FORT HUACHUCA - Rich Rodriguez stormed off Bujalski Field on Saturday night at a pace that even running back Ka'Deem Carey would have a tough time keeping up with.
The second-year coach has been annoyed and frustrated with his offense at times during the first week of fall camp. Saturday it boiled over after another poor showing from the men in white.
"I'm concerned with everything on offense." Rodriguez said in a loud, fast tone. "Everything."
Unlike after other practices, the coach didn't single out a certain aspect of the offense. Rather, it was everyone that drew his ire.
During the team's two-hour open practice Saturday night on the Army installation, the coach was visibly upset with the quarterbacks, receivers, offensive line and running backs at various times.
No offensive player walked off in Rodriguez's good graces. As a result, he didn't let any of them speak with reporters.
"Offense is off limits," Rodriguez said. "There were some guys that I guess did OK. I'll have to watch the film. But there is no one in a white shirt that deserves to be talked to and get your attention."
Sure, Rodriguez continues to be pleased with his defense and has seen a certain aggressiveness from the unit that he likes. But, the coach admitted that even that is tough to judge because the offense has been so subpar in his eyes.
When he was asked about a defensive lineman that's generating pressure on the quarterbacks, he turned it around on his offensive line.
"I guarantee you I could get 10 guys off the post here that could block better than we are blocking," Rodriguez said. "Easy. I could do that tomorrow. Maybe tonight."
The UA was originally scheduled to scrimmage Saturday night after an early morning practice. Instead, the team went through two normal practices.
"We aren't ready to scrimmage," the coach said.
Although the Cats didn't scrimmage, Rodriguez did keep score of the practice as he does for every session. The defense has won all but one and beat the offense 67-40 Saturday night.
The losers are forced to do push-ups.
"I can definitely relate to what they're going through," said receiver-turned-cornerback Richard Morrison. "Being on offense with 'Coach Rod' is tough. … The things you go through are tough, but if you get through it, the payoff is huge."
Junior defensive end Reggie Gilbert added: "We want to win on the field, and at practice we're competing, trying to make each other better. Outside of practice, we're never talking down to them. We're trying to motivate them."
The offense was dealt a blow Saturday when quarterback Jesse Scroggins was held out of practice because of concussion symptoms. The former USC and El Camino College product missed the first two days of camp with a concussion and then returned for five before sitting out Saturday's practices.
"He's still going through a concussion," Rodriguez said. "I don't tell the doctors what to do. … They tell me who can practice and who can't practice. Whoever is out there is supposed to execute.
"That isn't happening either."
The team will wrap up its stay at Fort Huachuca this morning with a run through an obstacle course with some of the soldiers.
Even though he was unhappy with his team, Rodriguez said he enjoyed the team's stay at Fort Huachuca and is hopeful his squad learned something from it.
"The best time of this trip is when we have the dinner with the soldiers and I get to sit down with General (Robert) Ashley and all the people at the post," said Rodriguez of Ashley, who was at Saturday night's practice. "Everything else is secondary with the dinner. When General Ashley spoke with the team two days ago, I'm still thinking about that. I hope the team is, too."
Added Rodriguez: "I told them when our guys talk about making a commitment and a sacrifice, come on. Commitment, the men and women on the post are making a commitment. Our guys are making a sacrifice? Really? They're making a sacrifice to work in an $80 million building and play on national TV in the Pac-12 every weekend?
"The men and the women at Fort Huachuca are making the commitment and the sacrifice. That's why I come here. I hope they get a sense of it."
On StarNet: Follow the Cats on Daniel Berk's blog at: azstarnet.com/berk
Key dates
• Saturday: Scrimmage on campus
• Aug. 23: Scrimmage on campus
• Aug. 30 (Friday): Season opener at Arizona Stadium vs. NAU, 7 p.m. on Pac-12 Arizona
Training camp: Day 8
At Fort Huachuca
• Temperature at start: 74 degrees and partly sunny at 8:30 a.m.; 79 degrees and cloudy at 5:30 p.m.
• Newcomer watch: Receiver Aaron Lacombe came to Arizona as a preferred walk-on from Crespi (Calif.) High School and now finds himself working with the second-team offense and a candidate to play as a true freshman. Lacombe had a couple of nice grabs during the team's 11-on-11 portion of Saturday night's practice and seems comfortable making plays in traffic.
• The big number: 400: An estimated 400 fans came out to the Army installation to watch the UA's open practice Saturday night.
Contact reporter Daniel Berk at dberk@azstarnet.com or 573-4330. On Twitter @DSBerk
