TUCSON – If the Arizona Wildcats recruit over new signee Ira Lee at some point during his Wildcat career, his father won’t be angry.
He’ll be expecting it.
Even though Zeph Lee said he found himself recruited over and sideswiped by all manner of things during his football-playing days for USC in the 1980s, he learned from it.
Then he managed to parlay that experience into playing three seasons in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders as a defensive back and running back, while later playing defensive back and wide receiver for the Arizona Rattlers.
“I enjoyed the competition (at USC), but in hindsight, I learned later all the political angles you don’t see as an 18-to-22-year-old athlete, all the things that went along with the program,” Zeph Lee said.