"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

    Eben Britton

It was an eventful training camp for players with Arizona ties.

Fan favorite Tedy Bruschi retired from the Patriots and joined ESPN as an analyst. Rookie free agent safety Nate Ness was cut three times — from the Browns, Jets and Saints. Wide receiver Bobby Wade, entering his eighth season in the league, was cut Thursday from the Vikings despite 107 catches in two years with the team. He won’t be catching passes from Brett Favre.

Elsewhere, the Browns plucked running back Chris Jennings — who arrived at Arizona as a junior college walk-on — from the Canadian Football League. He didn’t survive the final cut, but was re-signed to the practice squad.

Meanwhile, former All-Pro cornerback Chris McAlister is looking for work, trying to come back from two seasons of knee problems. He tells the L.A. Times he’ll be back next week. And, oh yeah, his Beverly Hills-area home is for sale at $7.9 million.

For now, 14 ex-Cats are on active NFL rosters. Here is the list:

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Related: Mike Thomas leads voting for UA’s Player of the Decade on offense

By Anthony Gimino

Much like on offense, Arizona’s problems on defense this decade are apparent on the line. UA is the only Pac-10 team this decade to not have a first-team all-league defensive lineman.

USC has had a first-team all-league defensive lineman 11 times since the 2000 season. Oregon State is next with six. The Wildcats haven’t had such a player since Joe Salave’a in 1997.

What the Cats have had this decade are two of the best at their position in the entire league — linebacker Lance Briggs (first-team all-conference in 2000, 2001 and 2002) and cornerback Antoine Cason (winner of the Jim Thorpe Award in 2007). Take your pick: One of these guys is your Arizona Defensive Player of the Decade.

How could the 2009 season change things? When we revisit this in a few months, defensive end Brooks Reed will be on this list if all goes well, and so to could cornerback Devin Ross and maybe even punter Keenyn Crier, who has a 43.8-yard average in his first two seasons.

Note that one of the most prominent UA alums — New York Giants mega-millionaire linebacker Antonio Pierce — is absent. First of all, he played at UA for only one season of the decade (2000) when he had an honorable mention all-league season (77 tackles, 10 for loss). Good, not great.

Here are WILDABOUTAZCATS.com’s choices for UA’s All-Decade team for defense:

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