Roundup: Arizona baseball's 2018 recruiting class checks in at No. 3 nationally

Arizona baseball brought in the No. 3-ranked 2018 recruiting class according to Collegiate Baseball, it was announced Monday (ArizonaWildcats.com). Six incoming freshmen Wildcats were drafted (but they’ll be spending at least three years in Tucson).

Arizona State football coach Herm Edwards wants the Sun Devils to be more of a running team going forward, Jeff Metcalfe notes. Nearly 60 percent of Arizona State’s offensive plays against Washington were runs, while the Sun Devils got 73 percent of their offense through the air in their first three games.

Oregon women’s volleyball’s Lindsey Vander Weide and Ronika Stone were named Pac-12 Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week, respectively, it was announced Monday. The Ducks are off to a 2-0 start in conference play with wins over Oregon State and Washington State.

Jon Wilner believes that the Pac-12 needs UCLA to “thrive” with Chip Kelly at the helm from a future TV rights standpoint. Getting two College Football Playoff contenders in the No. 2 media market in America would be a huge boon for the conference’s Tier One media negotiations coming up in 2024.

Washington linebacker Ben Burr-Kirven was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week, it was announced Monday (The News Tribune). Burr-Kirven registered a career-high 20 tackles along with two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in the Dawgs’ 27-20 win over Arizona State.

With “Our Stories” debuting on Pac-12 Network on Sunday night at 9 p.m. PT/10 p.m. MT, check out this piece on Stanford team doctor Timilehin Wusu, a former Stanford football walk-on and NFL player who didn’t know he was an undocumented immigrant until he tried to play in the CFL (he eventually received his green card in 2017). Great story.

Theo Lawson lets us know that the Washington State special teams unit was working on a “different technique” when kicker Blake Mazza’s game-tying field goal attempt was blocked late in the fourth quarter of the 39-36 loss to USC.

Oregon State football coach Jonathan Smith wasn’t happy with the Beavers’ level of improvement after reviewing the tape of the loss to Arizona, Nick Daschel reports. The penalties, offensive execution and tackling on defense all weren’t up to Smith’s liking.

Rusty Simmons notes that Cal football will face an Oregon team trying to recover from a heartbreaking loss the week before against Stanford. Should be quite the intriguing battle in Berkeley.

USC running back Vavae Malepeai is getting an increased workload for the Trojans, Joey Kaufman observes. Malepeai had a big game against Washington State, going for 78 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries.

Colorado receiver Juwann Winfree is looking to get in a groove as the Buffs open conference play Friday night against UCLA, writes Brian Howell. Winfree, who has been hampered by hamstring and ankle injuries thus far, says he is much healthier heading into the game against the Bruins.

Kurt Kragthorpe gives us this feature story on Utah linebacker Cody Barton, who has gotten off to a great start in his senior season.