Arizona completed the training camp portion of practice Saturday — which means the UA is roughly halfway through its prep work for the Sept. 3 opener against BYU.
Here’s where the Wildcats stand at this point — better than they were two weeks ago, but not quite where they need to be.
Such was the assessment of UA coach Rich Rodriguez, who clearly was perturbed about something after practice and took a few minutes to cool down before addressing reporters.
The Wildcats scrimmaged Saturday, running about 100 plays with “live” tackling (except for the red-jerseyed quarterbacks). As is typical of these affairs, the scrimmage, which was closed to the media, featured a mix of positive and negative plays.
The good stuff, according to Rodriguez: interceptions by the secondary, the overall rushing attack and “pretty efficient” play by the quarterbacks.
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The not-so-good: penalties on defense, missed tackles, dropped passes and pass-protection breakdowns by the second-team offensive line.
Players said afterward that all of the issues were correctable. Tackling might be the most problematic.
The Wildcats did more hitting Saturday than in any previous camp practice. Teams across all levels of football just don’t tackle as much as they used to for safety reasons. When you don’t — or can’t — practice something, it makes it that much harder to become proficient at it.
“That’s the big question,” Rodriguez said earlier in camp. “We’re working on tackling every day that we’re in pads. But it’s different than going live. You’ve got to do enough to make sure they’re ready to go without beating yourself up. That’s the fine line every coach is trying to find.”
Rodriguez said Arizona’s tackling was “very poor” last season and “wasn’t very good” Saturday.
Quarterback update
The quarterback competition between incumbent Anu Solomon and challenger Brandon Dawkins will continue over the next two weeks — and perhaps beyond.
Asked whether he would alter his plan of splitting the first-team reps with Week 1 approaching, Rodriguez said: “Not with those two. We’re going to rep them both the same, probably throughout the season.”
Although some teams have named their starting quarterbacks — including 2016 UA opponents Hawaii and USC — Rodriguez has said he won’t reveal his choice publicly until just before kickoff.
That doesn’t seem to bother the players most affected by that decision.
“As receivers, we work with both quarterbacks,” receiver Trey Griffey said. “We’re comfortable with both quarterbacks.”
Dawkins said he appreciated the fact that Rodriguez has “stayed true to his word. He’s kept it an open competition.”
Quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said he knows Arizona has “two good ones” in Solomon and Dawkins. But even the veterans have work to do before BYU.
“Are we ready to play? Not yet,” Smith said. “But we’re getting there. We’re making strides.”
One area where Smith would like to see improvement: pace of play. He told the quarterbacks and offensive linemen after practice that their tempo has to be better. The faster the Wildcats can get to the line of scrimmage, the more time the quarterbacks have to survey the defense.
Rodriguez said the offense actually slowed down at times during camp to give the defense, which is learning a new scheme, sufficient time to make its calls and get lined up.
Extra points
- Tailback Orlando Bradford did not participate in the scrimmage because of what Rodriguez described as “a little bruise” He did not specify which body part was bruised. Rodriguez said Bradford would be back in 1-2 days.
He spent the open portion of practice riding an elliptical machine. Defensive lineman Calvin Allen and offensive linemen Alex Kosinski and Keenan Walker did not practice because of injuries.
- Rodriguez talked a bit about preparing for BYU. He said it’s hard to know what the Cougars will do with an entirely new coaching staff.
“We’re going to try to prepare for everything, I guess,” Rodriguez said. The UA will start implementing its Week 1 game plan Tuesday and really dive into it Wednesday.
- Former Arizona coach Dick Tomey attended practice and talked with Rodriguez afterward.
- Rodriguez said all players on the UA roster are in good academic standing. Fall-semester classes begin Monday.
- Rodriguez on redshirt freshman Nathan Eldridge, Arizona’s would-be starting center:
“He’s a tough guy, and he’s going to keep getting better every practice.” Rodriguez said Eldridge had some high snaps toward the end of the scrimmage.
- Rodriguez said some walk-ons have received scholarships, but he didn’t want to make an announcement because there aren’t enough for all the deserving candidates.
- Dozens of parents and family members watched practice from the west stands at Kindall/Sancet.
