Canyon del Oro's Kayden Luke (30) high steps through the Yuma Catholic defense on his way to scoring in the second quarter of the 4A state football championship game in Tempe on Dec. 1, 2023.
– It was quite a surprise to see former Canyon del Oro football player Kayden Luke listed on the Big 12's preseason all-league team last week. A junior at West Virginia, Luke did not carry the ball for Arizona last year in 71 plays from scrimmage. One change since transferring to West Virginia: Luke is now listed at 5-11, 251 pounds. At Arizona, he was listed at 220 pounds. At that size, Luke might be something like ex-ASU star Cam Skattebo, a bull of a running back for the New York Giants. Luke won't lack for knowledgeable coaching; his position coach at WVU is former Arizona running backs coach Jay Boulware (2001-03), who has since coached running backs at Stanford, Iowa, Utah, Oklahoma, Auburn, Kentucky and Texas. Big time.
– When the Detroit Tigers last week fired third base coach Joey Cora, it brought to mind the Tigers' first base coach, former Santa Rita High quarterback and baseball star Anthony Sanders. Few jobs are safe in MLB, but Sanders' has a resume of sticking a long time. After his big-league playing career and his spot on the 2000 USA Olympic gold medal baseball team, Sanders coached 13 seasons in the Colorado Rockies' system and then spent five years as the Baltimore Orioles' first base coach. After leaving Santa Rita in 1991, Sanders had a choice to make: a scholarship offer to play QB for Arizona or to sign with the Toronto Blue Jays. Sanders, who is now 52, son of former Daily Star photographer Benjie Sanders, made the right decision by making baseball his career.
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– Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege will be keeping his eye on the Canadian Football League this season. His brother, 27-year-old QB Jarret Doege, signed last week with the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. After jumping around in college football, playing at West Virginia, Bowling Green and Troy, Jarret has played in the CFL for Edmonton and Toronto.
– The jury is still out on Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, but he's not in danger of being viewed as the next Larry Scott. However, Yormark received much criticism last week when he announced all Big 12 teams will wear a Monster Energy uniform jersey patch, with each school getting close to $1.1 million per year. That's far below what UNLV got for selling uniform patch rights to Acesso Biologics (5 years, $11 million) recently, and below what Kansas is getting ($30 million for five years) for selling jersey patch rights to a Kansas finance company, Ripple. What remains to be seen is if the Big 12's Monster Energy patches will be so prominent on jerseys that potential jersey patch sponsors will withdraw. Early reports are that Yormark didn't get enough money for each school.
– Sabino High School principal Kevin Amidan knows a lot about winning. He was part of Sabino High School's football dynasty in the 1990s, winning the '98 state title. Last week, Amidan announced he has hired another champion, Heather Moore-Martin, who has won an incredible 10 state volleyball titles, first as a player at Catalina High School in 1983, and later as Catalina's boys volleyball coach in 2010 and 2011, and then adding seven more state titles as Salpointe Catholic's girls volleyball coach from 2016-24. Moore-Martin and Salpointe parted ways two years ago. Amidan was sharp enough to add her to the Sabercats' coaching staff.
