Arizona Wildcats turn their attention to season after productive training camp

The Wildcats now turn their attention to the season opener against Northern Arizona on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m. at Casino Del Sol Stadium.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing this team play,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, who’s entering his third season at the UA.

“I think we’ve had a great camp. We finished that basically last Sunday night, and the players continue to attack their process. It’s been a lot of fun; we have great leadership on this team, and I think our coaching staff has done a good job of pushing, demanding and driving what we’re looking for in terms of redline in the practice environment.

“Now we gotta clean some things up in the next week and get ready to play. That’s the exciting thing, it’s finally here. What we’ve been working for, waiting for the last nine months, is finally here.”

Brennan lauded the player-led leadership of quarterback Noah Fifita, linebacker Chase Kennedy and defensive end Tre Smith, among others, this summer.

“You see those guys continue to push the team,” Brennan said. “Player-led teams are special. As much of that as we can get from this group of young men, it gives us the chance to play the football we want to play. That’s what this has been. That’s what it was in the offseason, in the summertime.

“Those guys were driving the workouts, driving the (player-run practices), driving the throwing and catching and the things you have to do to sharpen the sword throughout the offseason. I’m excited about training camp. It was a lot of fun, it was intense, it was physical and now we’re trying to polish it up for game day.”

Arizona treated the last week of training camp “exactly like a game week for the players.”

“When you have 50 new guys on the team, they’ve never been through a game week with our program, so we were just trying to get them to see what it looks like, what it feels like,” Brennan said.

Brennan spoke to reporters after Arizona’s final training camp practice. Here are some of the items he discussed:

Is this wide receivers unit one of the deepest you’ve coached?

A: “I think so. I feel like there’s nine or 10 guys that can play and are ready. I think there are four guys that separated themselves at the top of that list, which happens on every team. We’re really excited about the progress that those guys are making. It’s fun to see some of the guys mature, develop and start to make plays in practice and play with a level of consistency that gets us excited. It’s also fun to see some of the new players and some of the young players also make plays in the practice environment. That thing is going to be hyper-competitive as we go through the season. I have a lot of trust in that group. I have a lot of trust in Bobby Wade, the guy that’s coaching them and I expect big things from them. I think we all should.”

What can you tell us about Fifita’s detailed note-taking process?

A: “When I first got here, everything was by paper. He had four colors: blue, green, yellow and red. Everything was color-coded. He upped his technological savvy and went to an iPad. If you’re old school like me, you can ask my wife, we have boxes and boxes of notebooks over the last 28 years. Every time we move, she’s like, ‘When are we getting rid of this crap?’ I’m like, ‘No, this is gold.’ ‘Yeah, but you never look at it.’ ‘I know, I like knowing that it’s there.’

“Noah is really unique that way. I think that’s special because it helps those young players get great insight in how you prepare. The preparation, the dedication, the consistency of that, Noah leans into that. That’s one of the things we talk to NFL scouts about. We’re always joking with them, but we’re serious: you need to see the notes this guy takes and what kind of student he is, how committed he is to being the absolute best he can be with how thorough he is with his note-taking process.”

How much have second-year wide receivers Giovanni Richardson and Isaiah Mizell improved over the last year, especially in training camp?

A: “We’re excited about both of those young men. … Two separate players. Gio, when he was in high school, I just loved his toughness. He was a two-way player at Basha High School, hyper-competitive, incredibly gifted and fast and twitchy and just a total playmaker. As you saw last year as it got late into the season, you saw his confidence grow; you started to see him make more plays in the offense. I think you’re just going to see that take a big leap with him.

“Mizell is also a young player who played for us last year, but maybe not as much as Gio. The thing I told the team about Isaiah is that he’s just different to me right now than he was a year ago. There’s a new level of focus and intention when it comes to practice. He’s incredibly diligent about taking coaching and applying it right away. It’s fun to see both of those guys continue on their journey. We always talk about our program putting development at the absolute top of everything we’re doing here. I think those are two young men that you’re going to see have developed a lot and will contribute in a big way.”

Offensively and defensively, who are the most improved players in training camp?

