With it being finals week for both sports, it's been a light week with only one basketball game and one football practice. There's still plenty to discuss regarding both teams.
Basketball:
After 11 games, the regular season is about 33% complete. Here's a look at where several players and the team as a whole stands:
* The biggest concern right now - besides the team's confidence hit after the BYU game - is Arizona's play against the zone.
UA's offense has taken a step back since teams started going exclusively zone, which has somewhat limited Derrick Williams - as much as he can be limited - and forced the team to rely on threes.
It's also hurt Solomon Hill's offensive production. UA has gone up against zone defenses four of the last five games - Oklahoma played man - and Hill is averaging 5.5 points per game in that span. The rest of the season, he's averaging 10.4 points.
Miller emphasized the importance of UA hitting outside shots if teams are going to zone the Wildcats.
"Part of our deal against the zone is you've got to make a few shots," Miller said... "I think we were about 3 of 19 at one point and that builds confidence with the other team to stay in a zone. I'll take a look on film but I think we're going to stick with it.
"I thought we had some good looks but we need to get better, like a lot of teams. We've faced a lot of zone. We're 9-2 against a lot of zone and we've had some good moments against the zone.
"If you look at our three-point shooting, you'd look and say we're a really good three-point shooting team when you consider how many we take and how many we make. We just have a couple guys right now that uncharacteristically aren't shooting well."
There is obviously some concern with relying on the three, but Miller wants his team taking open outside shots if the opportunity is there.
"We have to really be aware at all times if it's a good one or a bad one but one of the things, you think about it from this perspective, when you shoot 33% from three, that's 50% from two," Miller said. "When you look at points per possession (against NAU), 10 of 22 from three is probably why we won the game. We shot such a high percentage from behind the arc.
"Keeping the ball, getting it to the post, getting Derrick the ball, offsetting the drive as well. I'll also tell you that if you keep facing zone and they pack it in, some of the shots we took tonight, in today's day and age of college basketball, you've got to take it because it's there and you're wide open. If you don't, you tend to have problems otherwise.
"No question we don't want to fall in love with it but out of our 22 threes, I think 16 or 17 of them were really good, maybe a couple questionable ones, certainly Kevin Parrom's comes to mind. But we want our guys taking wide open threes."
* Miller mentioned a couple guys not shooting well lately, and of note is Kyle Fogg, who in the last five games is shooting 11 of 37 from the field (29.7%) and 6 of 24 (25%) from three.
Also of note is that after starting the season with 22 assists to only 6 turnovers through the first four games, he's had 12 assists to 13 turnovers in the seven games since. Fogg totaled 9 steals in the first four games of the season, but in the seven games since he has 3 steals total.
When Fogg is playing well, Arizona is clearly a much better team, but the Wildcats aren't the same offensively when he's not producing.
"Kyle didn't have a good night (Thursday) but I'm confident that he'll bounce back," Miller said. "0 for 5 is 0 for 5 but I think he had a couple good looks that didn't go in. He's got to stay with it, keep shooting and we believe in him and he's got to believe in himself."
* Some good news is that Kevin Parrom is starting to emerge for Arizona, and could have earned his way into the starting lineup based on his performance against NAU.
Asked to be the team's defensive stopper before the season, Parrom has been the Wildcats' second leading scorer in two of the last three games.
Miller called Parrom's 14-point, 5-rebound, 4-assist performance against NAU his best game at Arizona so far.
"He's a tough minded kid," Miller said. "I've known Kevin since he was in 10th grade and toughness is not his problem. As he continues to get more well-versed in college basketball; he's a player that a lot of guys would love to have.
"He does a little bit of everything. Four assists to zero turnovers, two steals, he rebounds the ball well, 3 of 6 for three, 5 of 10 from the floor. To me it was the best game that he's played at Arizona. I'm really happy for him; he's one of the more unselfish players on the team, he doesn't say much but plays hard and it's great to see him have that performance."
* Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Derrick Williams' game this season is his three-point shooting, as he's now hit 75% (12 of 16) of his attempts beyond the arc. Williams would be the number one three-point shooter in the country but he's six attempts short, as you need to average two three-point attempts per game to be eligible.
