Northcutt the One to Watch

USC Coach Paul Hackett is calling Arizona’s Dennis Northcutt “maybe the premier wide receiver in the conference.”

Stanford’s Troy Walters is leading the Pacific 10 in receiving and USC has its own explosive receiver and return man in R. Jay Soward. But at this point, Hackett’s pick is Northcutt.

“From punt returns to kickoff returns to taking the game over as a receiver, he’s really exciting,” Hackett said. “He’s something special.” Northcutt is second in the nation in punt returns with a 22.2-yard average and returned one 80 yards for a touchdown against Middle Tennessee State.

He is fifth nationally in receiving yardage (125.8 yards a game) and all-purpose yardage (202.4), and needs only 51 yards today to become Arizona’s all-time leading receiver.

And by the way, he’s another of the seemingly endless legion of Pac-10 players who really wanted to go to USC.

“My final two decisions were USC and Arizona,” said Northcutt, a senior who went to Dorsey High and was recruited under the John Robinson regime.

But Northcutt said assistant coach Dennis Thurman didn’t make him feel wanted--although Thurman, still a Trojan assistant, said Northcutt is a fine player but USC wanted him to play defensive back at the time.

“Coming out of high school, I weighed 150 pounds and he didn’t think I’d be able to take the pounding,” said Northcutt, who is 5 feet 11 and 170 pounds and began his Arizona career as a running back and defensive back.

No hard feelings, Northcutt said, but he still hopes to chat with Thurman after the game.

“Oh, yes, I want to ask him, you know, does he still think I can’t play at this level?’ I have no grudge. I fit here perfect. I still want to let him know they could have had me.”

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USC center Eric Denmon and left guard Donta Kendrick, who sat out last week’s game because of minor injuries, are available today but will not start. Tailback Malaefou MacKenzie (hamstring) did not make the trip.