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Although senior quarterback Matt Scott has had his moments — he has six interceptions and some ill-advised passes in the first five games — the Wildcats are in a good spot at that position especially after losing an NFL draft pick such as Nick Foles. Stanford has found the going rough with Andrew Luck now playing on Sundays. His replacement, senior Josh Nunes, is feeling the heat from some of the media in the Bay area. This begs the question (at least to me) what happens next year at Arizona with Scott gone? At least Scott had a handful of starts in 2010 when Foles had an ineffective start. Arizona will start an inexperienced quarterback in 2013 much like Stanford is experiencing with Nunes, who is of the mold of a Dick Tomey quarterback — doing as well as he can to put the Cardinal in a winning position. … B.J. Denker, a junior college transfer from Torrance, Calif., is the No. 2 quarterback currently. He played briefly against South Carolina State and Oregon. The Wildcats have four scholarship quarterbacks (Denker, freshman Javelle Allen, freshman Josh Kern and sophomore Alex Cappellini) on their roster who will return next season including Denker, who will be the only senior of the group. …

The list of four does not include Louisiana Tech transfer Nick Isham, who started seven games last season for former Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes, the head coach of the Bulldogs. Isham is a sophomore walk-on who can’t play this season per NCAA transfer rules. A quarterback who will turn heads: Anu Solomon, a senior at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High School who will be a freshman with the Wildcats next season. Solomon has led the Gaels to a 4-1 record by completing 72 of 104 pass attempts for 1,090 yards. That’s a completion percentage of 69.2 and 218 yards a game. He has also completed 14 touchdown passes with only two interceptions. … Brandon Cox of Pasadena (Calif.) High School is another Class of 2013 quarterback signed by Rich Rodriguez. Cox injured his left foot on Sept. 8 and was expected to miss three to six weeks to recover. Pasadena coach Randy Horton told the Pasadena Sun that whether Cox plays tonight against Burbank will be a “game-time decision.” “His progress looks good, but I’ll still wait and see,” Horton told the Sun. “The most important thing is that he’s healthy and can contribute. He’s not going to be put on the field if something is wrong.” … Richard Morrison, a junior receiver who played quarterback in high school, has also been tested at quarterback by the Arizona coaching staff and remains a possibility if necessary, at least this season. …

Stanford coach David Shaw was emphatic with the media this week that a quarterback controversy does not exist with the Cardinal after Nunes’ unproductive performance last week in a loss at Washington. “Josh is our starting quarterback,” Shaw said at the beginning of his weekly press conference. “He played well the first game. He played much better the second game. He played an outstanding half against USC. And he is coming off a bad game. We are not changing quarterbacks. That does not make sense to me. We wanted to bronze his arm and his legs after USC. And now I have to answer 100 questions about how come we are not changing quarterbacks. It is asinine.” Nunes has completed 65 of 125 pass attempts for 792 yards with six interceptions and four interceptions. Arizona’s Matt Scott, by comparison, has completed 141 of 220 attempts for 1,608 yards with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. …Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News writes about Nunes’ 17-of-38 performance for only 170 yards against Washington: “The Nunes we saw against Washington is the same Nunes we’ve seen all season, with the exception of a few stellar plays in the fourth quarter of the USC game. In fact, he completed a higher percentage of passes against UW (48.6) than he did against USC (46.8). He threw one-hoppers prior to the UW game and he threw one-hoppers against the Huskies. It’s the same Nunes I saw in the spring practices and training camp scrimmages that were open to the media.Bottom line: It’s who he is at this point in his career.” …