As it is, Williams is the 2nd leading scorer in the Pac-10, 6th leading rebounder and has the 2nd highest field goal percentage.
Despite how good Williams is on offense, Miller continues to challenge him to get better defensively.
"We have to get him to rebound and continue to develop on defense," Miller said. "There's a reason they got three lobs; there's a reason that happened. You've got to stay on him as a young player and we've got to keep coaching him, getting him to be more intelligent on defense.
"That will help our team a lot. But he's a special talent; a special offensive player. He got to the foul line 10 times, it's the thing that really separates him from a lot of other players, he just always gets to the line."
* Arizona's play at point guard will ultimately play a big role in how successful this season is as both MoMo Jones and Jordin Mayes are still easing into the position.
Miller said the important thing for him regarding MoMo is that his work ethic remains strong.
"He's a work in progress," Miller said. "I think he shows signs. It doesn't come natural some of the things we're trying to get him to do but he's staying with it. The only thing I can really judge MoMo on is he coming to work hard every day and he is.
"Like a lot of games, you have to add up the 40 minutes between both point guards. One thing about Jordin Mayes is he continues to really shoot the ball well. 2 for 3 from three, he made a couple big ones in the first half when no one else was shooting well.
"I hope with game experience, as we keep moving through, that MoMo will continue to develop and settle in. We need him to."
* Some national stats:
- UA is 23rd in the country at three-point shooting at 40.5%. Teams of note ahead or tied with the Wildcats are Washington (#2), Northern Colorado (#4), NAU (#8) and Kansas (tied for #23).
- Before the NAU game, UA was 16th in the country in scoring at 81 points per game. However, the Wildcats are averaging 71.3 points against Rice, Cal State-Fullerton, BYU and NAU, the four of the last five teams that have zoned UA. That would rank 154th nationally.
- After ranking 30th as a team last year in free throw shooting at 73.3%, UA has improved that number this season, averaging 77.4%, good for 14th in the country.
- Arizona is averaging 49.2% from the field, which is ranked 18th nationally. Last year UA shot 44.3% from the field, which was 125th nationally.
- Arizona is 28th in the country in assists at 16.5 per game. Last year the Wildcats finished 213th nationally at 12.4 assists per game.
- The bad news is Arizona ranks 143rd nationally with 14.1 turnovers per game. There's no improvement in that area, as UA also averaged 14.1 turnovers last season.
* Archie Miller was in Las Vegas on Monday to watch Bishop Gorman (Rosco Allen, Shabazz Muhammad) play, and also watch Findlay Prep (Nick Johnson, Landen Lucas) practice.
Johnson put on a show on national television on Thursday, scoring 24 points on 8 of 8 shooting and also grabbing 5 rebounds in a 95-69 win over Houston Yates, a team that had previously won 66 straight games.
Yates' head coach is Greg Wise, father of Nic and Dondre. Ex-Wildcat Jawann McClellan is an assistant under Wise.
* Grant Jerrett got off to a good start with his junior season in limited action, as La Verne Lutheran defeated Upland Christian Academy 114-15. Jerrett scored 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting, also grabbing 9 rebounds - 5 offensive - and blocking a couple shots in the win.
Eric Cooper, Jr. remains sidelined as his knee gets healthy.
Football:
* Arizona hired its defensive line coach on Thursday, as Joe Salave'a is officially on staff and arrives to Tucson on Friday.
Salave'a interviewed for the job last weekend and watched the UA practice a couple times. Afterwards, he told us that he was really excited about the potential opportunity to coach the players Arizona has on the defensive line moving forward.
"I was really trying my hardest to not let my emotions show because I was so excited to be back in Tucson but seeing the potential, they've got a great group of kids with great character and I think the sky's the limit. To get the chance to come in and work with those guys would be really exciting," Salave'a said.
"I like the defense; it's an attacking defense. You've got to teach the fundamentals and technique without getting any further into the football aspect of the game. We can get that mastered and make a quantum leap improvement going into this upcoming season.
