Arizona football countdown: 36 days, the number of career starts for Jonathan McKnight

An underrated part of Arizona's secondary

One guy on the 2014 version of the Arizona Wildcats who probably didn't get enough credit for what he did was senior cornerback Jonathan McKnight.

McKnight was the lone upperclassman at the position last season. He had to make up for the shortcomings of Jarvis McCall, who was taken advantage of time and time again last year.

Then when McCall went down with injury, McKnight was paired with true freshman Cam Denson. While it seems that Denson is poised to have a great 2015, having that freshman combo as his other corner had to have been difficult for McKnight.

Even though he recorded just one interception last year, his 13 pass break ups were by far the most on the team (William Parks had eight). You almost never noticed McKnight on the field because he was consistently locking down his receiver, while on the other side of the field, that was certainly not the case.

This year, I would imagine Denson becomes the new Jonathan McKnight, shutting down whatever receiver is on his side of the field, and then a healthy competition between McCall and Devin Holiday will be ongoing for the other half. With all the talk of losing Tra'Mayne Bondurant, Jared Tevis and Jourdon Grandon, you could definitely argue that losing McKnight will have the biggest impact on the Arizona defense in 2015.

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