It’s late January, and you know what that means, college football fans:
Time for way-too-early predictions!
The Arizona Wildcats haven’t made any 2016 Top 25s that I’m aware of, unfortunately. But hope comes in the form of way-too-early Pac-12 Conference projections – in the something-to-blog-about sense, anyway.
Two sets of predictions are out from respectable sources, and the way-too-early returns aren’t favorable for Arizona. One has the Wildcats finishing fourth in the South Division; the other has them fifth.
The first comes from Jon Wilner, the venerable Pac-12 scribe for Bay Area News Group. Wilner isn’t averse to going out on a limb; for example, he places Washington atop the North Division.
Wilner predicts Arizona will finish fourth in the South, behind USC, UCLA and Utah. Here are his comments about the ’16 Wildcats:
People are also reading…
“Quarterback Anu Solomon returns, but at what level of consistency? Not sold on the returning personnel on either side, especially defensive. (We got a good look at the Scooby Wright-less unit last fall.) Wouldn’t take much for the Wildcats to sneak into the top half of the division, but a repeat of ’14 seems unlikely.”
None of that is unfair. Nor are the comments made by Athlon Sports’ Steven Lassan, who has Arizona fifth in the South (behind USC, UCLA, Utah and Arizona State):
“A similar theme is set to play out in Tucson next season. Arizona should have an explosive offense, but the defense is a major question mark. How much improvement can new coordinator Marcel Yates get out of this group in 2016? Seven starters are back, but the Wildcats are losing their best defender – linebacker Scooby Wright – to the NFL. Arizona is going to have to win its share of high-scoring affairs next season, but coach Rich Rodriguez’s team has the firepower to do so. If quarterback Anu Solomon and running back Nick Wilson can stay healthy in 2016, both players should push for all-conference honors.”
My initial inclination is to place Arizona third behind USC and UCLA, but I’m not ready to go there just yet. There are too many unknowns at this point, especially on the defensive side of the ball with an entirely new staff. Even spring practice, which begins Feb. 5, might not tell us very much if Rodriguez follows through on his plans to emphasize individual work over team drills.
We also aren’t close to knowing the final composition of Arizona’s 2016 recruiting class, even though National Signing Day is a week from Wednesday. Yates and Donté Williams are out there doing work. The class is evolving.
So take the way-too-early predictions for what they’re worth – something interesting to talk about during the dark days of college football’s hibernation.
