6 Days Till Arizona Football: Looking Back at Legendary UA Safety

The countdown continues as we are now officially in the single digits range till the start of the season.

Arizona is just six days away from the season opener against Hawaii.

Over the next week, we will continue to take a look back at some of the top players in Arizona football history by jersey number as we inch closer towards the start of the season for the Wildcats .

We continue with former Arizona safety Chuck Cecil who played with the Wildcats from 1984-87.

Cecil is largely considered to be one of the most dominant players in Arizona football history on either side of the ball.

He played under under head coaches Larry Smith and Dick Tomey.

Cecil totaled 392 tackles, 21 interceptions, and 38 passes deflected during his career at Arizona.

He was the 1987 Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American that same year.

He holds the record for the longest interception return in program history after a 106-yard interception return in the 1986 Territorial Cup.

The interception helped seal a 34-17 upset win over No.

4 ASU ending all hopes of a National Title for the Sun Devils.

the No.

14 Wildcats would go on to win the Aloha Bowl 30-21 over North Carolina in the program's first bowl victory.

Cecil was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

He remains toward the top of Arizona's all-time leaderboard in interceptions and tackles.

He was also inducted into the University of Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.

Cecil went on to play seven years in the NFL.

He totaled 461 tackles, 16 interceptions and one touchdown in that span across five seasons with the Green Bay Packers as well as one year with the Cardinals and Texans.

He was also named to the 1992 Pro Bowl.

Following his playing career, Cecil has been a coach since 2001 when he began as a defensive assistant and quality control coach in the NFL for Tennessee Titans.

Cecil later spent time as the defensive coordinator for the Titans in 2009-10 before spending stints as a coach with the Rams as their co-defensive coordinator, defensive backs coach and senior defensive analyst from 2012-17.

Cecil returned to Tucson as a senior defensive analyst for Arizona from 2018-20.

He was also the interim defensive coordinator in 2019 and spent time as the defensive backs coach from 2021-23.

Heading into this season, Cecil is the senior defensive specialist for Arizona, a role he began last year.

What do you remember from the career of Cecil at Arizona and in the NFL? Let us know and be sure to follow us on our X account by clicking on the link..

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