Tom Knauer Assistant Sports Editor

So, Mike Stoops, widely considered savior of the Arizona football team: Another of your latest prized recruits has found himself in some legal trouble.

You do know whom I'm talking about, right?

I mean Rickey Parker, the top-100 junior college defensive tackle prospect who joined the team Wednesday after being kicked off ASU's squad a couple of years ago. He was dropped for what Sun Devils head coach Dirk Koetter told the Arizona Daily Star were "repeated violations" of team and school rules.

What's your take on him, coach?

"He's a prototypical defensive lineman," Stoops said last week to the Star.

Channeling the talents of malcontents and common criminals on the gridiron is no new thing in college and professional football.

Guys like former Carolina Panthers wide receiver Rae Carruth, who was convicted of conspiring to kill his pregnant girlfriend, make millions of dollars and draw millions of eyes before being taken from their sweet pads in the suburbs and put in quarters with no connection whatsoever to the rules of the game.

The problems come when these athletes are welcomed back.

The Wildcats dealt with a number of embarrassments in Stoops' first season.

Sophomore defensive tackle Yaniv Barnett and senior running back Gilbert Harris were referred to the Dean of Students Office in September after being found with marijuana in a parking garage. Harris even gave police a fake name when first approached.

Redshirt junior defensive tackle Paul Phillips was arrested in October for trying to use a fake ID to get into a bar.

See a pattern? Check the positions.

There's little doubt Stoops took each of these troublemakers to task and limited their playing time over the rest of last season.

But scan Arizona's current roster - and particularly the depth chart - and it seems that most, if not all three, of these athletes will see significant action in the fall.

Let's ignore Harris for a moment. Barnett and Phillips join senior Brad Brittain, Parker and another junior college transfer, Byron Smith, on a defensive line missing the graduated Carlos Williams.

By the way, Smith's been charged with aggravated robbery in Texas.

"Byron has been a great addition to this team with his work ethic and his attitude," Stoops told the Star.

Possible jail time can do that to an athlete.

At Oklahoma in recent years, Stoops helmed a defensive unit that remains one of the most feared in the country.

At this rate, Arizona's "D" will concern more fans and families for their personal safety than opposing flankers and fullbacks for their financial security after school.

The Pacific 10 Conference continues to get a bum rap in college football. Such "old-guard" conferences as the Big 12, SEC and Big Ten are still considered the gold standards of the game. Only two-time defending national champion USC, which once revered O.J. Simpson, has that changing competitively.

Stoops' refusal to show troubled recruits the Arizona Stadium gates will soon undermine his authority in the locker room and reduce his credibility as a coach and the spokesperson for an already fallen program.

Pressure from athletic departments to get quick results on the field puts head coaches in binds that cause them to lie (George O'Leary on his resume for the Notre Dame job), get beat (Tyrone Willingham in his last year with the Fighting Irish) and smear (Colorado's Gary Barnett with former kicker Katie Hnida).

Fortunately, Stoops isn't guilty of any of these things. He has the tools around him and the support he needs to bring Arizona back to the prominence it hasn't sniffed in a decade.

But the more Parkers and Smiths that get to roam free from the expectation to follow rules, the more questions Stoops will get from those who believe athletes deserve no such special treatment - no matter how much bad being good is reflected in the final score.