Weird things have happened to Arizona in Salt Lake City in recent years. In 2022, an unbeaten Wildcats squad fresh off a dominant performance at the Maui Invitational laid an egg against Utah, and two years later the UA needed triple overtime to get past the Utes.
Arizona
Former Alabama All-American returns to practice with Arizona Cardinals
Former Alabama All-American Jonah Williams is on his way back for the Arizona Cardinals. But another Alabama alumnus is out with the New York Jets.
The Jets released safety Jaylen Key from their practice squad on Wednesday, the same day that Williams returned to practice for the Cardinals.
Williams sustained a knee injury in Arizona’s season-opening 34-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 8. He’s missed seven games on injured reserve.
With Williams’ return to practice, the Cardinals have 21 days to restore him to their 53-man active roster or leave him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season. Arizona already has switched Williams’ designation to “injured reserve/designated for return.”
New York released Key for the third time this season. After playing four seasons for UAB and one for Alabama, Key joined the Jets as the final pick in the NFL Draft on April 27, earning the Mr. Irrelevant title for 2024.
New York waived Key when it reduced its preseason roster to the regular-season limit on Aug. 27. But the Jets brought him back for their practice squad as soon as he cleared waivers.
New York released Key from its practice squad on Sept. 25, then signed him again on Oct. 9.
Five other players from Alabama high schools and colleges were on the NFL’s transactions report for Wednesday:
· Defensive tackle Shakel Brown (Troy) signed with the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad. Brown spent last season on injured reserve with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted rookie. This season, Brown spent the offseason, training camp and preseason with San Francisco and was with the 49ers’ practice squad for a week before being released.
· Detroit Lions defensive tackle Brodric Martin (Northridge, North Alabama) returned to practice. A 2023 third-round draft pick, Martin has spent the season on injured reserve because of a preseason knee injury.
· Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Michael Pierce (Daphne, Samford) went on injured reserve. Pierce sustained a calf injury in Sunday’s 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. On Wednesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he did not think the injury would be season-ending. But by rule, Pierce will have to miss at least the next four games.
· Jacksonville Jaguars running back Keilan Robinson (Alabama) returned to practice. A 2024 fifth-round draft pick from Texas, Robinson has spent the season on injured reserve after sustaining a toe injury at training camp. Robinson ran for 254 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries for the Crimson Tide in 2019 before transferring to the Longhorns.
· Outside linebacker Jamie Sheriff (South Alabama) was released from the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad. The Mississippi Beerman’s Cinderella story as an undrafted rookie this season has included going to the Carolina Panthers as a waiver claim after being cut by the Seahawks at the end of the preseason. After playing in the Panthers’ season-opener, Sheriff was waived, and he returned to Seattle as a practice-squad member. He played in the Seahawks’ Week 6 game as a practice-squad elevation.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
On today’s Digital Pregame Show presented by Little Caesars, J.B Long, D’Marco Farr, and Maurice Jones-Drew preview the Los Angeles Rams’ Week 18 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium. The trio discuss key players to watch, game predictions, and more. Tune in for kickoff at 1:25pm PT on FOX.
Arizona State is bringing in Kentucky transfer quarterback Cutter Boley after he played 10 full games as a redshirt freshman in 2025, FootballScoop’s John Brice first reported with SunDevilSource’s Chris Karpman confirming.
He gives the Sun Devils a signal-caller with three years of eligibility who had major flashes as a young starter in the SEC, including a career-high 330 yards and five touchdown passes on 74.3% passing against Tennessee on Oct. 25.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pound Boley had 2,160 yards (65.8%), 15 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions on the season with 85 rushing yards and two scores on the ground.
He was expected to take a two-day visit beginning on Saturday, but he committed before getting to the second day.
ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham extended an offer to Boley as a high school junior while he was the 24th quarterback in the 2024 class and the coach was serving as offensive coordinator at Oregon.
Dillingham took more of an active role in the offense during the Sun Bowl on Wednesday, and he said postgame recent changes in administration have allowed him to focus more on football. It would make sense the active role carries over to the development of Boley.
He gets to ASU after the departure of Sam Leavitt, who has fittingly been linked to Kentucky in what could be a 1-for-1 transfer swap of quarterbacks.
More about ASU transfer QB addition Cutter Boley
The youngest SEC quarterback to get substantial time this season, Boley played mostly as a game manager with quick passes behind or near the line of scrimmage.
His six big-time throws — tracked by PFF as passes with “excellent ball location and timing, generally thrown further down the field and/or into a tight window” — were tied for last among 15 qualified SEC passers.
His 18 turnover-worthy plays, another PFF-tracked stat, were tied for fourth out of 15.
Comparing the stats to ASU’s quarterbacks this season, Leavitt had 18 big-time throws and 12 turnover-worthy plays in seven games. Jeff Sims had eight big-time throws and nine turnover-worthy plays in eight contests.
Because he has three years of eligibility remaining, Boley could eventually have to compete with young ASU quarterbacks Cam Dyer and Jake Fette, who will be redshirt and true freshmen, respectively, in 2026.
No such drama this time around.
Top-ranked Arizona jumped out to a 17-point lead before the second media timeout and then coasted to a 97-78 win at Utah on Saturday afternoon to open Big 12 play.
The Wildcats (14-0, 1-0) saw their streak of wins by at least 20 points end at eight, tying the school record set in 1928-29. But the victory was no less dominant than the previous seven, with the UA shooting 53.6 percent, finishing plus-13 on the boards and again getting five scorers in double figures.
Tobe Awaka and Jaden Bradley led the way with 18 points apiece, Awaka going 6 of 7 from the field and 2 for 2 from 3 while adding 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Bradley was 7 of 11 from the field and added five assists.
Brayden Burries and Koa Peat each scored 17 and Ivan Kharchenkov added 13 for Arizona, which scored in the 90s for the 10th time this season including eight of the last nine games.
Utah (8-6, 0-1) got 26 points from Terrence Brown and 15 each from Keanu Dawes and Don McHenry but shot 44.3 percent overall and just 5 of 17 from 3. The Utes turned it over 12 times, leading to 18 points for the Wildcats, who had 11 steals for their seventh game with at least 10 swipes.
The UA led 58-39 at halftime, its most points in the first half of a conference game since dropping 63 on ASU in 1998. That offensive explosion did not immediately carry over to the second half, though, as Arizona didn’t make its first post-halftime field goal until 17:06 left.
But then things went back to normal, with an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 70-46 with 13:56 to go. Utah followed with a 12-3 run to get within 15 but that was the closest it would get.
The only real drama down the stretch was if Arizona would again win by 20. It led by 21 after a Burries basket with 51 seconds remaining but Bradley fouled Utah’s Brown with 49.8 seconds to go in order to let backups come in and Brown made two free throws.
Utah scored the game’s opening basket and then Arizona followed with 14 in a row, which included a few baskets off Ute turnovers. Six of those points were byKharchenkov, who scored twice off steals.
The rout appeared to be on early, withAwakanailing a 3 to put the Wildcats up 27-10 with 12:16 left in the first half. But the UA went three minutes without a field goal, allowing Utah to cut the deficit to single digits.
A second-chance 3 by Brown got the Utes within 34-26 with 7:49 left in the half. But Arizona righted the ship on both ends, using a 10-0 run (with another Awaka 3) to build a 46-28 advantage. The Wildcats made their final six shots before the break, shooting 61.1 percent overall in the first half.
The UA plays its Big 12 home opener Wednesday against Kansas State. K-State (9-5, 0-1) fell 83-73 at home to No. 10 BYU on Saturday.
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