Juron Criner

The deadbolt of privacy surrounding details of the Juron Criner situation is seemingly unbreakable by modern media standards.

For those that don't already know, on June 26, Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen wrote the following in the Hansen Sunday Notebook (a weekly absolute must-read for followers of all things University of Arizona/Southern Arizona sports):

“(Ka'Deem) Carey's availability somewhat offsets concerns that All-Pac-10 receiver Juron Criner might not be available for training camp in August. Criner's status for the 2011 season remains uncertain because of undisclosed medical reasons.”

Somewhat buried in a story about freshman-to-be running back Ka'Deem Carey (a potential star who did not get nearly enough national love) was that two-line stunner that briefly set off panic among the Arizona message boards.

For the next three days, the story was hot, but there was absolutely no official word from anyone. No local or national news outlet had anything at all in the way of specifics.

Here's what Anthony Gimino of the Tucson Citizen said of the scene on June 29:

“The Sunday notebook, which is held back from azstarnet.com as a print exclusive for a couple of days, hit the internet Tuesday (June 28)… and then went fully viral Wednesday after a mention in Jon Wilner's College Hotline blog at the San Jose Mercury News. Bruce Feldman of ESPN.com tweeted about it. USA Today and CBSSports.com, among others, re-purposed the same information about Criner’s uncertain status.”

On June 30, NBC Phoenix-area sports anchor Bruce Cooper blogged the following on The Arizona Republic's site, providing un-sourced (but meatier) notes on Criner's plot:

“University of Arizona standout receiver, Juron Criner, does NOT have cancer of any kind.  There are rumors and message board posts suggesting otherwise.  Criner has a very ill close family member.  I am not sure of the nature of the illness, only that it is serious.  Cancer? Could be.   A little over two weeks ago Criner experienced a very erratic episode.  He was hospitalized while undergoing neurological testing.  Could his erratic behavior been a result of the overwhelming news about his close family member?  Or could there be something deeper and more serious that caused him to require hospitalization and testing?”

Once again, a lot of questions but no real answers.

Nearly two weeks later, without a shred of new info on what actually is ailing the All-American caliber senior, the frenzy seems to have come to a near-complete halt.

And that's the way it should be.

The rumors are out there to be found about what could possibly cost Criner, an athletic, soft-handed 6'4” Las Vegas native who is already considered by many to be the most complete in the history of the program, his last year of eligibility.

You're a Google away from rehashing them all for no reason.

They're all meaningless anyway, until we hear from an on-the-record source or Criner himself.

It is the uncommon respect for privacy that makes this story interesting .

A strange level of journalistic sensitivity is being practiced around this situation, with the closest media sources to the program (Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Citizen) opting not to stir up the specifics.

There is only a vague notion of something plaguing Arizona's top NFL prospect, along with no comment from the Arizona athletic department. And none of Criner's confidants are leaking anything.

That rarely happens anymore. It is refreshing to think that the most personal matters can still stay personal matters until that person is prepared to make them public.

This ordeal is not likely to stay shrouded in secrecy forever, though, particularly if Criner harbors NFL aspirations.

The ins and outs of his entire life will be dissected at that time.

But at this point, as a college senior, Criner is being given the space to deal with whatever is the root cause without the drama being played out on the Internet or in the newspapers.

Real life is taking its fitting-but-rare place over football.

At the midway point of the season we can now see that nine teams will be competitive in the conference this season. Although Washington State is making great strides, they're still a year away from winning a couple games in conference play.

Quarterbacks

According to Chinese Zodiac, week six is the week of the quarterback and based on the performances this week that holds true. Ryan Katz (KATZ) had his coming out party by torching the Arizona defense with the long-ball and an accurate, strong-armed, intermediate passing game. The Beaver quarterback finished the day with 22 completions on 31 passes for 393 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. We thought that Katz would struggle after James Rodgers (JROD) went out with an injury, but he didn't miss a beat. Every year Oregon State gets blown off the line of the race to the championship, but Mike Riley is a long-strider that picks up his pace in conference play.