"Whoever is going to be the one that is going to take the helm and get the position, everyone has their own way of coaching, but for me, I was able to have success in high school, college and the NFL because of attention to detail and playing with fundamentals. The game hasn't changed in that regard. I've been coached by some great coaches.
"Going back to my experience as a player, if you're somebody that wants to legally go after people, roll up your sleeves, go to work and have fun, and have that type of swagger, you'll love playing for me, because that's what I was all about as a player.
"You have to have the passion. If you don't have the passion then you might want to choose a different sport. The kids they already have down there, man, it's a gold mine. We'll see. Really exciting times."
* With Salave'a being hired, Arizona currently has one staff position open. Mike Stoops likes to promote from within when he has the chance and if he's going to go in that direction this time, it would likely be because he sees enough in Graduate Assistant Ryan Walters to make him defensive backs coach.
Walters, along with recruiting coordinator David Emerick, were on the road recruiting for the Wildcats over the past week, due to UA being two assistants short.
A well-liked coach by the players, we've heard Walters has done a good job coaching the secondary in practice, so he'll be a candidate when Stoops makes a final decision what direction to go in.
* In that scenario, and probably regardless, co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tim Kish - a key piece to the Wildcats' success as a program since he's been at UA - would likely take over as Arizona's only defensive coordinator.
* While that would appear to solidify Arizona's staff going into next season, there's going to be plenty of reason to be nervous after the bowl game. West Virginia has hired Dana Holgorsen from Oklahoma State to be West Virginia's head coach in waiting, and he'll head to Morgantown after the Cowboys' bowl game against Arizona.
This is a concern because Holgorsen will likely hire his whole offensive staff, and he's close friends with UA assistants Bill Bedenbaugh, Seth Littrell and David Nichol.
While Bedenbaugh has been the main name rumored to follow Holgorsen, Littrell's name has been also tossed around, so this will be something to watch closely after the bowl game.
* The good news is that quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo is planning on staying at Arizona after rumors of Colorado wanting him to join ex-UA assistants Mike Tuiasosopo and Greg Brown in Boulder. Scelfo is a key part of the offensive staff and his loyalty to Arizona is important for next season and the future.
* Arizona will have just one official visitor this weekend in wide receiver Junior Pomeehttp://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Junior-Pomee-90067, who was scheduled to visit last weekend but rescheduled.
* Arizona signed junior college transfers offensive center Addison Bachman and tight end Drew Robinson on Wednesday. Bachman was unavailable for comment but Robinson said he's looking forward to moving to Tucson in the coming weeks.
"They need me to be ready to play right off the bat," Robinson said. "They need a tight end that can stretch the middle of the field and they think I can be that guy.
"I pretty much knew when they started recruiting me that I wanted to go there. It feels good to sign and get everything done. I'm excited to be headed to Arizona."
* Jason Scheer's weekly recruiting update:
* Petaluma (Calif.) Casa Grande quarterback Nick Sherry http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=102265 has emerged as a possible candidate for Arizona after the coaching change at Colorado caused him to open up his recruitment.
"I don't really know what's happening right now," Sherry tells Rivals.com. "It seems a little shaky over there and I'm keeping my options open and keeping up interest with other schools.
"As of right now, I probably don't see myself going to Colorado anymore just because of the whole situation. I'm keeping my other options open and looking at other schools.”
Arizona was recruiting Sherry before he made his choice to go to CU and although it is in the preliminary phase, there is a possibility the Wildcats decide to recruit him again.
"Since I went to Colorado I kind of closed my doors and then I told them I wasn't going to go to Arizona or Washington and they offered some other people," Sherry said.
"I'm talking to (those schools) more but we're going to see what's going to happen because I told them I was going to stay committed but now it's the opposite. We don't know what's going to happen right now. We're just going with the wind."
As of now, Sherry is looking at possibly taking other visits and it is unknown how interested the Wildcats are.
* 6-foot-4, 250-pound Honolulu (Hawaii) Kamehameh defensive end Lake Koa-Ka'ai http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=115413 took his visit to Arizona this past weekend and enjoyed it.
"My trip to Arizona went pretty well, I enjoyed it," Koa-Ka'ai tells BuffStampde.com. "They are doing a bunch of renovations on their stadium and their dorms so that is pretty good.
