UA football: On QBs, captains and facing UNLV

Note: Every week we’ll talk to a different Arizona Wildcat and get their first memory of being on a football field.

Some will remember more details than others. But it will be hard for anyone to remember the specifics better than junior safety Will Parks.

Parks is slated to make his fifth career start tonight, and first at “Spur” safety. He will start in place of senior Tra’Mayne Bondurant, who is expected to play at some point after dealing with some discipline issues at the start of training camp.

Parks had 31 tackles, five pass breakups and two interceptions last year as a sophomore and was the defensive MVP of the AdvoCare V100 Bowl.

A native of Philadelphia, Parks began playing football when he was 6. One of the smallest players on the team, his coach inexplicably put him at center.

Here is his story, in his words:

“I started at center and corner. It was tackle football. I played for the Wissahickon Braves, and we played against the Mt. Airy Bantams. I played center, and my first snap was so perfect, and coach was like nobody wants to play center, but we may move you to running back because you’re so small. I went to running back; I fumbled my first game. So I went back to center, then right tackle, then right guard. I was about the third smallest dude on the team.

“I didn’t know what I was doing. I knew I had to snap the ball to the quarterback, and make sure I blocked the first person I saw. That’s what I did.

“We played at 10 a.m., on a Saturday morning. After the game, I was like ‘I can’t believe I just did that.’ I had a duck facemask, so I didn’t have an open bar. I had that bar down the middle. It was crazy too because I was snapping next to my stepbrother; he played right guard. I was No. 44 at center and he was No. 13 at left guard.

“When we first went out there, I didn’t have any cleats. I had sneakers. Everyone else had cleats. I was looking around like, why does everyone have cleats? I went to go do a drill and slipped. I still tackled the dude, but I slipped, and my dad was like was like ‘I forgot, we have to get you cleats.’ It was all good after that.”

Date: Sept. 7, 2013

What went down: Arizona blitzed UNLV with 45 first-half points and cruised to an easy 58-13 win in Sin City. B.J. Denker scored two rushing touchdowns in the first quarter and the Wildcats led 17-0 after the first.

Following a 69-yard touchdown pass, Ka’Deem Carey made his season debut after being suspended for the season-opener. On his first touch, he ran for a 58-yard touchdown. He added a 12-yard score later that quarter and Jake Fischer and Tra’Mayne Bondurant also each had interception returns for touchdowns. Carey finished with 171 yards.

How it read: Greg Hansen wrote that the blowout was a game UNLV coach Bobby Hauck was eager to move on from: “Asked after the game about his state of mind, UNLV coach Bobby Hauck responded with one word: “Somber.”

It could’ve been worse.

In a football sense, Arizona killed the clock in the second half; it was the only piece of mercy. The Wildcats are also looking down the road, building a résumé, and now, after crushing the Rebels, are thinking big (or at least bigger).

CBS Sports delayed its telecast of the game about 18 minutes, broadcasting the last-second drama of the Tulsa-Colorado State game. By the time it joined the action at Sam Boyd Stadium, the Wildcats had to be thinking ‘can it possibly be this easy?”

Turning point: It’s hard to say there was one in a 58-13 win, but we’ll go with Carey’s 58-yard run. UNLV had just scored, making it 17-6. Carey ended any thoughts the Rebels had about a comeback with his 58-yard jaunt into the end zone.

He also scored from 12 yards out less than six minutes later.

It’s history: The Wildcats won their final non-conference game of the season the following week against UTSA, and then lost back-to-back games to Washington and USC. UNLV went on to win its next four games over Central Michigan, Western Illinois, New Mexico and Hawaii. The Rebels eventually finished 7-6 and went to the Heart of Dallas Bowl versus North Texas.

The timing was perfect.

As quarterbacks coach Rod Smith was asked if tonight’s starter Anu Solomon is fast, he looked at the redshirt freshman as he exhaustedly walked off the practice field.

With a Powerade in one hand and sweat dripping off his forehead, Solomon walked slowly up the steps at Kindall/Sancet Stadium.

“Hey, Anu, let’s see how fast you are running up those steps,” Smith said with a laugh.

Solomon was in no mood.

Smith then gave his real answer.

“He’s more elusive than fast,” Smith said. “He’s slippery.”

We picked Smith’s brain about Solomon and what Arizona fans should expect from him tonight in his first career collegiate start.

How much did Solomon having the timing of the offense down help him win this job?

A: “It definitely helped. That’s what your summer throwing is for, spring ball, all the individual work you do with the receivers. All that entails getting your timing down and getting that trust factor down with the receivers so you know when they’re breaking versus certain coverages. We do a lot of adjustments with our routes. It definitely helps. You can tell he’s gotten a lot more comfortable than he was last year.

“In our offense, it’s not that the receiver isn’t open when you throw, it’s a lot of times you’re anticipating. You’re seeing zones, you’re seeing defenses. We don’t look at our guys, we look at coverages. Coverage dictates a lot of what we’re doing with the football. So if we’re seeing the coverage the same, we know where the ball should be going. He’s doing that. He’s seeing things faster, which means it has slowed down for him. When you hear a kid say that it’s going too fast, it means they think there’s 13, 14 players out there and they’re just not seeing it because it’s happening too fast. When it slows down for them in their mind it’s because they know what they’re doing. It has slowed down for Anu.”

How is Solomon different this year than last?

A: “You could tell he was more focused coming into camp this year. It’s more true to him right now. I think the redshirt year, I don’t want to say he took it off, but mentally he checked out. Even though he learned what we were doing, he didn’t have the sense of urgency he has now. There’s a whole other level or two he needs to get to. His best football is ahead of him. Hopefully he continues to progress.

“I think he’s savvy. I think he’s gotten an innate feel for the game. I think he sees spaces. He understands defenses. He understands what we’re trying to do for the most part. He throws a nice, catchable ball. He doesn’t have the biggest arm. He’s not the biggest of stature. He throws a very catchable, accurate ball, which is important.”

Does he remind you of any quarterbacks you’ve coached in the past?

A: “We had a kid named Matt Grothe at South Florida. He’s probably similar to him. He’s a little bigger than Matt. He has the same type of arm. He’s probably a little more talented. Matt’s probably a little faster, but he’s probably close to him at this stage. Can he better? We’ll see. At this stage, they remind me of each other.”

When it comes to naming captains, Rich Rodriguez does things a bit differently.

The coach doesn’t name any season captains, and instead names four seniors to serve as captains each game.

Some players get the honor more than once, but his hope is that at one point in the season, each of his 19 seniors will get to serve in the role.

Tonight, running back Terris Jones-Grigsby, center Steven Gurrola, defensive end Dan Pettinato and long snapper Chase Gorham will serve as captains.

We asked Rodriguez we he prefers to go on a game-by-game basis, rather than naming season captains.

His answer makes sense.

“I’ve always had it that way because if you have 19 seniors, I’d rather have 19 leaders instead of two or four," he said. "What I’ve done in the past is I’ve had two permanent captains and two game captains added on to it, but I like having just game captains. What happens if you pick a guy as a captain before the season starts and he turns out not to be a good leader? Then what do you?

“I’d rather guys continue to think about good leadership throughout the entire season. Frankly, if every senior does what they’re supposed to do, which is really, really important to me, they can put on their résumé, yes I was a captain at University of Arizona. I think it’s pretty neat.”