Greg Hansen's Sunday Notebook

Across the last 50 years, the most prominent Tucsonans to make a collegiate impact elsewhere were probably Sahuaro quarterback Rodney Peete at USC, Pueblo point guard Fat Lever at Arizona State and Salpointe third baseman Tairia Mims Flowers at UCLA.

This year's group of Tucson collegians who have left town is likely the most talented and deep ever. Here's my Top 10 of 2010-11:

1. Caitlin Leverenz, swimming, Sahuaro. The Cal athlete was the Pac-10's Newcomer of the Year, a two-time NCAA All-American who followed that by winning the USA National title in the 400 IM and ringing up a pair of third-place finishes in the Pan Pacific championships.

2. Tara Erdmann, distance running, Flowing Wells. A junior at Loyola Marymount, Erdmann was sixth in the NCAA 10,000-meter final, broke four school records and then finished third in the 5,000 at the 23U North American championships.

3. Kris O'Dowd, football, Salpointe Catholic. In his senior season at USC, the All-Pac-10 lineman has been rated by some as the nation's No. 1 center.

4. Jade Michaelsen, volleyball, Salpointe. The two-time All-Mountain West Conference setter at UNM will bid for All-America recognition as a senior.

5. Aaron Tevis, football, CDO. With 11 starts for Boise State's undefeated team last year, making 54 tackles, Tevis enters his junior year as one of the top linebackers in college.

6. Logan Hall, softball, Sahuaro. Now a junior at Texas Tech, Hall hit .325 for a 38-win NCAA tournament team last year.

7. Nick Marshall, soccer, CDO. Not only did he lead UNLV in scoring as a freshman, but he was named to the NSCAA All-Far West Region third team.

8. John Gianninoto, football, Catalina Foothills. After two years as UNLV's starting center, Gianninoto has taken over at right guard for his senior season.

9. Alex Solot, football, Rincon/University. Started eight games at UTEP last year and was voted the club's Most Improved Player. Has become an NFL prospect at tackle.

10. Christina Solverson, volleyball, Ironwood Ridge. Auburn was No. 2 in the SEC West preseason poll and Solverson, a junior setter with a 4.0 GPA in engineering, is considered the Tigers' top player.

STOOPS STEPS IT UP

Mike is more hands-on after brother's departure

Nothing and no one was more visible during Arizona's three-week football training camp than Mike Stoops. Since his brother, Mark Stoops, left to become Florida State's defensive coordinator, the UA head coach has done much more hands-on coaching, so much so that it appeared the Wildcats had tri-defensive coordinators. Here are the three leading stories of training camp:

1. Stoops and co-defensive coordinators Tim Kish and Greg Brown all stood their ground. Sometimes it was sensitive and awkward, but it was a dynamic on-the-job meshing of three strong-willed defensive coaches who, combined, have more than 75 years in the business.

2. Quarterback Nick Foles took command and established a team-leading presence that he didn't have in 2009. He is set for a breakout season.

3. Three skilled running backs, Nicolas Grigsby, Keola Antolin and Greg Nwoko will work behind a capable and veteran offensive line, and it is clear that Arizona won't be a finesse operation. The mentality of co-offensive coordinators Bill Bedenbaugh and Seth Littrell is to punish opposing defenses with the running game, not use it as Option No. 2.

SHORT STUFF

Six from Tucson AAU club earn scholarships

Ironwood Ridge High School basketball coach Brian Peabody doubles as coach of the Tucson Heat, an AAU basketball team. He had such a productive year that six players earned scholarships, including Tucson High guard Sama Taku, who will play for former Arizona Final Four guard Craig McMillan at Santa Rosa JC in Northern California. In addition, Sahuaro senior Dior Ford, who is also a top receiver in football, has already been offered a scholarship by Grand Canyon basketball coach Russ Pennell. Peabody spent the last month working five times a week with Santa Rita guard Terrell Stoglin, who left last week for his freshman season at Maryland. Peabody will stage tryouts for the 2010-11 Tucson Heat season today at Cholla High School. Prep freshmen and sophomores will work out at noon; juniors and seniors will play at 3 p.m. For more, e-mail peabody3@mindspring.com. … St. Gregory's senior basketball/baseball standout Frankie Mgbolu has already received scholarship interest from Portland, Penn, Holy Cross and San Francisco. Even though he plays point guard in Class 1A, and missed much of last season with a broken hip, Mgbolu has a chance to attract significantly more hoops interest by the spring signing period. … Salpointe senior infielder Joe Serrano has arranged recruiting visits to Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico and San Diego State. His teammate Ryan Penaflor, a junior infielder, has also popped up on the big-time recruiting radar, receiving a hand-written note from the UCLA coaching staff. Penaflor participated in summer camps at Stanford and for Arizona's Andy Lopez this summer.