“The climate out there is different than most places. It is hot in the summer but in the winter time, it is pretty nice out there."
Koa-Kai was awaiting Arizona’s decision to hire a defensive line coach, although the rest of the coaching staff picked up the slack.
"Arizona will hopefully have a new defensive line coach soon," Koa-Ka'ai said. "[Defensive ends] coach Jeff Hammerschmidt and [co-defensive coordinator and linebackers] coach Tim Kish have kind of taken over recruiting me from Arizona's staff."
As of now, Koa-Ka’ai has no favorite, but Colorado will likely be a major factor in his decision.
* Corona (Calif.) defensive end DeVante Wilson http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=97772 committed to USC on Wednesday as expected.
"It was hard to call the coaches at Arizona and Nebraska, but they respect my decision,” Wilson tells USCFootball.com. “I built a great relationship with those schools, and I hate that I had to let those coaches down. Coach Bo Pelini has a great defensive mind and Nebraska always sends out defensive linemen to the NFL. I felt good out there on my trip too.
"I also felt real comfortable with coach [Tim] Kish and coach [Jeff] Hammerschmidt from Arizona. There was a great opportunity for me to come in and play early there.”
In the end, the pressure to stay home picked up late in the recruiting process and it turned out to be too much for the UA to overcome, despite being in good shape early on.
"I felt really good at USC,” Wilson said. “The main factor for me was comfort, and I felt comfortable at USC. It's close to home and my family can be at a lot of my games. I feel like I have a good chance to come in and play early also.”
* 6-foot-2, 269-poind San Diego Point Loma defensive tackle Christian Heyward http://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Christian-Heyward-104599 has Arizona in his top four, along with USC, Oregon, and UCLA.
Heyward has already visited Arizona and will visit UCLA and Oregon in January with a decision planned close to Signing Day.
Recently Mike Stoops was in Heyward’s home for a visit, but numerous other schools are making stops. At this point, it is difficult to gauge where Heyward is leaning, as he has been very secretive about that aspect of his recruitment.
* Six-foot-2, 218-pound Lawton (Okla.) linebacker and Arizona commit Jabral Johnson http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=102641 recently took his official visit to Arizona and enjoyed his time.
Johnson is the type of player that can come in and contribute right away, especially with the lack of depth at linebacker.
"They basically told me that I will come and probably play special teams and learn from Paul Vassallo," Johnson said. "I will learn from him and that is going to be his senior year and once he graduates hopefully I will be able to step in and play."
In terms of the actual visit, Johnson says that there were a few aspects that really stood out.
"There were a lot of things that I did not know," he said. "The tradition of the school and all of the stuff they do before a game and all that was new.
"The Zona Zoo probably impressed me the most. It was crazy and I have been to a lot of games, but to see a student section that big was crazy."
Basketball:
After 11 games, the regular season is about 33% complete. Here's a look at where several players and the team as a whole stands:
* The biggest concern right now - besides the team's confidence hit after the BYU game - is Arizona's play against the zone.
UA's offense has taken a step back since teams started going exclusively zone, which has somewhat limited Derrick Williams - as much as he can be limited - and forced the team to rely on threes.
It's also hurt Solomon Hill's offensive production. UA has gone up against zone defenses four of the last five games - Oklahoma played man - and Hill is averaging 5.5 points per game in that span. The rest of the season, he's averaging 10.4 points.
Miller emphasized the importance of UA hitting outside shots if teams are going to zone the Wildcats.
"Part of our deal against the zone is you've got to make a few shots," Miller said... "I think we were about 3 of 19 at one point and that builds confidence with the other team to stay in a zone. I'll take a look on film but I think we're going to stick with it.
"I thought we had some good looks but we need to get better, like a lot of teams. We've faced a lot of zone. We're 9-2 against a lot of zone and we've had some good moments against the zone.
"If you look at our three-point shooting, you'd look and say we're a really good three-point shooting team when you consider how many we take and how many we make. We just have a couple guys right now that uncharacteristically aren't shooting well."
There is obviously some concern with relying on the three, but Miller wants his team taking open outside shots if the opportunity is there.
