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 theyd 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 s

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