The top three quarterbacks of the NASPAQ all had big days. Nick Foles(FOLE) threw 35 of 46 for 440 yards with three touchdowns, one interception. In Palo Alto, Stanford's Andrew Luck (Luck) (20-24, 285 yards, 3 TD's) and USC'sMatt Barkley (BARK) (28-45, 390 yards, 3 TD's) saw two of the worst secondaries in the country and capitalized on their opportunities. This game had the feel of the last team with the ball last would win the game and USC went down to game winning field goal for the second straight week. If you're a fan of big time passing games, then the other Bay Area game between UCLA and Cal would have put you to sleep. Kevin Riley (RILE) just hasn't made the improvements he needs this season and Kevin Prince (PRNC) has a lot underachieving potential at wide receiver.

Running Backs

With all of the great performances we saw at quarterback this week one would expect the running back numbers to drop, but the top three guys keep on going over the 100 yard mark. It should be noted that no team has both a top three quarterback and running back on their roster. LaMichael James (LMJ) continues to set the pace each week and playing Washington State was another opportunity for him to climb on the Heisman ballots. James had 142 yards and two TD's on 25 carries and also added an 84-yard touchdown reception on a wheel roue where he blew right by the defending linebacker. Shane Vereen (VERE) had almost identical rushing numbers with 25 rushes for 151 yards and two TD's against the Bruins. A surprisingly poor performance came from USC's tandem of Allen Bradford (BRAD) and Marc Tyler (MARC). The duo combined for 16 carries and 44 yards. Kiffin has always favored the passing game, but their offensive line is stacked with five star offensive lineman and they're not running the ball with consistent success.

Wide Receivers

For the second straight week the highest wide receiver stock has moved around on the NASPAQ. Juron Criner(CRIN) took back his number one position with a 12 catch 179 yard, one TD performance and former No. 1 - Jermaine Kearse(JERM), has been battling drop like symptoms the past few weeks. True freshman Robert Woods (WOOD) had the best game of the year for Pac-12 receivers with his 12 reception 224 yard, three touchdown performance. Perhaps even more impressive than his numbers is that the majority of the youngster's yards came against Stanford's senior corner back- Richard Sherman. The Ducks Jeff Maehl (MAEL) also had a big game with ten receptions for 119 yards and a TD.

Defensive Players Market

Our top defensive player,Akeem Ayers (AYER) finally saw his stock take a hit  with only three tackles in the loss at Cal, but the other two UCLA linebackers (Westgate & Larimore) combined for 21 tackles. The biggest defensive star in the game just happened to be on Cal's roster as Darian Hagan (HAGN) had five tackles, two sacks, and an interception to be the conference's defensive player of the week.  Delano Howell (HOWL) at Stanford was jarring the ball out of receivers hands and also forced a fumble. While the USC defense looked terrible, at least their cheerleaders destroyed the Stanford cheerleaders. If Stanford has another game on TV this year I think their coeds might crack my television set.

Defensive Units

You know how the saying goes when you face the pistol, "You shoot me once, shame on you, you shoot me twice....." well the Bears weren't fooled this time. After giving up nearly five hundred yards to Nevada they held UCLA to a paltry 144 total yards and only 26 yards on the ground. Mychal Kendricks was outstanding at linebacker for the Bears and he's now tied for the most sacks in the conference with 4. In the USC vs Stanford game both teams looked like they were playing touch football in the secondary. The Trojans are athletic, but undisciplined and lack fundamentals in their tackling. As previously discussed about Stanford, they are slow and with the exception of Delano Howell, they're poor tacklers. Arizona State had the best defensive performance going on the road and shutting down the Husky offense. Holding Jake Locker to just 14 points at home is impressive and Vontaze Burfict seems like he got the message of cutting back on his penalties, but that could be because he played less. And although she's not in any UCLA apparel, we need more Rachel Lorraine.

If you would like to read more of our stuff you can find us at Leader of the Pac.If you would like to read more about the NASPAQ you can find it here. 

We are a quarter of a way through the season with the most challenging non-conference schedule behind us. Some teams came out losers (Oregon State & Washington) some teams came out winners (Arizona & UCLA) and the jury is still out on a few teams (Cal, ASU, USC).