"We have to really be aware at all times if it's a good one or a bad one but one of the things, you think about it from this perspective, when you shoot 33% from three, that's 50% from two," Miller said. "When you look at points per possession (against NAU), 10 of 22 from three is probably why we won the game. We shot such a high percentage from behind the arc.
"Keeping the ball, getting it to the post, getting Derrick the ball, offsetting the drive as well. I'll also tell you that if you keep facing zone and they pack it in, some of the shots we took tonight, in today's day and age of college basketball, you've got to take it because it's there and you're wide open. If you don't, you tend to have problems otherwise.
"No question we don't want to fall in love with it but out of our 22 threes, I think 16 or 17 of them were really good, maybe a couple questionable ones, certainly Kevin Parrom's comes to mind. But we want our guys taking wide open threes."
* Miller mentioned a couple guys not shooting well lately, and of note is Kyle Fogg, who in the last five games is shooting 11 of 37 from the field (29.7%) and 6 of 24 (25%) from three.
Also of note is that after starting the season with 22 assists to only 6 turnovers through the first four games, he's had 12 assists to 13 turnovers in the seven games since. Fogg totaled 9 steals in the first four games of the season, but in the seven games since he has 3 steals total.
When Fogg is playing well, Arizona is clearly a much better team, but the Wildcats aren't the same offensively when he's not producing.
"Kyle didn't have a good night (Thursday) but I'm confident that he'll bounce back," Miller said. "0 for 5 is 0 for 5 but I think he had a couple good looks that didn't go in. He's got to stay with it, keep shooting and we believe in him and he's got to believe in himself."
* Some good news is that Kevin Parrom is starting to emerge for Arizona, and could have earned his way into the starting lineup based on his performance against NAU.
Asked to be the team's defensive stopper before the season, Parrom has been the Wildcats' second leading scorer in two of the last three games.
Miller called Parrom's 14-point, 5-rebound, 4-assist performance against NAU his best game at Arizona so far.
"He's a tough minded kid," Miller said. "I've known Kevin since he was in 10th grade and toughness is not his problem. As he continues to get more well-versed in college basketball; he's a player that a lot of guys would love to have.
"He does a little bit of everything. Four assists to zero turnovers, two steals, he rebounds the ball well, 3 of 6 for three, 5 of 10 from the floor. To me it was the best game that he's played at Arizona. I'm really happy for him; he's one of the more unselfish players on the team, he doesn't say much but plays hard and it's great to see him have that performance."
* Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Derrick Williams' game this season is his three-point shooting, as he's now hit 75% (12 of 16) of his attempts beyond the arc. Williams would be the number one three-point shooter in the country but he's six attempts short, as you need to average two three-point attempts per game to be eligible.
As it is, Williams is the 2nd leading scorer in the Pac-10, 6th leading rebounder and has the 2nd highest field goal percentage.
Despite how good Williams is on offense, Miller continues to challenge him to get better defensively.
"We have to get him to rebound and continue to develop on defense," Miller said. "There's a reason they got three lobs; there's a reason that happened. You've got to stay on him as a young player and we've got to keep coaching him, getting him to be more intelligent on defense.
"That will help our team a lot. But he's a special talent; a special offensive player. He got to the foul line 10 times, it's the thing that really separates him from a lot of other players, he just always gets to the line."
* Arizona's play at point guard will ultimately play a big role in how successful this season is as both MoMo Jones and Jordin Mayes are still easing into the position.
Miller said the important thing for him regarding MoMo is that his work ethic remains strong.
"He's a work in progress," Miller said. "I think he shows signs. It doesn't come natural some of the things we're trying to get him to do but he's staying with it. The only thing I can really judge MoMo on is he coming to work hard every day and he is.
"Like a lot of games, you have to add up the 40 minutes between both point guards. One thing about Jordin Mayes is he continues to really shoot the ball well. 2 for 3 from three, he made a couple big ones in the first half when no one else was shooting well.
"I hope with game experience, as we keep moving through, that MoMo will continue to develop and settle in. We need him to."
