Key players to watch in the Arizona-West Virginia football game

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — The Arizona Wildcats are set to take on the West Virginia for their third Big 12 game of the season — second on the road.

With a bye week on the horizon, Arizona looks to enter the halfway point of the regular season with a 5-1 record, which would be the best start for the Wildcats since the 2014 season — the only time former UA head coach Rich Rodriguez, who's now at West Virginia, won 10 games at Arizona.

For West Virginia, the Mountaineers are still searching for their first win in Big 12 play this season after losing to Oklahoma State and Iowa State.  

Here are key players to watch — three from each team — when the Wildcats square off with the Mountaineers Saturday morning in Morgantown. 

Arizona

Cam Chapa, safety: Chapa made his first start at Arizona last week against Cincinnati after emerging as a playmaker in the weeks prior. Chapa had two quarterback hits and an interception against Washington State two weeks ago.

Last week, Chapa had a season-best 80.8 tackling grade against Cincinnati. With another test against the top rushing team in the Big 12, Chapa's playmaking ability as a downhill tackler, coupled with his pass coverage skills, could be effective against West Virginia. 

Brandon Phelps, wide receiver: One of the greatest wide receivers in Arizona high school football history will play one of the most important games of his career now that the Wildcats are down three starting receivers.

With Giovanni Richardson, Chris Hunter and Tre Spivey — who's out for the season with a broken foot injury — out for Saturday, Phelps is expected to be one of the starters. 

In his third season at Arizona, Phelps has eight catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns and has been a reliable reserve at receiver. Phelps had a critical 30-yard catch-and-run in the second half against BYU and a 24-yard touchdown against Cincinnati. 

In the 70 passing snaps Phelps has played this season, 55 of them are lined up at slot receiver, according to Pro Football Focus. Phelps is also tied with wide receiver Isaiah Mizell for the third-most yards after catch (67) at Arizona this season, trailing Spivey (127) and Richardson (123). 

Michael Salgado-Medina, kicker: Since taking over as Arizona's starting kicker last season, Salgado-Medina is 10 for 18 (55%) in kicking field goals on the road. Since the Cincinnati game last November, Salgado-Medina is 9 for 16 on the road. 

He's 5 for 14 (35%) in kicking field goals between 40-49 yards, home and away. Two of those misses were a blocked field goal and a miss from a low snap against Washington State. Even though both of those drives started in WSU territory, Arizona came up empty in points. 

A repeat of Arizona's field-goal blunders could spell trouble for Arizona on the road.  

West Virginia

DJ Epps, wide receiver: The transfer from Troy and fifth-year receiver had a season-high four catches for 114 yards and a touchdown in West Virginia's 45-42 loss to Iowa State last week. 

Most of Epps' production is in the center part of the field in pockets between linebackers and defensive backs and beyond. On intermediate and deep passes over the middle, Epps has a combined eight catches for 263 yards and three touchdowns. Epps has 14 catches for 393 yards on the season. 

Even though West Virginia is a run-heavy team, Epps is a serious threat and could be due for a deep shot down the field against Arizona's aggressive defense. 

Bryan Hansen, punter: Hansen has the longest punt in the Big 12 this season, a 74-yarder he kicked in the season opener against Coastal Carolina, which is the fifth-longest punt nationally this season.

Not only does Hansen have leg power, but the Colorado State transfer also has seven punts land inside the 20-yard line and only three touchbacks. Hansen also leads the Big 12 in fair catches this season.

Arizona punter Chase Ridley, who was committed to WVU before signing with the Wildcats, has the third-most fair catches this season. 

Michael Hawkins Jr., quarterback: The Mountaineers could potentially have the face of the franchise for the next few years in Hawkins, a transfer from Oklahoma.

This season, Hawkins has passed for 836 yards, seven touchdowns and an interception, albeit the dual-threat quarterback has nearly twice as many rush attempts (92) as pass attempts (47) this season — and he has a 56.7% completion rate. 

Hawkins has 18 of West Virginia's 25 touchdowns this season.