Sad journey continues for Pima lineman Davila

When Pima College opens its football season Saturday, at Phoenix College, it will be without heralded offensive lineman Zach Davila, a former standout for Nemer Hassey at Cienega. After accepting a scholarship at Utah, Davila injured his knee, left school, enrolled at PCC, and last week suffered his fourth significant knee injury. "It's really unfortunate for Zach," Pima coach Pat Nugent said. "It's just too damaged for him to consider playing football again." … Also out for the year is ex-Sunnyside tailback Jovan Stevenson, who had surgery on his left shoulder rather than enter the season as Oregon State's No. 2 tailback and attempt to play through the pain. … Best news of the week: Oft-criticized former UA point guard Mustafa Shakur signed a partially guaranteed contract with the New Orleans Hornets. To his credit, at 26, Shakur has remade his offensive game, learning how to shoot with proper mechanics. After shooting poorly during much of his career at Arizona, (never averaging more than 11.9 points per game) and shooting .381 in parts of two EuroLeague seasons, Shakur shot .489 in the NBA D-League, averaging 19.2 points this past season. He's one of the all-time gentlemen to play at Arizona. … When ASU opens its football season against Portland State on Saturday, Santa Rita grad J.J. Holliday, a redshirt freshman, is expected to be in the rotation at receiver. Much as he did in high school, Holliday has impressed Sun Devils coaches by his ability to go into a crowd and catch the ball. He's fast and a willing learner. Holliday is expected to be one of five or six Sun Devils in a deep receivers unit who could catch 20 to 30 passes this year.

Rarely used No. 2 will be worn by Cats' Bejarano

Already in uniform, Arizona's touted freshman shooting guard Daniel Bejarano posed for a team photo wearing jersey No. 2 last week. It's a rarely used number in college hoops, but one used by All-Pac-10 forward Michael Wright during his final UA season. … After Olympic gold medalist Kerri Strug, the most accomplished female gymnast in Tucson history is probably Randi Liljenquist Acosta, a CDO grad who holds UA records with perfect 10s in the balance beam and floor exercise, and a third UA record in all-around (39.775). Now she has returned to her alma mater as an assistant coach for Bill Ryden's program. Good hire. … UA co-offensive coordinator Bill Bedenbaugh will be making an extended business trip when Arizona opens Friday at Toledo. He'll fly to Fargo, N.D., on Saturday to scout and meet with North Dakota State College of Science guard Jake Fahrenkrug, who has narrowed his college choices to Arizona, Florida State, Arkansas and Auburn. It's the same JC where UA starting linebacker Derek Earls played. "Arizona is also interested in another of our linemen, Matt Williams," said NDSCS offensive coordinator Mike Shafer. "Bill has already made a trip here to see them." … On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, first-year UA quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo remembers the horror. He was Tulane's offensive coordinator that season. "In addition to everything else that went wrong," he said, "I had my golf clubs in my car. After the storm, I never saw the car or the golf clubs again." Scelfo's oldest son, Anthony, a second baseman, is hitting .240 for the Class A Charlotte Stone Crabs of the Florida State League.

MY TWO CENTS

Arizona should beware of overconfidence at Toledo

In the last 10 years, Toledo has beaten BCS opponents Michigan, Penn State, Kansas, Iowa State, Colorado, Minnesota and Pitt. That should get the UA's attention right now.

Here's more: In 1999, Dick Tomey's Arizona coaching career began its collapse in a humbling 41-7 opening-day loss at Penn State. Amazingly, a year later, the Nittany Lions lost at home (before 94,296) to, yes, Toledo, 24-6.

Much has turned over in college football since that day, but as much as any school in college football, Toledo has a history of playing up to its competition. For Arizona, overconfidence won't fly in Friday's opener at Toledo.