TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — When the University of Arizona football team kicks off its season, a new special teams player with ties to Cochise County is on the roster.
"The connection runs deep,” Ian Wagner said.
Wagner is a red-shirt senior who may not have played football in Sierra Vista, but he calls it his hometown.
“It's just very well rooted in my family and a special place,” he said.
Ken and Sheila Wagner adopted Ian in 2003, while in Illinois.
“Our adoption request said healthy newborn, so we didn't care what color Klingon, Romulan, martian, whatever," Ken said.
He was stationed at Fort Huachuca three times, all before Ian was born, but the Wagners knew they’d end up back in Cochise County— where they live now
"When they were growing up, we read all the Arizona books, so he felt he had roots out here," Ken said.
Ian says he considers Sierra Vista his hometown, even though he grew up in Illinois. He says he lucky to have two places to consider home.
"I knew it always felt like home,” Wagner said, despite only visiting a handful of times. "We always used to come down just on vacation from Illinois. I just remember it was always fun playing in the pool down there, and the community was always so great.”
The red-shirt senior played the last four seasons at Illinois State, primarily as their place kicker.
“He has an extremely strong leg," Arizona special teams coach Craig Navier. "If we played tomorrow, he'd be our kickoff guy."
Ian entered the transfer portal this past spring, with one year of college football eligibility left.
"I’ve always wanted to come back to Arizona," Wagner said. "This is really special to me back now. I've always wanted to play at a bigger school. It's always been a dream of mine, and U of A is a special place for me.”
It wasn’t until April, Ian and his family knew he’d be playing football again. The kicker was waiting for the right school to offer him a spot on their team.
"We had already kind of thought, well, he's not going to get picked up anywhere, and it's like, okay, you'll graduate and then you'll do something else," Sheila said. "But, then God had a plan."
Having ties to southern Arizona makes him stand out to Wildcat coaches.
"The connection of where he grew up was big, because we'd always like to have local guys and guys represent the state that are from the state, and that's amazing," Navier said. "So it's just a perfect fit."
Last season he averaged 61.2 yards on kickoffs had 44 touchbacks.
"He's a very welcome addition," Navier said. "What we're doing is doing extremely well. can fill some roles as a backup, and he can do some pretty good things when that ball gets teed up to start a football game."
He says special teams jobs are still being earned. Wagner, also competing to be the holder.
"I'm a team guy, first and foremost," Ian said. "Everybody wants to play, that's not, that's not why I'm here. I'm here to win. I think Coach Brennan does an excellent job in teaching us that.”
But the biggest reason he wanted to be a Wildcat— his family.
"Being adopted, my parents have always been super close with me," Ian said. "It just (sucked) going to a school so far away. My mom is disabled, so she's not able to travel long distances. Being only an hour away, it's huge for me, because I've always wanted my parents to be at every single game, and it makes it possible. Now that I'm in the most ideal place in the country.”
Shiela and Ken aren’t sure how many trips to Tucson they’ll make, but one game already stands out.
"He really wants us to come up for the senior night, because we missed it in Illinois," Shiela said. "But that would be the fun part. I think he's he would be excited about that."
When they’re not at Arizona Stadium on game day they say they'll be watching Ian and the team on TV with their new Arizona shirts.
For Ian being on the field means Southern Arizona kids have someone to look up to.
"Growing up, I wasn't able to be in Sierra Vista personally, but I'm glad I got to come back and, you know, kind of paved the way,” Ian said.
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