Arizona Football: Wildcats' Top 2016 NFL Draft Prospects
Arizona did not have a player chosen among the 256 selections in last week's NFL draft, one of 11 power-conference schools without a draftee. According to Daniel Berk of the Arizona Daily Star, this marked the fifth time since 2000 (and second in coach Rich Rodriguez's three seasons) that the Wildcats failed to have anyone drafted.
It's a pretty good bet that Arizona won't go pickless for two straight years, not with the number of talented draft-eligible players it will have for 2016.
The Wildcats were very freshman and sophomore-dominated this past season when they won 10 games and claimed the Pac-12 South title. Many of those key contributors are now juniors or redshirt sophomores, and along with seniors who opted to remain in school, they have roughly a half-dozen legitimate NFL prospects who could all hear their name called next spring if they enter the draft.
Who are these potential Arizona pros? Click through to see who we're talking about.
Drew Riggleman
Position: Punter
Year: Senior
Height, weight: 6'2", 213 pounds
As NFL Network host Rich Eisen has famously declared, and made T-shirts to back it up, "punters are people, too." And while it's not a very frequent occurrence, they occasionally get drafted.
Drew Riggleman could be Arizona's first punter taken in the draft since John Nies was taken in the sixth round in 1990 by the Buffalo Bills. Nies appeared in four games for the Bills that year, his only one in the NFL, averaging 34.8 yards on five punts, per NFL.com.
Riggleman's average is far better than that, as in 2014 he ranked fourth in the FBS at 46.07 yards per kick. Thirty of his 76 punts went for longer than 50 yards, only eight resulted in touchbacks and 23 were fielded inside the 20-yard line.
The 2015 draft had only one punter drafted, that being Clemson's Bradley Pinion (who entered early) in the fifth round by the San Francisco 49ers.
Cayman Bundage
Position: Offensive guard
Year: Senior
Height, weight: 6'2", 281 pounds
With 26 career starts, all at left guard, Cayman Bundage is the most senior member of Arizona's offensive line. All but one of those starts were in the past two seasons, meaning he helped open holes for record-breaking running back Ka'Deem Carey in 2013 and for standout freshman rusher Nick Wilson last year.
Bundage's pass-blocking wasn't as noteworthy, at least not in 2014, as Arizona allowed 40 sacks after yielding only 16 the year before, but as an interior lineman his duties are more focused on opening holes and that could entice a team to take a flier on him in the late rounds in 2016.
Arizona last had a guard drafted in 2006, when Kili Lefotu went to the Washington Redskins in the seventh round. Lefotu never played in an NFL game, getting released by Washington about a month after being found unconscious in his room during training camp.
Cayleb Jones
Position: Wide receiver
Year: Junior
Height, weight: 6'3", 215 pounds
One of several impact transfers that Arizona has landed from other power-conference programs, Cayleb Jones was the jewel of a deep and talented receiving unit last season.
His 73 receptions, 1,019 yards and nine touchdowns were all team highs, and he also provided the Wildcats with their biggest single highlight of 2014 when he was on the receiving end of a Hail Mary pass at the end of Arizona's massive comeback win over California in September.
Jones, who began his career at Texas but had only one reception as a freshman in 2012, is a huge target who can go up and get balls at the high point but also outmuscle defensive backs.
With another season at that level, Jones could be a candidate to turn pro early and be Arizona's sixth receiver taken since 2000.
Will Parks
Position: Safety
Year: Senior
Height, weight: 6'1", 194 pounds
Arizona has a mantra it uses on the recruiting trail that it's looking for "our kind of guys," shortened for the Twitter crowd to #OKG. Will Parks was one of those guys in 2012, Rich Rodriguez's first full recruiting class that didn't include holdovers from the previous regime.
A 3-star prospect from Philadelphia, Parks worked his way up the depth chart from a special teams contributor as a freshman to a part-time starter in 2013 and then one of the Wildcats' best defenders last season. He started all 14 games at the bandit position, a hybrid linebacker/safety spot in their 3-3-5 alignment, notching 81 tackles and 13 tackles for loss along with two interceptions and eight pass breakups.
Parks already had a reputation as one of the hardest hitters in the Pac-12, but this offseason he's added boxing to his workout regimen to become a tougher player for his final year.
"Parks enters the ring multiple times weekly, muscling through six different sets of punch combinations as he strives to improve his balance, timing and power as a defensive back," ESPN.com's David Lombardi wrote.
The last Wildcat safety to get drafted was Michael Johnson in 2007, when he was a seventh-round pick of the New York Giants. He started 35 games in four seasons, winning a Super Bowl ring as a rookie.
Scooby Wright
Position: Linebacker
Year: Junior
Height, weight: 6'1", 246 pounds
If Arizona only has one player taken in the 2016 draft, it will be Scooby Wright. This assumes he'll declare early rather than stick around for his senior season, but after leading the nation in tackles, tackles for loss and forced fumbles last year en route to winning the Bednarik, Lombardi and Nagurski awards it's a very distinct possibility.
An unheralded recruit whose only FBS offer was from Arizona, the player who goes by @TwoStarScoob on Twitter is now one of the most well-known defensive players in the country. He's the heart and soul of Arizona's defense, which wasn't very good last year but would have been a lot worse without him (and wouldn't have upset Oregon if not for Wright's strip sack of Heisman winner Marcus Mariota late in that victory.
NFLDraftScout has Wright listed as the second-best inside linebacker in the 2017 class, but that doesn't factor in whether he'd enter the 2016 draft. Going on the assumption that someone of his stature would head to the NFL as early as possible, many early mock drafts peg Wright as a first-round pick.
WalterFootball.com has Wright going 23rd overall to the San Diego Chargers, while the Arizona Republic has him taken seventh by the Atlanta Falcons.
Some of Arizona's most accomplished NFL draftees were linebackers, including Tedy Bruschi, Brooks Reed and Lance Briggs.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.