Former Arizona center Sean Rooks, who was hired this week by the Phoenix Suns as a player-development coach, would be a natural on a college basketball staff because of his knowledge of the game and his cordial personality. Can you imagine Rooks in the living room of a recruit charming the parents? No contest. He would win them over all of the time. But Rooks has chosen the pro route, and he will gain success there, especially developing big men at the post offensively. Rooks, in my opinion, is the best center Lute Olson recruited in terms of fundamentals on the block. Most defenders, including Shaquille O’Neal at McKale Center in 1991 with LSU, could not handle Rooks when he posted up inside. O’Neal was outplayed by Rooks in the game won by Arizona 87-67. O’Neal, 7-foot-1, finished with 10 points and four rebounds and Rooks had 18 points and 11 rebounds. O’Neal reportedly told Rooks, 6-10, before he fouled out: “I don’t care how good you play. I’m still a No. 1 draft pick.” That was true as O’Neal was the No. 1 draft pick in 1992. Rooks was picked in the second round in the same draft, 30th overall. … Rooks, however, had a reputable NBA career from 1992 to 2004. Rooks and O’Neal became teammates with the Lakers from 1996-1999. Rooks was rated this week by ESPNDallas.com as one of the all-time best offensive centers in Dallas Mavericks history. This is what Tim McMahon of ESPNDallas.com writes about Rooks while with the Mavericks in 1992-93: “He was a bright spot during the darkest season in Dallas basketball history, averaging 13.4 points as a rookie for an 11-71 team. That ended up being his career high. He averaged 11.4 points the next season for a much-improved Mavs team (13-69 — 18 percent more wins!) and then got traded to the Timberwolves. He averaged 10.9 points his first season in Minnesota and never came close to double figures again.” … Rooks will take part in the 25th anniversary celebration of the 1988 Final Four team at the Red-Blue Game on Oct. 20.

Former Arizona forward Jamelle Horne will take part in the NBA Developmental League Training Camp that starts Nov. 12. Horne hopes to make amends for leaving the D-League’s Sioux Falls (S.D.) Skyforce early last season in order to work on his game on his own. The move drew the ire of Sioux Falls coach Mo McHone. Horne signed a contract in June to play professionally in Israel but hopes to capture the attention of NBA scouts at the tryout. … Athlon Sports ranks Arizona No. 7 in its preseason analysis. Lindy’s has already ranked the Wildcats No. 18th nationally. Athlon’s lofty ranking of the Wildcats brings back memories of when they were a top 10 program under Lute Olson. The last time Arizona was ranked as high as No. 7 in the AP poll was in 2006-07. It has been nine seasons since the UA was ranked in the top 5 — in 2003-04 when they climbed to No. 3 on Jan. 5, 2004. The last time the Wildcats were ranked No. 1? You have to go all the way back to Nov. 20, 2000. Arizona freshman post player Brandon Ashley was about 6 years old at that time. … Ashley, a 6-foot-8-inch and 235-pound player, has impressed senior captain Solomon Hill to this point in workouts. The first formal practice for the Wildcats is next Friday. “Brandon is a good guy,” Hill told ArizonaWildcats.com. “He doesn’t have an ego about him. He’s always open to learn, willing to learn. Brandon is always listening in practice; you never have to tell him things twice. He runs the court well and he’s great at facing up and getting to the basket.” …

Oddball note of the day: The Wildcats will play their third No. 18-ranked opponent this season when they face Stanford tomorrow. Oklahoma State and Oregon State were also ranked No. 18 by the Associated Press entering the game. Before this season, the Wildcats played 18th-ranked teams only eight times since 1968. The last time Arizona has defeated a team ranked No. 18 or better away from Arizona Stadium was the Wildcats’ 31-21 win over No. 17 BYU in the 2008 Las Vegas Bowl. The last true road game won by the Wildcats against a team ranked No. 18 or better was at No. 8 Stanford on Oct. 17, 1992. That game was in the midst of a five-game winning streak fueled by the Desert Swarm after the UA’s near upset of No. 1 Miami (Fla.) on the road. … Arizona has lost 20 straight games in true road games against teams ranked No. 18 or better. … Perhaps Rodriguez should have former Wildcat basketball player Jason Terry talk to the Wildcats before they take the field against the Cardinal for a Knute Rockne-type speech. Terry told Boston media this week that his mission is “to kill” the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers in his first season with the Celtics. “My mission is to kill,” Terry said at the team’s annual golf tournament. “Whoever that is, whether it’s the Heat, whether it’s the Lakers. Hopefully both. That’s my mission and that’s what I’m here to do. I’m very excited. Obviously another opportunity to win a championship. That’s what it’s all about. There’s no other motive here but to go out there and win, and win it all.” Terry signed a three-year deal with the Celtics at the midlevel exception ($15.7 million) in July. The Boston media also asked Terry about coming off the bench to spell Rajon Rando. Terry discussed his sixth-man role with the Wildcats when they won the 1996-97 NCAA title as part of his answer. Terry will not be able to wear his customary No. 31 with the Celtics. That number is retired in honor of Cedric “Cornbread” Maxwell. Terry added the numbers and came up with his new jersey of No. 4.

Site publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner

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