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2024 Arizona football season countdown: 70 days to kickoff | ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com

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2024 Arizona football season countdown: 70 days to kickoff | ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com


To get ready for the upcoming Arizona football season, All Sports Tucson offers a countdown, which will include history notes and a look ahead to the season — a good way to keep Arizona football on the mind in the summer months leading up to fall camp in early August and then kickoff against New Mexico on Aug. 31 in the start of the Brent Brennan era.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS PREVIOUS DAYS IN THE COUNTDOWN

A LOOK BACK — NO. 70 JOHN FINA

John Fina celebrates a win over Arizona State in 1990 (Tucson Citizen photo)

With it being the 70th day until kickoff between the Lobos and Wildcats, the best player to wear No. 70 for Arizona is offensive tackle John Fina, a Salpointe Catholic graduate who played at Arizona from 1988 to 1991. He was a first-round pick (27th overall) by the Buffalo Bills who spent 11 years in the NFL, 10 with the Bills. He went on to play in two Super Bowls with Buffalo. He has been inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame and the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. In his junior year at Arizona, Fina played both offense and defense and won the team’s Bronco Nagurski award for the best two-way player on the team. John started 27 games on the offensive line and finished his career at Arizona by earning second team All-Pac-10 honors and being named the team MVP. He was also a three-time All-Pac-10 Academic selection (1989, 1990 and 1991). He started 131 of the 148 games he appeared in for the Bills. His eleventh year with the NFL was spent with the Arizona Cardinals. Fina has coached on Salpointe’s staff in recent years with his sons Bruno and Roman (both offensive linemen) playing for the Lancers. Bruno started his college career at UCLA but transferred to Duke after last season. Roman, a Class of 2025 prospect, has committed to join his brother at Duke. The elder Fina is also regional sales manager at Thales Cloud Security.

NO. 70 IN 2024 — OT ZARIUS WELLS

Zarius Wells

Wells, 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds, hails from powerhouse Chandler High School. redshirted as a freshman last season. While at Chandler, he played under offensive line coach Dominic Raiola, a 14-year center for the NFL Detroit Lions. Joined the Wildcat program as a preferred walk-on.

NOTE

According to Matt Moreno of GOAZCATS.com, here is a preliminary list of expected of Class of 2024 visitors on Arizona’s campus this weekend (already-committed QB Robert McDaniel of Hughson, Calif., is among them):

THEY SAID IT

Muizz Tounkara, a 3-star Class of 2025 standout receiver from League City (Texas) Clear Springs High School, has narrowed his list to Arizona, Wisconsin and Kansas as his final three choices. He announced on X (Twitter) on Friday that he will announce his decision July 13. Here is what he told TTJH Sports:

FOLLOW @JAVIERJMORALES ON TWITTER!

ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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Person accused of making terroristic threats to medical facility in northern Arizona

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Person accused of making terroristic threats to medical facility in northern Arizona


PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — A person accused of making terroristic threats toward a northern Arizona medical facility was arrested Friday morning.

Just after 10:30 p.m., police received a report of a person calling the facility and threatening to kill staff and Native Americans, according to the Page Police Department.

Authorities said staff placed the facility on lockdown until officers identified the suspect and arrested them outside their home.

The suspect was booked on charges of disorderly conduct, threatening and intimidating, and making terroristic threats. Police have not publicly identified the person.

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“The Page Police Department is grateful for and supports the medical staff’s decision to put the medical facility into lockdown until the suspect was arrested and the situation was rendered safe,” the department said in a Facebook post.

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Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.



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NFL mock draft: 4-round projections for Arizona Cardinals

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NFL mock draft: 4-round projections for Arizona Cardinals



In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.

We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?

Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.

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Cardinals 4-round mock draft

Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.

  • Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
  • Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
  • Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
  • Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber

What we think of the picks

The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.

Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.

Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.

Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

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Detroit Lions NFL Draft Injury Report: Arizona State CB Keith Abney

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Detroit Lions NFL Draft Injury Report: Arizona State CB Keith Abney


Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.

Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:

(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)

Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State

Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.

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Concern level 0/10

There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.

His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.

He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.

For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a likeFollow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD

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