A former Arizona Wildcats consensus All-American is headed back to the Grand Canyon State.
ESPN reported on Tuesday morning that former UA linebacker Scooby Wright III will soon be an Arizona Cardinal. Wright was selected by the Cleveland Browns in the seventh round of the 2016 NFL Draft but was waived from the Browns' 53-man roster and signed to the practice squad early in the season.
Hearing the #AZCardinals are going to sign Scooby Wright from the #Browns practice squad. Arizona has injuries on defense & special teams.
— Mike Jurecki (@mikejurecki) December 13, 2016
Anthony Gimino of TucsonNewsNow.com confirmed the report through Wright's family. "It's like an early Christmas present," Wright's father told Gimino.
Wright was just a two-star recruit coming out of Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa, California, but he was discovered by coach Rich Rodriguez and the Wildcats. UA was the only FBS school to offer the 6-foot, 239-pounder a scholarship.
In his sophomore season of 2014, Wright recorded 100 solo tackles, 31 tackles for loss and 15 sacks. He was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and was a consensus All-American, and he helped lead the Wildcats to the 2014 Pac-12 South championship and a Fiesta Bowl bid.
Wright missed most of his junior season at UA due to injury and declared for the draft after he was named Most Valuable Player of the New Mexico Bowl.
The Cardinals are in need of depth on defense thanks to multiple injuries. That includes dollar linebacker Deone Bucannon, who will reportedly be placed on injured reserve due to an ankle injury.
