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Lead Role

Scott Andrew Taras Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior wide receiver Dennis Northcutt (8) shows off his catching skills yesterday at football practice during warm-ups. Northcutt caught 10 passes for 257 yards with three touchdowns at Texas Christian last weekend.

When told that UA wide receiver Dennis Northcutt had been named Athlete of the Week, wide receiver coach Rob Ianello joked, "so you're really going out on a limb, huh."

Against Texas Christian University, the deserving Northcutt caught 10 balls for 257 yards and three touchdowns and sparked the team to a second-half comeback and 35-31 win. He scored on catches of 38, 30 and 59 yards and his overall receiving yardage was the sixth-best single game performance in Pacific 10 Conference history.

Northcutt not only demonstrated his leadership on the field, but motivated the team at halftime and in the huddle as well.

He has been with the UA football program since his freshman year. He played his freshman year, not redshirting, and has seen action at tailback, cornerback and wide receiver.

Since coming to UA, Northcutt has been moving up the list of receiving records. He needs one reception to become UA's all-time reception leader, and was only 680 yards away at the start of the season to become UA's all-time receiving yardage leader.

Offensive coordinator Dino Babers attributes Northcutt's leadership to his experience.

"I think where he does show leadership is by example," Babers said. "He's been here since he was a freshman, never redshirted, and has played a lot of football for us and that's where he shows his leadership."

Northcutt is not only looked at for leadership from the coaching staff, but his teammates as well.

"He is definitely a leader on this team and he speaks the truth and he's been through a lot on offense," senior quarterback Keith Smith said. "He's a fighter."

Ianello agreed with Smith's comments on Northcutt.

"Dennis provides great leadership by example," Ianello said. "He shows up and performs and sometimes the best kind of leadership he can give is through his energy and performance."

When the Wildcats' offense came out of the gates against TCU stumbling, and were pounced upon by the Horned Frogs' defense and formidable running game, it was time for Northcutt to perform and act like a senior.

Going into halftime down 16 points, the Wildcats were looking sluggish and lacking tenacity. Northcutt knew that the team could bounce back.

"I knew they (TCU) weren't any better than us and I just thought in the first half we made a lot of mistakes," Northcutt said. "We just had to mentalize those mistakes and come back and win the game.

"I said some things to the team at halftime and I just wanted us to work better together as a team," he added. "I just said that every person needs to do their job and give 100 percent effort. Each running back, each quarterback, we needed everybody to get the results that we wanted and knew we could do."

UA quarterback Keith Smith listened to Northcutt in the small and cramped locker room during halftime and watched as Northcutt went out during the second-half and backed up his words with action.

"He does it with his mouth and with his play," Smith said. "He came in at halftime and basically told us what he was going to do and he went out in the second half and did it."

What Northcutt did in the second-half was lead the Wildcats back from a 25-7 deficit to a 28-25 lead in only 3:46. Northcutt was all over the field, catching balls in the flats and cutting across the middle for passes.

From the sidelines and in the huddle, Smith knew that Northcutt was doing something special.

"He was just unbelievable to watch, he was just having one of those days like nobody can stop him," Smith said. "He would come into the huddle and say 'just give me the ball, they're afraid of me' and that's what we did. It was like watching that 70-point game (Michael) Jordan had."

Down 31-28 with time winding down in the second-half, the UA offense broke from the huddle with 78 yards and the TCU defense between them and a winning touchdown.

Northcutt personally accounted for three plays of the six-play final drive, including catches of 28 and 16 yards to move the Wildcats past midfield.

The 5-foot-11 senior then slid between a group of five TCU defenders to catch the game-winning ball from Smith with 2:10 flashing on the scoreboard.

The Wildcats won the ballgame 35-31 and may have salvaged a season that could have gone downhill with an 0-2 start.

Northcutt will get his offensive shot at breaking the UA reception record this weekend when the Wildcats host Middle Tennessee State on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Arizona Stadium.