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Dec. 8-9, 2005, was a significant football recruiting weekend on the UA campus. Louis Holmes, the nation's top junior college prospect, a pass rusher with NFL size and speed, was visiting from Scottsdale.

It was in all the papers; it was the No. 1 topic of chatter on the fan-site message boards.

Holmes was a prospect of such magnitude that Arizona's coaches told him he could wear jersey No. 1. He would be a star. The Wildcats would be saved. Or at least they'd go to a bowl game.

On that same weekend, 6-foot-6-inch, 320-pound offensive tackle James Tretheway of College of San Mateo quietly flew into Tucson and agreed to become a Wildcat. He wouldn't visit Marshall or Cincinnati or any of the other schools that expressed interest.

You had to be a fan of the first rank, a depth-chart dip, to know that Tretheway has been wearing jersey No. 66 for three years, most of it on the bench.

"We always kid James that he's had more ankle injuries than anybody in the history of college football," UA coach Mike Stoops says. And Tretheway agrees.

"I've probably got glass ankles," he was saying after Thursday's workout in preparation for the Las Vegas Bowl. "I think I've had four or five high-ankle sprains."

Here's the kicker: Tretheway has had a better college career, and better college experience, than No. 1, Louis Holmes.

It's one of the little things that makes you feel good about college football, one of those unexpected, rewarding developments that goes beyond games won and money banked.

James Tretheway has become a really big deal.

If you were paying attention on Senior Day at Arizona Stadium, you might have seen Tretheway and his parents, Jim and Darlene Tretheway, walk quietly onto the turf, side by side, as their son was introduced as a graduating senior.

It was an emotional walk.

"My mom was crying," Tretheway remembers. "I was getting pretty choked up."

By the final game of his senior season in college football, James Tretheway was Arizona's starting right tackle.

"It's crazy," says UA All-Pac-10 left tackle Eben Britton. "He had a lot of obstacles, but he stuck with it and has become a solid player. For a long time, he was probably the one guy among the offensive linemen you wouldn't expect to be in that position.''

Tretheway might have preferred to stay close to his home in South San Francisco. He would have enjoyed getting an offer from nearby Stanford, but the Cardinal rarely recruits junior-college players, even those with 3.8 GPAs and double majors in math and economics.

It wasn't that Stanford didn't know who he was; San Mateo CC grad Walt Harris was Stanford's coach when Tretheway was being recruited at SMCC.

"It has been a long road,'' he says. "I started off a little shaky, got a little frustrated from time to time, and then got a chance when Adam Grant was injured. I was fortunate to be able to hold onto my spot the rest of the year.''

What makes Tretheway's emergence as a bowl-game starter more impressive is that he graduated from the UA with a degree in mathematics (and a 3.5 GPA) in May. This year, he is in the process of completing an economics degree. In May, he will leave school with two degrees and a promising future that doesn't depend on pro football.

He has put the "student" back into student-athlete.

After the Las Vegas Bowl, Tretheway will work in Tucson as an intern for a financial analyst, which is his likely career path.

Part of his success is a testament to a good family. His father, Jim, works in the biotech industry. His mother, Darlene, has been a devoted, kids-come-first mom who shuttled James' sister Amanda to basketball practice (she is playing hoops at Eastern Michigan), and Jamie to dance classes (she is a dance teacher).

And part of it is commitment.

"Playing college football, a lot of times you go from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., doing school and football stuff," he says. "You can do it if you put your mind to it."

Tretheway was part of a 23-man recruiting class signed in February 2006. After the five-stars (Holmes) and four-stars, such as junior cornerback Devin Ross were announced, Tretheway checked in somewhere near No. 23.

In the end, Tretheway is closer to No. 1 than he is to No. 23.

"I'm happy," he says. "I've enjoyed my time at Arizona."

It is a feel-good story that proves the system of college football sometimes works.