A: “We just talked about Isaiah and Gio. I think they have made a big-time jump. That’s been really exciting. I’ve been really excited about (right guard Alexander Doost). I think he continues to improve and get better every single day. He has become a leader for the team and has a strong voice for the team. Two years ago, I’m not sure he would’ve said a word. It’s great to see him step into that assertive leadership role.

“The stable of (running) backs is fun. I think we feel good about everybody in that room and their ability to contribute. Wesley Yarbrough had a great camp; Antwan (Roberts) had a great camp. We expect it from (Kedrick Reescano) and (Quincy Craig), because they’ve played a lot of meaningful football for us in the last year. It’s really exciting to see those other guys. You always need more (running backs) than you think you do. That’s just the physical nature of the position. You always need more than you think you do.

“Defensively, (cornerback) Jay’Vion Cole was a really good player for us last year, but he was coming off an injury, so he was unavailable in the spring. It’s great to see the move he’s making in fall camp both as a player and a leader. It’s been great to see (defensive end) Tre Smith running around. We all have high expectations for him, but he was unavailable in the spring. (Linebacker) Taye Brown continues to play with an incredibly high motor, incredibly high IQ; that’s really exciting.

“Some of those new players we added on the back end are going to be a lot of fun. I think Malcolm Hartzog is going to be a player that our fans fall in love with in terms of his football IQ, his toughness and the plays he’s able to make. That’s going to be a lot of fun. There’s a few others.

“I’m excited to see us play. Practice is practice. Games are games. We need to find out who can do it for real when the lights are on.”

Considering former Arizona running backs coach Alonzo Carter, who was your longtime assistant going back to San Jose State, is making his head coaching debut at Sacramento State this weekend, what do you think about this opportunity for him?

A: “I’m so excited for Zo. … I’m excited to see them get going. First game of his tenure there as a head coach, they’re leveling up as a program and going from FCS to FBS, which is a big move. I’m excited to see what they do.”

What do you remember about your first season as a head coach?

A: “My first year at San Jose State, we opened with South Florida and Charlie Strong was the coach. Their quarterback was brilliant. (Quinton) Flowers? We were up 16-9 and then all of a sudden. Mr. Flowers said, ‘Enough of this.’ We didn’t have a good answer for him. He was really impressive. Then we got to have some fun and we went to Texas, which was fun. That was an exciting experience for all of us.

“Funny story, we go to Texas, and at that time, our chief of staff was my situational football guy, Ben (Thienes). It’s late in the second quarter, and we’re down like 3-0, and it feels like football. It’s third-and-9 from the minus-38-yard-line. He says, ‘Hey, man, the book says to go for it.’ I look at him like, ‘Dude, we’re in this thing. I’m not doing that right now.’ We punted, Texas scored twice before half. … I took my daughter to the Texas game. It was 10 years ago, so she was 10 or 11.

“We got back on the plane and she said, ‘Hey, dad,’ trying to be a good daughter. It was such a rough day for us. It did not end well. She said, ‘Do you want to watch Pitch Perfect with me?’ (Pretends to cry and wipe tears) I do. It was such a rough day.

“But there was no time to cry, because we were going to Utah the next week. It was such a tough start, man. It was a tough start. But if you stay the course, you can right. And we did. I got a lot of hope and faith in Zo.”

Extra points

— Arizona freshman offensive lineman Justin Morales stepped away from the program for personal reasons and won’t be with the team this season. Morales was a four-star recruit from El Paso, Texas.

— Arizona has a group of about 16 UA students called the “Redline Ambassadors” — and their initiative is to recruit more students to attend Arizona football games. The group of Redline Ambassadors attended Arizona’s final training camp practice at Davis Sports Center and was introduced to the team during a timeout break.

— Brennan recently spoke at a Tucson Police Department graduation ceremony, the same class that was supposed to have Carlos Ramirez, the TPD recruit who was killed while fighting home intruders. Two former UA football players were in the graduation class: Kevin Sumlin- and Jedd Fisch-era tight end Stacey Marshall and Tucson native and Amphitheater product David Watson.