* Some national stats:
- UA is 23rd in the country at three-point shooting at 40.5%. Teams of note ahead or tied with the Wildcats are Washington (#2), Northern Colorado (#4), NAU (#8) and Kansas (tied for #23).
- Before the NAU game, UA was 16th in the country in scoring at 81 points per game. However, the Wildcats are averaging 71.3 points against Rice, Cal State-Fullerton, BYU and NAU, the four of the last five teams that have zoned UA. That would rank 154th nationally.
- After ranking 30th as a team last year in free throw shooting at 73.3%, UA has improved that number this season, averaging 77.4%, good for 14th in the country.
- Arizona is averaging 49.2% from the field, which is ranked 18th nationally. Last year UA shot 44.3% from the field, which was 125th nationally.
- Arizona is 28th in the country in assists at 16.5 per game. Last year the Wildcats finished 213th nationally at 12.4 assists per game.
- The bad news is Arizona ranks 143rd nationally with 14.1 turnovers per game. There's no improvement in that area, as UA also averaged 14.1 turnovers last season.
* Archie Miller was in Las Vegas on Monday to watch Bishop Gorman (Rosco Allen, Shabazz Muhammad) play, and also watch Findlay Prep (Nick Johnson, Landen Lucas) practice.
Johnson put on a show on national television on Thursday, scoring 24 points on 8 of 8 shooting and also grabbing 5 rebounds in a 95-69 win over Houston Yates, a team that had previously won 66 straight games.
Yates' head coach is Greg Wise, father of Nic and Dondre. Ex-Wildcat Jawann McClellan is an assistant under Wise.
* Grant Jerrett got off to a good start with his junior season in limited action, as La Verne Lutheran defeated Upland Christian Academy 114-15. Jerrett scored 14 points on 7 of 9 shooting, also grabbing 9 rebounds - 5 offensive - and blocking a couple shots in the win.
Eric Cooper, Jr. remains sidelined as his knee gets healthy.
Football:
* Arizona hired its defensive line coach on Thursday, as Joe Salave'a is officially on staff and arrives to Tucson on Friday.
Salave'a interviewed for the job last weekend and watched the UA practice a couple times. Afterwards, he told us that he was really excited about the potential opportunity to coach the players Arizona has on the defensive line moving forward.
"I was really trying my hardest to not let my emotions show because I was so excited to be back in Tucson but seeing the potential, they've got a great group of kids with great character and I think the sky's the limit. To get the chance to come in and work with those guys would be really exciting," Salave'a said.
"I like the defense; it's an attacking defense. You've got to teach the fundamentals and technique without getting any further into the football aspect of the game. We can get that mastered and make a quantum leap improvement going into this upcoming season.
"Whoever is going to be the one that is going to take the helm and get the position, everyone has their own way of coaching, but for me, I was able to have success in high school, college and the NFL because of attention to detail and playing with fundamentals. The game hasn't changed in that regard. I've been coached by some great coaches.
"Going back to my experience as a player, if you're somebody that wants to legally go after people, roll up your sleeves, go to work and have fun, and have that type of swagger, you'll love playing for me, because that's what I was all about as a player.
"You have to have the passion. If you don't have the passion then you might want to choose a different sport. The kids they already have down there, man, it's a gold mine. We'll see. Really exciting times."
* With Salave'a being hired, Arizona currently has one staff position open. Mike Stoops likes to promote from within when he has the chance and if he's going to go in that direction this time, it would likely be because he sees enough in Graduate Assistant Ryan Walters to make him defensive backs coach.
Walters, along with recruiting coordinator David Emerick, were on the road recruiting for the Wildcats over the past week, due to UA being two assistants short.
A well-liked coach by the players, we've heard Walters has done a good job coaching the secondary in practice, so he'll be a candidate when Stoops makes a final decision what direction to go in.
* In that scenario, and probably regardless, co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tim Kish - a key piece to the Wildcats' success as a program since he's been at UA - would likely take over as Arizona's only defensive coordinator.
* While that would appear to solidify Arizona's staff going into next season, there's going to be plenty of reason to be nervous after the bowl game. West Virginia has hired Dana Holgorsen from Oklahoma State to be West Virginia's head coach in waiting, and he'll head to Morgantown after the Cowboys' bowl game against Arizona.
