By
Maxx Wolfson
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Hansen returns to the place where he created his legacy
Arizona head coach Dick Tomey said he never considered pulling senior starting quarterback Ortege Jenkins in last Saturday's loss to UCLA for sophomore backup Jason Johnson.
Despite throwing four interceptions and only 105 passing yards in the 27-24 loss, Tomey felt Jenkins' ability to run the football was too important to the team's offensive scheme to take the senior out of the game.
"(I would have put in Johnson) if O.J. had not been running so well, but his legs kept us in the game," Tomey said. "His legs were very important in that game. With our pass protection problems that we've been having up front, it is important to have someone who has the legs."
Jenkins gained a career best 104 yards on 11 carries in the loss.
Johnson has seen limited action as a backup this season, throwing only one pass - which was incomplete - against Stanford on Sept. 30.
Jenkins isn't the only quarterback to have made an impact two years ago against the Huskies.
Prior to the game versus Washington in Husky Stadium, then-quarterback Peter Hansen was not expected to travel with the team to Seattle.
The 6-foot-8 junior was listed as an emergency quarterback on the roster and had only traveled to one previous game - a road game to Stanford - to see his family.
However, an NCAA suspension to ex-UA cornerback Chris McAlister regarding a loan he secured left Hansen with McAlister's spot.
"Thursday at practice, coach (Dino) Babers told me I was on the bubble, and I didn't know why because the only trip that I made was to Stanford, which was a couple weeks earlier," Hansen said. "The next day, he told me I was going."
The Palo Alto, Calif., native made his presence known in Seattle, blocking a Husky field goal attempt - his first career block.
"It just hit my arm and I was on the ground celebrating already," Hansen said.
Since being converted to tight end, Hansen has continued his legacy as a Wildcat by blocking six kicks in his career.
Tomey kept with his recent tradition of waiting til the eighth or ninth game to announce the captains for the rest of the season.
When Tomey was an assistant coach early in his career, captains were elected prior to the season.
"I was at a place that named our captains before the season started, and we had a year that we had exactly the wrong guys who were named captain," Tomey said. "We went into the season, and it all went into the dumper."
Three captains - an offensive captain, a defensive captain and a special teams captain - were voted on by players prior to this past Saturday's game.
Jenkins, senior defensive end Joe Tafoya and senior linebacker/special teams player Adrian Koch, will represent the Wildcats for the rest of the season.
Koch received a higher percentage of votes for captain then any player has ever received at UA, Tomey said.
The senior has been competing this season with a partially-torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee.
"You look at where he was when he was standing on the sideline at (Camp) Cochise where he thought he blew his knee," Tomey said. "It is an incredible tribute to who he is and what he is and what he has gone through and the life struggle that he has made and it speaks to all that. All these guys with scholarships and more God-given talent can see that and appreciate that and that is what is neat."
Tomey said that naming Jenkins a captain is a special honor that a quarterback does not regularly receive.
"It is a tremendous honor for O.J., because normally a quarterback is not elected captain," Tomey said. "It is usually more of a blue collar guy."
After sitting out the last five games, senior center Bruce Wiggins will hit the practice field for the first time in more than a month.
Wiggins, out of action due to a high ankle sprain, has been replaced by true freshman Reggie Sampay.
"We are hopeful that he will be able to survive practice to be able to play some role in the game whatever it is," Tomey said. "If he can come back and play, it could really be helpful."
Prior to the injury, Wiggins started 28 straight games for the Wildcats at center.
Tomey said that having his senior center back could make a large impact.
"All his experience - the line calls, the help we get at pass protection - I think it will give us a chance to be a little more versatile," Tomey said.
