26 Days Till Arizona Football: Looking at Ball-Hawking Safety

We take a look back at the career of Arizona safety Dave Liggins

Sep 2, 2023; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats mascot, Wilbur, runs in the field during and game against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks during the second half at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Zac BonDurant-Imagn Images | Zachary BonDurant-Imagn Images

The countdown continues as we are now officially 26 days away from the season opener for Arizona against Hawaii. Over the next month, we will be taking a look back at some of the top players in Arizona football history by jersey number as we inch closer towards the start of the season.

We continue with former Arizona S Dave Liggins who played with the Wildcats from 1978-80 after transferring from Cincinnati where he played for one season. He followed then-head coach Tony Mason to Tucson from the Bearcats to play under him at Arizona.

Liggins appeared in 11 games in each of the 1978, 1979 and 1980 seasons with the Wildcats where he was one of the more important players of Arizona's defense in each of those years. He totaled 13 interceptions as a ball-hawking safety across those three years, including racking up five interceptions and seven interceptions in two of his years at Arizona. He led the Pac-10 in interceptions in 1979 and finished the 1980 campaign No. 3 in interceptions in the conference.

Liggins collected two of those interceptions in the 1979 Fiesta Bowl where he picked off future Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino. Despite Arizona falling 16-10 against Pittsburgh in that bowl game, Liggins still did enough to take home the defensive MVP for Arizona.

As a senior in his final year, Liggins received the honor of being selected as an All-Pac-10 player. His 13 interceptions are currently tied with Roussell Williams for the seventh-most interceptions in program history. Chuck Cecil leads Arizona all-time with 21 interceptions, followed by Jackie Wallace (20), Chris McAlister (18), Antoine Cason (15) and Allan Durden as well as Darryll Lewis (14).

His seven interceptions in 1980 were also tied for the fourth-most in a single season in program history. Wallace leads in that category with 11 interceptions in 1971, followed by Cecil (9 - 1987), Rich Moriarty and Wallace (8 - 1968/1972) along with John Black, Dennis Anderson and Liggins (7 - 1939/1974/1980).

Liggins went on to be undrafted in the NFL Draft that year. His professional career ended before it started after he suffered an injury during Denver's preseason training camp during that offseason.

Liggins passed away in January of 2016. The news was announced in a Facebook post by his former teammate Tony Neely.

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