Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

15. Arizona

When Wildcats coaches told senior defensive tackle Joe Salave'a in January that the NCAA had awarded him another year of eligibility, he thought they were joking. After all, the 6'4", 280-pound Samoan had already played in the East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl—two showcases for the nation's top senior players. No way was he going to fall for this one.

Much to his surprise, though, the coaches weren't kidding. Proposition 68, which was approved at the NCAA convention on Jan. 13, restores a year of eligibility to any athlete who enters college as a partial academic qualifier—as Salave'a did after failing to score high enough on both the SAT and the ACT—but earns his degree in four years. All Salave'a had to do if he wanted to play another season for the Wildcats was remove his name from consideration for last April's NFL draft, enroll for the spring semester and pass the 16 hours he needed for his sociology degree.

He did it all. Salave'a, who was expected to be a mid- to late-round pick, says that at first his mind "really got clouded up" by the choice he faced, but he wanted his degree and decided that another year of college might enhance his NFL prospects. "He'll be the only guy to play in the East-West Game twice," says Arizona coach Dick Tomey. "We were really lucky. Had he retained an agent, he wouldn't have been eligible."

ALSO

Arizona team page 1997 schedule

SEARCH

With Salave'a, who had six sacks last season and was the Wildcats' co-MVP, Arizona has 10 returning starters on defense, including the entire secondary—pivotal in the pass-happy Pac-10. Junior cornerback Chris McAlister led the conference with six interceptions last season and had a 100-yard kickoff return against UCLA. The man on the inside will be senior linebacker Chester Burnett, who shared the Pac-10 lead with 124 tackles in '96. The Wildcats also welcome back assistant coach Rich Ellerson, an architect of the Desert Swarm defense that they have used since 1992. Ellerson spent last fall as the coach at Southern Utah, but left after a 4-7 season.

In addition to the veteran defense, there's another reason for optimism in the Sonora Desert: sophomore Keith Smith, one of the country's most exciting quarterbacks. In Arizona's 56-55, four-overtime loss at California last year, Smith set an NCAA single-game record for total offense by a freshman (502 yards). On the season he was the team's second-leading rusher (136 carries for 546 yards and eight touchdowns), and he went six consecutive games without an interception on his way to completing a school-record 60.6% of his passes.

If there's a knock against Smith, it's that he tends to scramble prematurely. "Sometimes we wish he'd wait one more fraction of a second," says offensive coordinator Homer Smith. The extra time might enable him to make better use of senior wideouts Jeremy McDaniel (31 catches for 607 yards and three TDs in '96) and Rodney Williams (23 catches, 275 yards, one TD).

The Wildcats have all the ingredients to finally end the season in Pasadena. (They are the only Pac-10 or Big Ten team that has never played in the Rose Bowl.) Arizona can certainly count on maximum effort from Salave'a. As he puts it, "I have to make it worthwhile that I stayed in Tucson."
—Kelvin C. Bias

TELLING STAT
16 Turnovers last season by Arizona, whose +1.18-turnovers-per-game margin was the best in the Pac-10 and seventh best in the nation.
TWO GAMES TO WATCH
SEPT. 27 AT UCLA Are the Wildcats a real Pac-10 threat? They get an early clue when they try to repeat last year's 35-17 drubbing of the Bruins. OCT. 18 VS. WASHINGTON A Wild West showdown between sophomore quarterbacks: Arizona's Keith Smith and the Huskies' Brock Huard.
RETURNING LEADERS
Passing	Keith Smith, Soph.	117 comp., 193 att., 1,450 yds., 11 TDs
Rushing	Smith	546 yds., 8 TDs
Receiving	Jeremy McDaniel, Sr.	31 catches, 607 yds., 3 TDs
Tackles	LB Chester Burnett, Sr.	124
Interceptions	CB Chris McAlister, Jr.	6