On its first day of training camp, Arizona led the Pac-12 in the game's newest statistic: Ors.
Rich Rodriguez's first depth chart didn't really list starters and reserves, as do most college football teams. Instead, the UA designated 24 positions with "or," meaning it can't be sure who's good enough to play or, unfortunately, if anyone is good enough to play.
By comparison, on its first day of training camp Thursday, Arizona's Sept. 8 opponent, Oklahoma State, fitted all of its players for 2011 Big 12 championship rings, which ordinarily suggests the Cowboys lead the league in smugness and bluster.
But when you go 23-3 in two seasons and beat up twice on Arizona by a cumulative 73-24, it's not vanity as much as it is conviction.
As the RichRod era begins, Arizona not only remains the School Without a Ring, but now, the School Without a Depth Chart.
"There were a lot of 'ors,' because we aren't yet sure in a lot of positions," Rodriguez said. "We are starting all over again with a clean slate and everybody has to earn their spots."
This is what long-suffering UA football fans heard from John Mackovic in 2001 and from Mike Stoops in 2004. This is Starting Over, part III.
The surest sign of another reconstruction period was manifest Wednesday when the Wildcats were officially processed, photographed and everything but finger-printed. In the corridor at McKale Center, three players were outfitted in navy blue No. 15 jerseys.
It came off as something of an all-comer's camp as senior kicker John Bonano mingled with fellow 15s Jarrell Bennett, a freshman receiver from New Orleans, and Wayne Capers Jr., a freshman safety from Pittsburgh.
When you are transitioning under a new coach, the sad fact is that your kicker, Bonano, actually looks more like a football player in his game-day jersey than either Capers or Bennett. Bonano is 6 feet, 215 pounds. Bennett is 5-9, 160, and Capers is 6-1, 200.
Perhaps Rodriguez and his staff will someday be able to think back to their first Arizona training camp and chuckle about the enormity of cleaning up the debris from Stoops' failure. Perhaps, after several seasons in the weight room, Bennett and Capers will more noticeably fill out their No. 15s.
Rodriguez used the term "razor thin" to describe his first depth chart. By my count, and I was being an easy grader, I listed 24 Arizona football players who could be described as capable Pac-12 players.
How easy? I included defensive lineman Willie Mobley, who has seven career tackles, and safety Mark Watley, who has started one game in three years.
If you took a similar count at Oregon you'd get 45. Even Washington probably has 35 capable Pac-12 veterans.
Razor thin it is.
In eight months on the job, Rodriguez has tinkered with his club's conditioning, its strength and its mindset. But he hasn't had time to rearrange the depth chart. This is the type of roster that would've got Stoops fired this season had not Greg Byrne dismissed his coach on Oct. 10.
The Wildcats are so "razor thin" that of the few positions not marked with an "or" are the three linebackers: Jake Fischer, Hank Hobson and Rob Hankins.
There don't appear to be any ready reinforcements even though sophomores Hobson and Hankins have done little to win a starting job on merit; they enter the season with four combined starts and 18 career tackles.
So Rodriguez will count on hunger, opportunity and pride to see his first Arizona team through.
"The guys seem receptive," he said. "They seem hungry after last year being at the bottom of the league. They are embarrassed and angry. I hope they use that anger to fuel themselves and prove themselves. I want them to be really mad, because I am. They need to be more upset."
If anything, Rodriguez's first eight months have been used to tap into his player's sense of dignity.
"The minimum has been raised," said junior cornerback Shaquille Richardson. "It's not OK to quit, give up or give in. The expectations have changed; the minimum requirements are higher."
The Wildcats of 2012 might not be any bigger, faster or stronger - and the average season ticket holder might not recognize more than a handful of names and numbers - but at least Rodriguez has been able to raise the bar without first playing a game.
Measuring his team for championship rings isn't yet on the schedule.
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