Bear Down Wildcats

Position, years at Arizona: Kicker, 1991-94

Honors, accomplishments at UA: Won the 1994 Lou Groza Award as the nation’s top kicker and was a consensus All-American. … Holds school season record with 23 field goals in 1994.

Why he made our list: When the Wildcats gathered for mug shots during preseason media day in 1993, offensive guard Warner Smith approached Steve McLaughlin and said, “Civilian pictures are taken tomorrow. Football players are today.” The “real” football players often like to make fun of kickers, but they all love the little guys when they are putting the ball through the uprights, which McLaughlin did with great accuracy and from plenty of distance after some early-career struggles.

Potential game-winning field goals at Oregon State (44 yards) and top-ranked Miami (51 yards) in 1992 slid outside the uprights when McLaughlin was a sophomore before he refined his technique and mastered the mental game, becoming a staple of the Desert Swarm-era teams.

McLaughlin, a Tucson Sahuaro High alum, did get a game-winner — a 27-yard field goal as time expired to lift the Wildcats to a 27-24 victory over Stanford in 1993 — and coach Dick Tomey didn’t hesitate to call his number for any attempt of 50 yards or more. McLaughlin’s career long was 54 yards, and he was 22 of 27 from 40-plus yards in his final two seasons.

McLaughlin converted 23 of 29 attempts as a senior, when he made seven field-goal attempts from at least 47 yards. In his final regular-season game he made a key 48-yard field-goal attempt just before halftime in Arizona’s 28-27 victory over Arizona State, which saw its kicker, Jon Baker, miss from 47 yards in the final minute.

Life after college: The Rams selected McLaughlin with the 18th pick in the third round of the 1995 draft — an abnormally high selection for a kicker — and signed him to a four-year deal for $1.1 million. He was the only kicker drafted that year, but his star soon faded and he didn’t make it to the end of his first season. Coach Rich Brooks cut McLaughlin after the rookie missed half of his 16 attempts.

McLaughlin went to NFL camps in each of the next two years but couldn’t break back into that exclusive kicking club. He moved on to spend eight seasons in the Arena Football League, bowing out with the Arizona Rattlers in 2005.

McLaughlin, who fronted a college band called Pet the Fish with friend and UA linebacker Joe Lohmeier, has continued to be serious about music, releasing a 2009 album entitled “No More Record Stores.” You can find that on Amazon.com and iTunes, etc., but good luck tracking down the 1997 CD “Btaak!” from Pet the Fish.

NO. 28

Collapse vs. Utah after leading 27-0 in fourth quarter changes face of program

SCORE: Utah Utes 28, Arizona Wildcats 27

DATE: Nov. 4, 1972

There is no running back battle this time. We know Nick Wilson is the featured back, and we know just how good he is. He is a strong, powerful runner that has good vision, and breakaway speed. He can take one to the house from 80 yards out, and also fight for a first down in a short yardage situation. He has the total package as a runner, and is an outstanding player -- when he's healthy.

NICK WILSON, RB, ARIZONA

The freshman class of 2014 helped make it cool to be a running back again. Fournette, Chubb, Oregon's Royce Freeman and Florida State's Dalvin Cook got more publicity than Wilson last year and come into this season with more hype. But Wilson ran for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and playing in a Rich Rodriguez offense, there's no reason he can't flirt with 2,000k as a sophomore.

azgreg wrote:Pick 6: Heisman hopefuls short on preseason hype

http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/p ... eason-hype

NICK WILSON, RB, ARIZONA

The freshman class of 2014 helped make it cool to be a running back again. Fournette, Chubb, Oregon's Royce Freeman and Florida State's Dalvin Cook got more publicity than Wilson last year and come into this season with more hype. But Wilson ran for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and playing in a Rich Rodriguez offense, there's no reason he can't flirt with 2,000k as a sophomore.

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

azgreg wrote:Pick 6: Heisman hopefuls short on preseason hype

http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/p ... eason-hype

NICK WILSON, RB, ARIZONA

The freshman class of 2014 helped make it cool to be a running back again. Fournette, Chubb, Oregon's Royce Freeman and Florida State's Dalvin Cook got more publicity than Wilson last year and come into this season with more hype. But Wilson ran for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and playing in a Rich Rodriguez offense, there's no reason he can't flirt with 2,000k as a sophomore.

I have high expectations for Willson but 2 million yards is probably a little unreasonable.

scumdevils86 wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

azgreg wrote:Pick 6: Heisman hopefuls short on preseason hype

http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/p ... eason-hype

NICK WILSON, RB, ARIZONA

The freshman class of 2014 helped make it cool to be a running back again. Fournette, Chubb, Oregon's Royce Freeman and Florida State's Dalvin Cook got more publicity than Wilson last year and come into this season with more hype. But Wilson ran for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and playing in a Rich Rodriguez offense, there's no reason he can't flirt with 2,000k as a sophomore.

I have high expectations for Willson but 2 million yards is probably a little unreasonable.

Not that hard. I mean he might get to play in 14 games again this season (15 if we're lucky!). that's only 133,333 yards per game.

azgreg wrote:

scumdevils86 wrote:

FightWildcatsFight wrote:

azgreg wrote:Pick 6: Heisman hopefuls short on preseason hype

http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/p ... eason-hype

NICK WILSON, RB, ARIZONA

The freshman class of 2014 helped make it cool to be a running back again. Fournette, Chubb, Oregon's Royce Freeman and Florida State's Dalvin Cook got more publicity than Wilson last year and come into this season with more hype. But Wilson ran for 1,375 yards and 16 touchdowns last season and playing in a Rich Rodriguez offense, there's no reason he can't flirt with 2,000k as a sophomore.

I have high expectations for Willson but 2 million yards is probably a little unreasonable.

Not that hard. I mean he might get to play in 14 games again this season (15 if we're lucky!). that's only 133,333 yards per game.

Yep. Figure 15 games with 25 carries a game that comes out to roughly 5,333 yards per carry. Very doable.

whatisee wrote:Lopez named ESPN's PAC12 Defensive POW

Play of the week was Anu's TD to Jackson.

Offensive player of the week: Nick Wilson was pretty beastly. The Arizona running back carried 21 times for 194 yards and three touchdowns in the ‘Cats victory over Nevada. He also added a pair of receptions for 30 yards. Through two weeks, he’s showing an outstanding mix of speed and power.