On Wednesday, Athlon Sports released its Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, and five Arizona Wildcats made the cut. The team includes true and redshirt freshmen from around the conference. The Arizona players are: Nathan Eldridge, Justin Belknap, Isaiah Hayes, Tristan Cooper, and J.J. Taylor. Some of these appear to simply be because Athlon went two-deep at each position, and there weren’t a ton of options (Taylor is the second-team punt returner, he had three punt returns for 26 yards). But you could still look at this as a glimmer of hope for the future if you’re a glass half-full kind of person
- For contrast, here’s Pro Football Focus’ All-American Freshman team, made up of only true freshmen
- More hope is what you want?