Greg Hansen Sunday Notebook : Bermudez tops class

Dominic Bermudez opened his first piece of recruiting mail when he was 14. It began as a trickle; it turned into a torrent.

Now, entering his senior year at Palo Verde High School, the former state singles champion has received scholarship offers from Arizona, Cal, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson and the Air Force Academy.

"It is amazing the effort coaches put into recruiting a kid," says Dominic's father, Chuck Bermudez, principal of Amphitheater Middle School.

Bermudez, who helped Palo Verde win the state tennis championship this year, has made a decision on his college team but will keep it confidential for the time being. He is, in my opinion, the leading senior recruit in the greater Tucson area. Here are the next 10:

• Sarah Denninghoff, swimming. The Sabino senior is being pursued by most of the NCAA's top swimming schools, including Arizona's Frank Busch. She missed the high-profile summer meets, including the U.S. Open, because of a shoulder injury.

• Jake Cole, baseball. Sahuaro's senior pitcher had a breakout late summer in the high-profile Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif., which put him on the list at Arizona, ASU, North Carolina and many of the West's top baseball schools.

• Sun Park, golf. After reaching the match-play process in the U.S. Women's Amateur and the U.S. Women's Public Links championship this summer, the Cienega senior received offers from Michigan, Oklahoma, Colorado, Baylor, Northwestern, Georgetown and Yale. Her coach, Rob Harrison, says Park will play golf and study at Yale if she is accepted at the Ivy League school.

• Terrell Stoglin, basketball. Santa Rita's senior point guard has committed to Maryland and took an unofficial visit to the Terps' campus in June.

• Tamara Pridgett, track and soccer. It could be that Pridgett, a senior at Rincon/University, is the top female track and field (100, 200, long jump) prospect in Tucson history. She is sought for both sports by Pac-10-level schools.

• Ben Esparza, golf. Entering his senior year at Ironwood Ridge, Esparza's summer, which included a semifinal appearance in the historic Arizona Amateur, earned him a scholarship offer from Arizona's Rick LaRose, among other schools. Esparza will be a Wildcat.

• Keanu Nelson, football. Sabino's all-purpose back/receiver can write his ticket at any Pac-10 school, with the possible exception of USC.

• Christine Clark, basketball. The Tucson High School senior already has been offered hoops scholarships by Kansas State, Santa Clara, Boise State and Harvard.

• Josh Robbins, football. Canyon del Oro's star defensive back has some excellent athletic genes: his father, Randy Robbins, was an All-Pac-10 cornerback at Arizona and a longtime NFL standout for the Denver Broncos.

• Ashlee Brawley, softball. Cienega's speedy infielder has already given a commitment to play for Mike Candrea at Arizona.

The CHIPPEWAS arE LOADED

QB makes Central Michigan unlikely rout victim for UA

In downtown Detroit, next to Comerica Park, is a 30-feet-by-60-feet billboard of Central Michigan Chippewas quarterback Dan LeFevour. It says, in big letters: "RUN. PASS. LEAD." It smacks of the take-a-look-at-us Joey Harrington billboards Oregon marketed next to Madison Square Garden several years ago.

What it means is this: Central Michigan is good. It surely thinks it can win Saturday's opener at Arizona Stadium.

LeFevour is probably one of the top three quarterbacks Arizona will face this year, with Washington's Jake Locker and Oregon's Jeremiah Masoli. How good? He and ex-Texas QB Vince Young are the only QBs in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 in a season. Further, only LeFevour and Florida's Tim Tebow have passed for 20 touchdowns and run/caught for another 20 in a season.

Moreover, CMU junior receiver/returner Antonio Brown projects as an NFL player and is as skilled as any Pac-10 receiver. He led the NCAA in punt returns last year (20.5 yards per return). UA special teams coach Jeff Hammerschmidt told me that "kicking to Brown is like kicking to Rocket Ismail."

So don't expect to yawn your way through opening night a la Arizona's 70-0 season debut, 2008, against Idaho.

TWO STARS ON THE ROAD

Eatery near Tubac is a nice place to step up to the plate

You never know where and when you will bump into a prominent sports figure, or two.

Such was the case Friday night when I stopped on the Interstate 19 frontage road, near Tubac, to eat at Wisdom's Café.

The popular Mexican restaurant, which is celebrating its 65th anniversary, was jammed. Greeting the customers was Cliff Wisdom, a former All-World softball player from Nogales High School, who operates the restaurant with his wife, Celeste. In 2003, Wisdom was a member of the USA Softball national team.

