| | |
|
The finishing touch Holiday Bowl the finale for elite group of Wildcats' seniors
Posted: Tuesday December 29, 1998 12:15 AM
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Although they are few in number, the seniors who play regularly for No. 5 Arizona are the heart and soul of a team that won 15 of its last 16 games and, this year, became the first in Wildcats' history to win 11 in one season. Chris McAlister, Kelvin Eafon, Jeremy McDaniel and Daniel Greer, among others, will be playing their last game for Arizona in Wednesday night's Holiday Bowl against No. 14 Nebraska. "This is the best senior class we've ever had," coach Dick Tomey said after Monday's practice at San Diego State. "We've had senior classes that had more players that were honored or All-American or whatever, but we've never had a senior class that's meant so much to the rest of the team." It begins with McAlister, the All-America cornerback who believes playing Nebraska will finally give him a chance to show that he's not just a finesse cover guy, but can deliver hits, too. "This is a chance for me to play a team against a physical team, the first true test to say how physical I can play," he said. Tomey has no doubt how McAlister, son of former UCLA star and NFL player James McAlister, will perform on Wednesday. "He's not the best defensive back I've ever coached," Tomey said. "He's the best I've ever seen. Most defensive backs are 5-9 or 5-10 or 5-11. He's 6-1 1/2. He's 205 pounds. There just aren't corners like that in present-day football who can run like he can and are as athletic and competitive as he is." And he's not just a defender. McAlister is only the seventh player in NCAA history to return a kickoff, punt and interception for scores. Then there's Eafon, who has shied away from the press because he didn't like local coverage of his role in an off-campus fight. But Eafon does plenty of talking to his teammates, then backs it up with his bruising style of play. The 5-foot-11, 218-pound running back from Dallas, scored 16 touchdowns this season, and is the lead blocker for the team's big-play tailback Trung Canidate. Eafon is bothered by a sore ankle injured in a recent scrimmage, but he will play Wednesday. "His leadership has just been incredible," Tomey said. "He's a passionate leader. Most young people are not willing to be passionate. They kind of want to lay back and lead by example. He leads by example but he's a very passionate leader in the way he projects himself. He wants everybody to know how strongly he feels about it." McDaniel, from New Bern, North Carolina, came to Arizona from Fort Scott Junior College in Kansas. He missed last year with a hamstring injury, then returned to form a potent receiving duo with junior Dennis Northcutt. McDaniel caught 58 passes for 916 yards and nine touchdowns, but that's not what has endeared him most to Tomey. "Jeremy is the best total receiver to me that we've had since I've been at Arizona, because he's such a great blocker," Tomey said. "We've had people like Richard Dice who were great receivers, but we've never had one who's such a great player as well as the threat he is catching the ball." Greer, a 6-2, 265-pound defensive tackle from Salinas, California, upholds the Wildcats' tradition of having a tough leader on the defensive line. He led the Pac-10 in sacks with nine, had 12 tackles for loss and recovered two fumbles, earning a spot on the all-conference team. "In the beginning of the year, nobody considered him any kind of prospect for any of that," Tomey said. "He just set about to lose weight, work hard and run, doing the things that made him quicker." There are other seniors, of course, including starters Mike Lucky at tight end and Edwin Mulitano at left tackle. Lucky has been invited to play in the Hula Bowl. Mulitano was second-team all-Pac-10. "We've never had a senior class where everybody's had their best year at the same time," Tomey said. "Everybody's figured out a way where he could help the team the most. "That's extraordinary. That's a legacy that this team will leave for future teams to try to live up to."
| |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
