EVAN CARAVELLI/Arizona Daily Wildcat Communications senior Amy Praw poses for a test shot with Playboy photographer David Rams yesterday at the University Marriott. Praw was one of only a few UA students that showed up for the opportunity to pose for the popular men's magazine.

Few Wildcats bared it all for Playboy yesterday as they came to Tucson for the first of three days looking for women to pose for their annual college edition.

In contrast to the UA turnout, Playboy Producer Eden Orfanos said they were unable to see all the women at Arizona State University who wanted to take part in the "Girls of the Pac-10" issue.

"We just came from ASU, we had 200 girls call," Orfanos said. "We couldn't see everybody."

Orfanos said 150 Sun Devils showed up to Playboy's off-campus photo shoot.

"We shot 14 girls, which is a lot." Orfanos said.

Orfanos dispelled the myth that Playboy is looking for the typical blonde bombshell with large breasts, and said the magazine prefers women with a natural look who don't have a typical, produced image.

Playboy photographer David Rams, who photographed students for the previous Pacific 10 Conference issue, said the UA is one of his favorite places to visit when working for Playboy.

"I have always said Arizona has some of the hottest women," Rams said.

Rams said the UA students at that photo shoot were very open, and some discussed their sex life while they posed.

Orfanos agreed, "They were ballsy."

Few who attended yesterday's photo shoot declined interview.

But communication senior Amy Praw said she showed up for the Playboy photo shoot to challenge herself, and doubts she will be picked to model for the "Girls of the Pac-10" issue.

"I wanted to see how far I'd get and also represent my school," Praw said.

Praw said she was very comfortable during the photo shoot, though she had never been photographed modeling in her bathing suit before.

Praw said her boyfriend was not too happy about her photo shoot with Playboy.

"He doesn't want to share me with the world," she said.

Praw said she does not read Playboy, and said were she picked for the final spread, she'd be a bit apprehensive about modeling nude.

"I would definitely need a good night's thinking," she said.

Praw said she does not want to think about the men who would be sleeping with her likeness under their beds if she appeared in the issue.

"Gross," Praw said. "I don't know how I feel about that."

Praw said she does not have any moral problems with posing for the magazine and applauds everyone brave enough to try.

"Everyone has a body," Praw said. "If they want to show it they might as well if they have the courage."

Amy Sue Cooper, who posed for the Playboy college issue three years ago, said her experience with Playboy was amazing. Cooper, who was a nursing student at the University of Nebraska when Playboy came to her town, jumped at the chance.

"For me it was something I wanted to do and it excited me," Cooper said. "It sparked my attention."

Cooper, who was recently voted as Playboy's 2005 Cyber Girl of the Year, said she had mixed emotions when the issue was published.

"I was very excited, but I wondered what her grandparents would think," Cooper said.

After the issue came out, Cooper found herself working for Playboy soon after her initial appearance. First, she said, as part of Playboy's online magazine, as a "cyber girl" of the week. Fans online voted for her to be "cyber girl" of the month and then as "cyber girl" of the year.

Cooper said she learned yesterday she will pose with Playboy for a chance to be one of the select few in the Playboy hierarchy: a playmate.

"I've been climbing the Playboy ladder so to speak," Cooper said.

Cooper urged women interested in posing for Playboy to call and arrange to pose.

"It's not often Playboy is going to be in your hometown, go for it, try it," Cooper said.

Cooper, who initially posed with Rams and Orfanos, said the experience was very professional and respectful.

"They treated everyone like royalty," Cooper said.

For the initial meeting with Playboy, women will be asked to take casting Polaroids. The Polaroids will be used to select several women from each university for an in-depth photo shoot later in the week. Students who are not selected for the "Girls of the Pac-10" issue may appear in a supplemental issue of Playboy routinely sold in February.

The college woman-only issue features women photographed for the Pac-10 issue who were not selected as well as alternate, unpublished photographs of the women published in the Pac-10 issue.

During Playboy's search, photographers will spend today and tomorrow interviewing candidates from the UA, but due to safety concerns, the location is being withheld.

Playboy last came to Arizona for the "Girls of the Pac-10" issue in 1999, and three women from the UA appeared in the October 1999 issue. UA alumnae Summer Morgan, Lori Ligouri and Lacey Ballantyne posed topless in the issue.

A Playboy representative said Playboy has visited Tucson five times in the past: twice in 1978, and once in 1985, 1993 and 1999.

The "Girls of the Pac-10" issue will hit newsstands in October.

Interested?
Those still wanting to try out can write to pac10@playboy.com.or call (312) 315-7342

-Cassie Tomlin contributed to this story.