ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals are just days away from their 2024 regular season beginning, and though the team went 4-13 last season, expectations are much higher around the desert as the new year arrives.

Most of those high opinions come with the expectation of quarterback Kyler Murray – who is now fully healthy after making a recovery from ACL surgery – taking the next step in 2024.

The Athletic certainly thinks he will.

In his list of ten predictions for the 2024 NFL season, Mike Jones highlighted Murray as a player who will “get his groove back” this year:

“Murray, the 2018 Heisman Trophy winner, entered the NFL with such promise but has endured all kinds of calamity in the last five years. He did garner Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and two Pro Bowl selections, but a subpar supporting cast, an ACL tear in 2022 and the firing of coach Kliff Kingsbury in January 2023 have prevented him from reaching his full potential,” wrote Jones.

“Murray worked his way back to play in the final eight games of last season and showed promise in new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s system. Now another year removed from his ACL surgery, a second season in Petzing’s offense and with rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. by his side, look for Murray to reclaim his status as one of the NFL’s most electrifying playmakers. The Cardinals, who also boast a talented running back in James Conner and tight end in Trey McBride, just might give opposing defenses headaches this season as they try to return to relevance in the NFC West.”

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon would agree with Jones, previously telling Spors Illustrated’s Albert Breer:

“When I got the job, clean slate, I said, What do you want to do?. I want to win Super Bowls. I want to be in the conversation of the elite. I said, O.K., you have to be on a good team to do that. You’re not going to be on a bad team and get talked about. You’re not going to win Super Bowls, and you’re not going to get talked about. As good as you could be, you’re not going to get in that conversation unless we’re good,” he said.

“I believe in you as a player. We’re going to improve you as a player. We’re going to push you. I just need you to impress your competitiveness and your will to win on the team. He’s done everything.”

Murray and the Cardinals begin their season on Sunday in a tough road test against the Buffalo Bills.

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Research at the University of Arizona Valley Fever Center of Excellence has taken a giant step in pursuing a Valley Fever vaccine for humans.

Researchers have secured $33 million from the National Institute of Health.

Valley Fever is a respiratory illness caused by a fungus. It thrives in places with little rainfall and high summer temperatures, like Arizona.

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“Arizona has two-thirds of all US infections, so we really should feel a certain responsibility to do something about that,” said Dr. John Galgiani, director of the Valley Fever Center of Excellence at the University of Arizona.

Valley Fever can be mild or even deadly, and yet there is no vaccine to prevent it.

“A small percentage of people have an illness that actually goes through the bloodstream to other parts of the body, outside of the lungs, and causes meningitis or bone infections and those patients need lots of medical care,” Galgiani said.

Due to this, Galgiani said a vaccine is needed.

One is currently being reviewed for dogs, and because of that work, Galgiani believes it could be developed for humans.

“I’ve been thinking about a human vaccine all along but taking this through the dog is really a very useful step to show proof of the concept, making the idea of taking it to humans that much more attractive,” Galgiani said.

Through their research, they have taken a gene out of the fungus that causes the disease. When they did this, they found the fungus was no longer able to cause the disease. That same fungus creates robust protection.

“Potentially means that maybe if you used it as a vaccine in humans, you wouldn’t have to do it again. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime kind of vaccine,” said Galgiani.

Galgiani added that a human vaccine would benefit everyone, including special groups.

“One would be people who work in the dirt, and that’s very hard to protect against because the respirators are very cumbersome, so having a vaccine to prevent infection would be really valuable,” Galgiani said.

This vaccine is still a few years off from being available in doctor’s offices.

The dog vaccine could be in veterinary offices within a year. If approved, it would be the world’s first vaccine against a fungal infection.

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The Arizona Wildcats are hoping to ramp up their recruiting efforts under Tommy Lloyd after they have failed to secure a top 15 class since he’s taken over as head coach.

They still have been wildly success in his three years, winning the Pac-12 regular season title and Pac-12 Tournament twice. But if they are going to break through the Sweet 16 ceiling that has been holding them back, then they have to start landing elite high school players.

One the Wildcats are eyeing is the top in-state prospect Koa Peat.

The 6-foot-8 Gilbert native is ranked as the fifth-best player in the entire country by On3’s Industry Ranking, turning him into one of the most coveted recruits in the 2025 class.

This is a perfect opportunity for Lloyd and his staff to announce themselves as real players in the national recruiting scene by landing someone from the state of Arizona who is being courted by top programs across the nation.

Peat has started visiting schools, having already taken trips to see Michigan, Houston, North Carolina, and Arizona State in an official capacity. He has lined up an official visit to see Arizona on the weekend of Oct. 4.

With the five-star forward traveling to Arkansas, Duke, and Baylor before heading down to Tucson, the Wildcats will have their work cut out for them if they want to land him.

But, at least one recruiting insider thinks they can pull this off.

“The in-state rival Arizona, coached by Tommy Lloyd, have done a good job here in making Peat a priority. I’m currently watching UofA the most in this recruitment while also keeping an eye on Duke. Baylor and Houston could also be sneaky,” Joe Tipton of On3 writes.

That is a good early sign for the Wildcats.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine lists Arizona as the favorite to land Peat with a 18.4 percent chance, followed by Arizona State at 12.2 and Texas at 10.4.

This recruitment will certainly be something to keep an eye on as Lloyd is looking to land the most high-profile player since he’s taken over as head coach.