No one ever denied the explosiveness of Pac-12 football, but some issued the “soft” epithet. Enter Scooby Wright of Arizona, who roughed up opposing offenses en route to coming in 9th in Heisman voting as a sophomore linebacker. While the Wildcats dominate, Bobby Hurley looks to have Arizona State rolling and Grand Canyon had some attention as the first for-profit school with a team.

We ran the Value Add Sports calculations on all returning Arizona athletes and emailed 17 sports writers and other experts in the state to help rank the 25 state players to watch on a list we will update here.

Arizona basketball will be loaded again, but Hurley has already brought along star Shannon Evans from the Buffalo tournament run – and Evans should be the top player in the state after sitting out a year. Joshua Braun of Grand Canyon should be good too.

One of the most famous gymnastics feats – sticking a landing off the vault on a very injured ankle to net the USA a team gold, made Kerri Strug the greatest athlete ever from the state according to the December 23, 2012, Bleacher Report.

Here are the top 25 to watch:

  1. Scooby Wright, Arizona Wildcats, Foot, LB
  2. Shannon Evans, ARIZONA St./2017, Basket, PG
  3. Ray Smith, Arizona, Basket, PF
  4. Gabriela Stoian, Arizona, Soccer, Midfielder
  5. Kyle Long, Arizona State, Track/Field, Hammer Throw
  6. Allonzo Trier, Arizona, Basket, SG
  7. Aly Moon, Arizona State, Soccer, Midfielder
  8. Ashley Weber, Arizona State, Track/Field, Shot Put
  9. Mark Tollefsen, Arizona, Basket, C
  10. Tyrell Johnson, Arizona, Foot/Track,
  11. Bobby Dalbec, Arizona, Baseball,
  12. Ginger Jarchow, Arizona State, Track/Field, Discus Throw
  13. Joshua Braun, Grand Canyon, Basket, PF
  14. Blake Eichler, Arizona, Track/Field, 400m Dash
  15. Obinna Oleka, Arizona St., Basket, PF
  16. Bobby Dalbec, Arizona, Baseball, 3B
  17. Brian Serven, ArizonaState, Baseball, C
  18. Colby Woodmansee, ArizonaState, Baseball, SS
  19. Jamol James, Arizona State, Track/Field, 200m Dash
  20. Andre Spight, Arizona St., Basket, SG
  21. Jasmine Gibbs, Arizona State, Track/Field, Long Jump
  22. Anu Solomon, Arizona Wildcats, Foot, QB
  23. Kaleb Tarczewski, Arizona, Basket, C
  24. Bobby Dalbec, Arizona, Baseball, 3B
  25. Johnny Sewald, ArizonaState, Baseball, OF

Others receiving votes