15 Days Till Arizona Football: Looking Back at Former UA DB

The countdown continues as we are now officially 15 days away from the season opener for Arizona against Hawaii. Over the next couple of weeks, 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 for the Wildcats.

We continue with former Arizona safety Jeff Hammerscmidt who played with the Wildcats from 1987-90.

Prior to his collegiate career, Hammerscmidt was selected as one of the Top 100 all-time high school football players from the San Diego area by the San Diego Union Tribe

Hammerscmidt was a four-year letterwinner across all four seasons in Tucson and a two-time All-Pac-10 selection as a defensive back for the Wildcats. He helped lead Arizona to the Insight Bowl in 1989 and the Aloha Bowl in 1990. He was also selected to play in the Japan Bowl and Hula Bowl after the conclusion of his senior season in Tucson.

As a freshman at Arizona, Hammerscmidt attempted 14 passes with interception across six games behind center. He also ran for 258 yards on 56 carries with one touchdown on the ground. He played 30 games at defensive back the following three years where he totaled six interceptions. He recorded four of them in 1989. In that same year, Hammerscmidt was a first-team All-Pac-10 safety and a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe award.

Hammerscmidt later played for the Rams in their 1991 training camp and for the Frankfurt Galaxy of the World League in 1992 in his professional career.

Shortly after that, Hammerscmidt began his coaching career back at Arizona as a graduate assistant under legendary head coach Dick Tomey in 1992. He went on to be the Wildcats defensive backs coach from 1993-95. He helped the Wildcats lead the nation in passing defense in 1995.

Hammerscmidt continued his coaching career as the defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and defensive line coach at Southern Utah, the outside linebackers coach and special teams coach at Indiana. He was also the defensive coordinator at Saint Mary's and Montana, as well as the linebackers coach at Cal Poly and the outside linebackers coach and special teams coach at Stanford.

What do you remember from the career for Hammerscmidt at Arizona or what have you heard? Let us know and be sure to follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.