Arizona football training camp preview: special teams

Following a 9-4 season last year, the Wildcats kick off the 2026 season against in-state rival Northern Arizona on Sept. 5 at Casino Del Sol Stadium. Arizona begins fall training exactly a month before the season opener on Wednesday. 

Leading up to fall training camp, the Star is providing a position-by-position preview of the Wildcats. We recently evaluated the offensive side of the ball and did an overview of Arizona’s quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive line. 

The Wildcats’ defensive line kicked off the defensive part of the countdown, followed by the linebackers and defensive backs. 

Now it's time to break down "the kicking game" and examine the Wildcats' special teams pieces. 

Position coach: Craig Naivar (special teams coordinator)

Departures: Kickoff specialist Ian Wagner, punter Isaac Lovison, long snapper Avery Salerno, punt returner Luke Wysong, returners Ismail Mahdi and Javin Whatley, kicker Tyler Prasuhn, long snapper Broden Molen

Returners: Kicker Michael Salgado-Medina (Jr.), returner Quincy Craig (R-Sr.) 

Newcomers: Punter Carter Schwartz (Jr.), long snapper Drew Nicolson (R-Jr.), punter Chase Ridley (Fr.), returner Rodney Gallagher III (R-Sr.), kicker Ian French (Fr.), long snapper Braxton Hart (Fr.)

The rundown: Excluding kick and punt returners, Arizona has a total of four newcomers in its special teams group this year. 

The Wildcats are replacing five starters at punter, kickoff, long snapper and both kickoff and punt return duties in special teams coordinator Craig Naivar's second season. 

In Naivar's first season at the helm, it was an up-and-down campaign for Arizona's special teams unit. 

Arizona kicker Michael Salgado-Medina — nicknamed "Money Mike" by Brent Brennan — finished 19 for 31 at kicking field goals, the most misses in a season for the UA since 1999, and had the lowest field-goal percentage in the Big 12 last season — albeit snapping inconsistencies factored into some of those misses. 

Salgado-Medina was 5 for 12 at field goals between 40-49 yards, but displayed leg strength with a 57-yarder against Oklahoma State and a crucial 51-yarder against Cincinnati.

It takes three to tango in kicking field goals: snapper, holder and kicker. The latter, more often than not, gets the credit and blame if the operation goes bad. Arizona's field-goal operation last season wasn't complete until training camp, when the newcomers and returners became one unit.  

Not this year. 

Arizona only has one newcomer joining the team this summer in freshman kicker Ian French. The Austin, Texas-area native and Dripping Springs High School graduate made 12 of 15 field goals and had a career-long 51-yard field goal in 2025. He was also 77 for 79 on PATs. In 94 kickoff attempts in 2025, French had 66 touchbacks and averaged 64.7 yards per kick. 

Everyone else joined in the spring, putting the field-goal operation nearly half a year ahead of schedule. That's an essential timeframe to perfect the operation between the snap, the hold and the kick. 

Former UA kicker and holder Ian Wagner and long snapper Avery Salerno — both transfers — didn't join until the summer last year. Snapping inconsistencies contributed to Salgado-Medina's misses. 

“The kicker gets the good or bad based on the make or the miss,” Naivar said. “But it's a process. It's a snap, the hold, the kick and everything with that."

Most of Arizona's newcomers — long snapper Drew Nicolson and punters Chase Ridley and Louisville transfer Carter Schwartz, who both hold on field goals — were added before the spring. Naivar compared last year's preparation for the season to microwaved brisket. This year's group is akin to a brisket sitting in a Traeger overnight. 

“Slow-cooked brisket that goes for 18 hours at 225 (degrees) is a hell of a lot better than one that’s in the microwave for four minutes,” Naivar said. “Having the time to prepare it and get it right makes it taste a hell of a lot better. ... I feel a lot better with the time we have to build, to ramp up, to get that to where it needs to before the season. It's already better than it was."

After going through a full season at kicker, Salgado-Medina learned "to treat every kick as the same,” he said in the spring.

“Don't make it more than what it is. ... Just train your mind," Salgado-Medina added. "That's how I try to keep it now.”

Nicolson, who was the Wildcats' first addition via the transfer portal this year, joins Arizona after playing the last two seasons at Arkansas State. He started his college career in 2023 at Akron. The 5-11, 233-pound Tempe native appeared in all 12 games at Akron and transferred to Arkansas State in 2024.

Nicolson redshirted his first season with the Red Wolves and became the starting long snapper this past season. Last year, Arkansas State went 7-6 and beat Missouri State, 34-28, in the Xbox Bowl in Frisco, Texas. Nicolson and freshman Braxton Hart, a late addition from Grove, Oklahoma, will be Arizona’s long snappers in 2026.

For another season, Arizona will have an Aussie at punter. 

Perth, Australia, native Chase Ridley is the same age as fifth-year Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, but is a freshman this year after coming to the U.S. following a career in Australia rules football. Ridley joined Arizona through the “ProKick Australia” pipeline.

ProKick Australia has produced several NFL punters, including Mitch Wishnowsky, Michael Dickson, Cameron Johnston and Lou Hedley, among others. Dickson played for Naivar at Texas. Former Arizona punter Isaac Lovison, who was a one-year transfer, was added via ProKick Australia and Naivar's connections to the Aussie pipeline.

"There's an entire continent with kids that kick the ball," Naivar said of Australia. "That's the primary thing they do. They train like linebackers, but in Australia rules (football), they're kicking from a lot of different platforms. There's not just spiral punting, but the rollout punting and all of those things like that lend to that. There's not bad American punters, but there's just a pool of bodies (like in Australia)." 

When Ridley first learned how to punt an American football in Australia, there was a learning curve.

"Going in there, I thought it would be a piece of cake," Ridley said. "You learn pretty quick that it's a completely different sport, completely different lifestyle, the way you kick it. Everything about it, it's kicking at the end of the day, but there's a lot of technical aspects to it.

"Trying to learn the technique, the steps, the mold of the ball, hang time and distance, it's a big thing. There are habits I had to break from being an AFL player. In the end, I got away from it and started punting well towards the end."

Before Ridley joined Arizona, he was signed to play under former UA head coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia, but "some things went sideways with them" and the Australian "got in touch with Coach Naivar and one thing led to another. Had a conversation with Coach Naivar and was lucky enough and fortunate enough to come here."

Ridley “has met the milestones of adapting to American football a lot faster than some have."

Ridley's first test was the first Saturday of Arizona’s spring practices, which Naivar called a "Lubbock scenario," referencing the West Texas city — and home of Texas Tech, which the Wildcats will visit on Halloween this year — that's known for often having windy conditions. Naivar said there's "about a 35-mile-per-hour gust and we gotta practice in it."

Ridley "ends up smoking the ball” his first try and had kicks of 50- and 60-plus yards with hang times ranging from 4.2-4.6 seconds.

West Virginia transfer Rodney Gallagher III is expected to be an option at punt returner and contribute on other special teams units, similar to Luke Wysong, who’s now a rookie with the Minnesota Vikings.

"Rodney Gallagher is a super savvy vet,” said Arizona wide receivers coach Bobby Wade, who was a punt returner in the NFL. “A guy that immediately when he stepped on campus, I knew he was a person we'd be able to trust, and you're seeing him play at that level. … He's going to play and help us this year.”