serious knee injury? Got mystical voodoo and missed one game.

Gilbertcat wrote:Hopefully it's minor. Remember when Foles had a serious knee injury? Got mystical voodoo and missed one game.

I am pretty sure Foles just forgot he was injured.

CalStateTempe wrote:RR: MRI tonight, We don't think its a full blown ACL, but it may keep him out a few weeks.

It's always fun when your team's best player goes down in the first few minutes of the first game of the season against a team everyone expects us to beat. Not.

Just be glad his dad 's name isn't Gordon, cause he'd be done injury or not.

splitsecond wrote:Just be glad his dad 's name isn't Gordon, cause he'd be done injury or not.

yeah no shit. Fire up the pro-NFL physician rolodex.

WTF kind of injury involves the acronym ACL and "not serious"? Can someone explain? Are their "small" tears in ACL's? What's up?

get well scoob

qwertyus wrote:WTF kind of injury involves the acronym ACL and "not serious"? Can someone explain? Are their "small" tears in ACL's? What's up?

There is a such thing as a smaller ACL tear/strain, Dixon had one of those coming into the Arizona game in 2007. He hurt it the previous week at ASU. Typically those get shut down too though, because they can easily become a full tear. I guess you could say it's "not serious" in the fact that a few weeks rest could theoretically heal it up, but I'd call that quite a stretch.

I'm already resigned to the thought that he's done for the year.

If that's wrong, and he manages to come back (and still be the Scooby he was before) then great. If not, well, let's see what the D can do without him.

PieceOfMeat wrote:I'm already resigned to the thought that he's done for the year.

If that's wrong, and he manages to come back (and still be the Scooby he was before) then great. If not, well, let's see what the D can do without him.

If he's out this year, we could have him back next year...

Looks like a non-contact injury. I think he's done for the year.

Get well Scoob.

qwertyus wrote:

PieceOfMeat wrote:I'm already resigned to the thought that he's done for the year.

If that's wrong, and he manages to come back (and still be the Scooby he was before) then great. If not, well, let's see what the D can do without him.

If he's out this year, we could have him back next year...

That worked out well for us with Gronk when he missed all his junior year didn't it?

splitsecond wrote:

Gilbertcat wrote:Hopefully it's minor. Remember when Foles had a serious knee injury? Got mystical voodoo and missed one game.

I am pretty sure Foles just forgot he was injured.

Hahaha. Foles injury wasn't knee related if memory serves me correctly.

Stoops says Arizona QB Foles' injury not season-ending

TUCSON (AP) — Arizona coach Mike Stoops said the knee injury to Nick Foles (FSY) is not season-ending and the star quarterback's status will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/c ... ason_N.htm

Foles suffered a knee sprain and missed two games.

http://sportsinjurypredictor.com/injury ... ayer/25798

Lets hope its the same for Scoob