Arizona remains confident in receivers despite struggles at BYU

After Arizona wide receiver Giovanni Richardson, who leads the Wildcats in receiving yards and catches, left the game late in the first quarter with a “lower-extremity injury,” the five receivers used last Saturday were starters Chris Hunter and Tre Spivey, along with Rodney Gallagher III, Caleb “Jet” Smith and Brandon Phelps, who combined for 10 catches for 87 yards — 30 of those yards were from a catch-and-run by Phelps.

Hunter was targeted six times and had one reception for 12 yards, while Spivey was targeted twice and had two catches for 14 yards.

“I gotta take it upon myself to get my guys the ball,” Fifita said after the game. “Tre Spivey and Chris Hunter didn’t touch the ball enough today and that’s my fault.”

On a “shot play” in Arizona’s final drive of the third quarter, which resulted in the Wildcats punting on the BYU 36-yard line, Fifita attempted a deep ball to Hunter on second-and-15, but Hunter couldn’t haul in the pass for a first down.

“If I’m looking back on fall camp, we had a lot of success of throwing fades to Chris Hunter,” said Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege. “The ball gets lost in the sun, so he stops and has to jump over somebody to make a play and next thing you know, it’s third-and-15 and we’re trying to figure out how to get in field-goal range.

“There’s stuff like that, that happened in the second half that you’re not proud of and it just seems like we weren’t very efficient. Now, in the first half, I thought we couldn’t be stopped. … I thought we were pretty efficient in the first half, especially versus a really good defense. I just felt like we hurt ourselves in the second half, too many penalties and couldn’t get out of our own way.”

Gallagher, who stepped in for the injured Richardson, ran a mesh route on Arizona’s fourth-and-4 play on the BYU 21-yard line with just over eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and had a “walk-in first down.” Instead, Gallagher was stopped inches short of converting the first down — which was initially ruled a first down before it was overturned.

“Rod felt so open, that he kind of throttled down and Noah missed behind and the guy had a chance to recover and it was a bang-bang play at the sticks,” Doege said. “If he doesn’t slow down and we put the ball out front, it’s probably a 6-yard gain. I feel good about that call. We just have to execute it a little bit better.”

With Richardson expected to be out Saturday night against Northern Illinois, this week gives Arizona an opportunity for other receivers to step up.

“We feel great about the guys in that room and the guys that are playing,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. “Even though the ball didn’t find them much last week, with Spivey and Hunter.”

Phelps, a third-year wide receiver from Gilbert, “deserves to play more, because every time he’s on the field, something good happens,” Doege said. Phelps caught his second touchdown as a Wildcat in the season opener against Northern Arizona. Phelps has two catches for 51 yards and a touchdown this season.

“He’s really smart, he’s a very good route runner and he’s really tough,” added Doege. “He’s blocking his tail off, so I’m excited about him.”

On the decision to give players more playing time, “that conversation is ongoing,” Brennan said.

Added Brennan: “Every game, every practice, you’re watching the film and you’re assessing, ‘Hey, this guy is looking like he’s pushing into that picture a little bit. He needs to get a little more opportunity on game day.’ ”

Other receivers who could conceivably fill the void with Richardson out — besides the aforementioned players — include second-year Orlando product Isaiah Mizell, high-rated recruit R.J. Mosley, Colorado State transfer Jordan Ross and USC transfer DJ Jordan. Mizell and Mosley were among the Wildcats’ top pass catchers in training camp.

“I still have confidence in our receiving corps,” Doege said. “I’d like to give a little more of an opportunity for Spivey, find ways to give him the ball or try to find ways to target him more. We have quality players in that room and somebody is going to step up and take charge. Noah has confidence in all of those guys.”