Behind the bar was Cliff's father, Herb Wisdom, a five-time world championship softball player who was inducted into the International Softball Congress Hall of Fame in 2000.

I'm not qualified as a restaurant reviewer, but I will say this: Judging from the crowds at Wisdom's, there's much more to it than the opportunity to chat with two world-class softball stars.

SHORT STUFF

UA swimmer Titus to earn perks of being on US team

UA senior Marcus Titus, a Flowing Wells High School grad, was selected to USA Swimming's national team last week. It is a remarkable honor for anyone, especially an athlete who is deaf. Titus finished second in the 100 breast stroke at the U.S. Open and the U.S. Summer Nationals this year and now will be eligible to be reimbursed for travel to swimming competitions. Titus also will be able to train at the USA Olympic headquarters in Colorado Springs. While there, he will see some familiar faces: UA teammates Jack Brown and Alyssa Anderson also were named to the U.S. national team last week. … Willie Tuitama is back on campus and pursing his degree after throwing for a school-record 9,211 yards (no other UA quarterback has thrown for more than 7,618 career yards). I still think a Canadian Football League team will give Tuitama a tryout in 2010, but until then Tuitama is a student and a member of the general workforce. He is a server-waiter at Buffalo Wild Wings on Irvington Road. … The Boston Red Sox have released CDO grad Chris Duncan, which was unexpected. Only 27, Duncan hit 54 home runs for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2006 to 2009, and seemed to be one of those guys who would routinely hit 20-25 homers and play for a decade. But Duncan failed to regain his power after surgery for a disk problem in his neck last August. Expect him, much like ex-Amphi slugger Erubiel Durazo, to get an opportunity as a designated hitter in the American League next spring.

Ex-Cat outfielder Gaston grabbing Astros' attention

Former UA outfielder Jon Gaston leads the California League with 31 homers. His stock has risen so much that the parent Houston Astros, who drafted him in the seventh round last year, have assigned him to the Arizona Fall League, a prospects-only destination. … This is the definition of a rivalry: ASU's football radio network for 2009 includes 11 statewide affiliates. But none is closer to Tucson than Douglas and Safford. … Tucsonan Jamie Slone, a former KIIM-FM radio executive, is having another terrific season on the Indy Car Grand Prix circuit. He finished third in Sonoma, Calif., in front of about 40,000 racing fans last week. … While at Sunnyside High School, Bobby Felix was one of the most skilled football players in Tucson history. He died tragically in 2006 at 32. He will be inducted posthumously into the Western New Mexico University athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 24. While at WNMU, Felix was a two-time All-American who led the nation's small colleges in kickoff return yardage in 1993 and 1994. … Dick Tomey's assignment on opening day at San Jose State is to travel by bus to the Los Angeles Coliseum to play (gulp) USC. (And he thought that ill-fated 1999 visit to Penn State was a disaster). The Spartans expect to save about $100,000 by busing about seven hours to L.A. This won't be Tomey's only opening day football suicide: His team will open at Alabama in 2010 and at UCLA in 2011. … The Pac-10's career receiving leader, Mike Thomas of Arizona, has yet to make his NFL debut with the Jacksonville Jaguars. A hamstring injury keeps him sidelined. The fourth-round pick has a guaranteed contract for roughly $4.5 million.

MY TWO CENTS

Pac-10 chief's Alamo Bowl deal shows aggressiveness

I admire new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott's quick work in aligning the league with the Alamo Bowl, which will pay $3 million to the league's No. 2 finisher from 2010 to 2013. That's up from the Holiday Bowl's $2.1 million.

It's the best indication yet that Scott will be aggressive in repositioning the Pac-10 in exposure and finance.

The Holiday Bowl is a much better venue for the Pac-10 because it's closer; San Diego has far more tourist appeal than San Antonio. But the Holiday Bowl was unwilling to raise its ticket prices, from roughly $60 to $100, to meet the Pac-10's demands. Follow the money.

San Diego had so much potential as the Pac-10's No. 2 bowl game, but it didn't work because it couldn't be played on New Year's Day or New Year's Eve. The Pac-10 won't consider compromising its stay at the Rose Bowl by splitting interest. The Rose Bowl is sacred ground.

The Alamo Bowl is likely to be a short, four-year deal. When it last aligned with the Pac-10, in 1993 and 1994, the Alamo Bowl drew the two smallest crowds in its history, to see Wazzu and Cal.

Texas is too far for the Pac-10 to travel in significant numbers. It'll be a good TV game, played on Jan. 2. But it won't be a fan's game.