Players of the Week

Starting with the Leader of the Pac MVP this week, Johnathan Franklin finally made the UCLA offense worthy of being called the pistol. Franklin carried the ball 19 times for 118 yards and a touchdown against the former #1 ranked rush defense in the country. He did a great job of using his blockers, finding the gaps, breaking tackles, and extending plays with his tough running style. The special teams and Bruin secondary will be good enough to keep them in most games, but back-to-back wins against ranked teams is a great sign for a young team still searching for its identity. Kevin Prince had a a beautiful 38 yard touchdown run and he passed for another. A UCLA cheerleader deserves to be here on the blog today, but I'll take the last opportunity to post a Texas girl this season.

The other big performance from a running back came from Stanley Havili of USC. Full backs don't usually have the type of impact that this guy does, but his 59 yard rushing touchdown looked like something I do in Madden. He also caught the ball four times for 88 yards and a 58 yard touchdown. From a day when Matt Barkley was inconsistent Havili gave them the spark they needed on offense. From the defensive side of the ball Nickell Robey looks like a future Pac-12 star. He picked off two passes and returned one for a touchdown.

One of my favorite players of the conference is back with Jordan Wynn returning from injury. Utah is one of the most exciting teams in the country with this guy slinging the ball around and his hand doesn't look to be bothering him as he completed 14 of 18 passes and two touchdowns.

Bust of the Week

The Cal versus Arizona game looked more like the BigTen than the exciting brand we love in the Pac-12. To play that style of game you need to minimize mistakes , play strong defense, and capitalize on special teams play. Cal was in control of the game for 57 minutes and as they were driving down field up 9-3 they got into the field goal range. The Italian imported kicker, Georgio Tavecchio lined up on his money spot - the right hash. The kick went up and sailed wide right with two minutes and some change to play. On the next play Nick Foles connected with Juron Criner for a 51 yard pass the put them in a position for the go-ahead score.

If you would like to read more of our stuff you can find us at Leader of the Pac.

You can call them Cardiac Cats or just plain lucky.

Regardless, the still No. 14 Arizona Wildcats have been able to pull off late minute drives in the past two games to come through with the win.

After taking a 20-point lead against the Iowa Hawkeyes, Arizona allowed them to creep back into the game tying it at 27 apiece.  The late fourth quarter drive that resulted in a touchdown for the Cats was the deciding factor in the game, however many people deemed the Wildcats victory a fluke.

And after Saturday night where the Wildcats scored their game winning touchdown against the California Golden Bears with 1:11 left in the game, surely people will point to the same conclusion.

Within the next couple days, we will be hearing how the Wildcats should be 2-2 instead of 4-0 or how they were not meant to win those games.  Critics will say how the Wildcats hardly beat a Cal team that just lost to Nevada or how the Wildcat offense fell flat and couldn’t sustain legitimate drives.

But instead of making excuses for the near wins, is it possible these Wildcats are good enough to pull off last minute victories like these?  Great teams come through in the clutch, and in these past two games that’s exactly what the Wildcats have done.

Against Iowa with 3:57 left on the clock, Arizona quarterback Nick Foles capped off a 72-yard drive with a touchdown to Bug Wright through the Hawkeye defense that had stifled them through the second half.

Then when the defense had to hold Hawkeye quarterback Ricky Stanzi and the rest of the offense from tying the game yet again, the Wildcat defense came up with three sacks in four plays.

Sure against Cal, Arizona’s offense was stalled until the final drive, but their defense didn’t allow any touchdowns to a Golden Bear offense that isn’t a stranger of the end zone.  With eight touchdowns through the air and another eight on the ground in their first three games, shutting down this Cal offense is more significant than some people might recognize.

Even with the tight games, there was never a panic moment by the team or the fans.

Last year, with the Oregon Ducks driving down the field at the end of the fourth quarter and at the end of overtime, there was a panic amongst the Arizona faithful and players.

It was the type of atmosphere where nobody wearing red felt they had control of the game and it was more of a race against the clock than if the Wildcat defense could hold Jeremiah Masoli and the Duck offense.

But in these past two games, whether it is their undeniable trust in Foles or just a natural maturation of the team, the Cats have stayed calm enough to find themselves on the winning side of both contests.

As a former gym teacher of mine said, “Pressure Makes Diamonds” and so far this season, the Cats have a couple of diamonds to hold onto.