The 2015 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the University of Arizona in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It marked the Wildcats's 116th overall season, 38th as a member of the Pac-12 Conference and its 5th within the Pac-12 South Division. The team was led by head coach Rich Rodriguez, in his fourth year, and played its home games at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, AZ for the 87th straight year. They finished the season 7âÂÂ6, 3âÂÂ6 in Pac-12 play to finish in fifth place in the South Division. They were invited to the New Mexico Bowl where they defeated New Mexico.
The Wildcats would go on to land another top 10 recruiting class in 2015 (#41 by Scout, #41 by Rivals, #39 by ESPN, and #41 by 247).
The Wildcats would also add two transfer players: graduate student David Catalano (OL) from San José State who is able to play immediately, as well as John Kenny (LB) from Iowa who sit out two years to satisfy the NCAA's transfer rule.
Early Enrollees
Returning players that started all or a significant number of games in the 2014 season. Arizona returns 30 starters (including fifteen on offense, twelve on defense, and three on special teams).
Offense
Defense
Special teams
â Indicates player was a starter in 2014 but missed all of 2015 due to injury and Carter Wood will end of his career of the season due to injury.
The Wildcats would lose 20 seniors to graduation as well as no juniors who would choose to forgo their senior season in pursuit of an earlier NFL career. The Wildcats would lose five more players from the 2014 team due to various reasons.
Winter/Spring 2015 "way-too-early" pre-season rankings from most major sports news outlets, issued after the end of the 2014 season tabbed the 2015 Arizona Wildcats at No. 13 (ESPN-Martin Rickman), #14 (Sports Illustrated), #17 (CBSSports), and #13 (ESPN-Mark Schlabach).
In July, the defending Pac-12 South champions Arizona Wildcats were picked to finish at fourth place in the Pac-12 preseason polls. Arizona was ranked No. 22 in both the preseason Amway (USA Today) Coaches Poll and the preseason AP Poll., with the first practice scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5. Camp practices are generally closed to the media and public, unless otherwise announced.
Depth Chart Source: 2015 Arizona Wildcats Football Fact Book
Coaching Staff Sources: ArizonaWildcats.com
The 2015 Pac-12 schedule was officially released on September 16, 2014. On April 10, 2015, the Wildcats will play the White and Navy Blue game, the program's annual spring game. Arizona Wildcats will play four of nine games, against all four North Division schools: Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and Washington State. They will also play against five South Division opponents: Arizona State, Colorado, USC, UCLA and Utah. For their non-conference slate the Wildcats will play two of three games against UTSA of the Conference USA, Nevada of the Mountain West Conference and Northern Arizona of the FCS' Big Sky Conference. For the first year, the Cats face neither California and Oregon. The Wildcats will play all twelve games without a bye week for first time ever.
The Wildcats opened the 2015 season with a non-conference trip to Reno, Nevada, to face Nevada, its first since 1921, and is the return game in a home-and-home series that brought the Wolf Pack to Tucson in 2014. In other non-conference action, Arizona hosted in-state foe: Northern Arizona.
Quarterback Anu Solomon was named Offensive MVP.
Linebacker Scooby Wright III was named Defensive MVP.
As of 09/04/2015.
Non-conference opponents
Pac-12 opponents
Score total by Quarters
<small>Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, BU: Passes Broken Up, PD: Passes Defended, QBH: Quarterback Hits, FF: Forced Fumbles, FR: Fumbles Recovered, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties</small>
Arizona had nine players selected as Preseason All-Americans going into the season. Anu Solomon was largely recognized on the second team of those organizations which published preseason lists. Cayleb Jones and Scooby Wright III were recognized as unanimous Preseason All-Americans, with Jones being selected to the first team of every publication.
Players
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Each year several publications release lists of their ideal "team". The athletes on these lists are referred to as All-Americans. The NCAA recognizes five All-American lists. They are the Associated Press (AP), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), Sporting News (SN), and the Walter Camp Football Foundation (WCFF). If a player is selected to the first team of three publications he is considered a consensus All-American, if a player is selected to the first team of all five publications he is considered a unanimous All-American.
<small> Key:<br /> First team<br /> Consensus All-American<br /> Unanimous All-American </small>
The Wildcats had TBA players honored as members of the 2015 Pac-12 All-Conference team, with TBA each on the first and second teams, respectively. TBA other Wildcats earned honorable mention honors.
The Wildcats had TBA players selected to the Pac-12 Conference All-Academic Second Team, TBA players granted honorable mention and no players selected to the First Team. In order to be eligible for the academic team a player must maintain a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and play in at least 50 percent of their team's games.
The following members of 2015 Arizona Wildcats football team were selected in the 2016 NFL draft.
TBA members of the 2015 team were invited to participate in drills at the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine.
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