This is a concern because Holgorsen will likely hire his whole offensive staff, and he's close friends with UA assistants Bill Bedenbaugh, Seth Littrell and David Nichol.
While Bedenbaugh has been the main name rumored to follow Holgorsen, Littrell's name has been also tossed around, so this will be something to watch closely after the bowl game.
* The good news is that quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo is planning on staying at Arizona after rumors of Colorado wanting him to join ex-UA assistants Mike Tuiasosopo and Greg Brown in Boulder. Scelfo is a key part of the offensive staff and his loyalty to Arizona is important for next season and the future.
* Arizona will have just one official visitor this weekend in wide receiver Junior Pomeehttp://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Junior-Pomee-90067, who was scheduled to visit last weekend but rescheduled.
* Arizona signed junior college transfers offensive center Addison Bachman and tight end Drew Robinson on Wednesday. Bachman was unavailable for comment but Robinson said he's looking forward to moving to Tucson in the coming weeks.
"They need me to be ready to play right off the bat," Robinson said. "They need a tight end that can stretch the middle of the field and they think I can be that guy.
"I pretty much knew when they started recruiting me that I wanted to go there. It feels good to sign and get everything done. I'm excited to be headed to Arizona."
* Jason Scheer's weekly recruiting update:
* Petaluma (Calif.) Casa Grande quarterback Nick Sherry http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=102265 has emerged as a possible candidate for Arizona after the coaching change at Colorado caused him to open up his recruitment.
"I don't really know what's happening right now," Sherry tells Rivals.com. "It seems a little shaky over there and I'm keeping my options open and keeping up interest with other schools.
"As of right now, I probably don't see myself going to Colorado anymore just because of the whole situation. I'm keeping my other options open and looking at other schools.”
Arizona was recruiting Sherry before he made his choice to go to CU and although it is in the preliminary phase, there is a possibility the Wildcats decide to recruit him again.
"Since I went to Colorado I kind of closed my doors and then I told them I wasn't going to go to Arizona or Washington and they offered some other people," Sherry said.
"I'm talking to (those schools) more but we're going to see what's going to happen because I told them I was going to stay committed but now it's the opposite. We don't know what's going to happen right now. We're just going with the wind."
As of now, Sherry is looking at possibly taking other visits and it is unknown how interested the Wildcats are.
* 6-foot-4, 250-pound Honolulu (Hawaii) Kamehameh defensive end Lake Koa-Ka'ai http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=115413 took his visit to Arizona this past weekend and enjoyed it.
"My trip to Arizona went pretty well, I enjoyed it," Koa-Ka'ai tells BuffStampde.com. "They are doing a bunch of renovations on their stadium and their dorms so that is pretty good.
“The climate out there is different than most places. It is hot in the summer but in the winter time, it is pretty nice out there."
Koa-Kai was awaiting Arizona’s decision to hire a defensive line coach, although the rest of the coaching staff picked up the slack.
"Arizona will hopefully have a new defensive line coach soon," Koa-Ka'ai said. "[Defensive ends] coach Jeff Hammerschmidt and [co-defensive coordinator and linebackers] coach Tim Kish have kind of taken over recruiting me from Arizona's staff."
As of now, Koa-Ka’ai has no favorite, but Colorado will likely be a major factor in his decision.
* Corona (Calif.) defensive end DeVante Wilson http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=97772 committed to USC on Wednesday as expected.
"It was hard to call the coaches at Arizona and Nebraska, but they respect my decision,” Wilson tells USCFootball.com. “I built a great relationship with those schools, and I hate that I had to let those coaches down. Coach Bo Pelini has a great defensive mind and Nebraska always sends out defensive linemen to the NFL. I felt good out there on my trip too.
"I also felt real comfortable with coach [Tim] Kish and coach [Jeff] Hammerschmidt from Arizona. There was a great opportunity for me to come in and play early there.”
In the end, the pressure to stay home picked up late in the recruiting process and it turned out to be too much for the UA to overcome, despite being in good shape early on.
"I felt really good at USC,” Wilson said. “The main factor for me was comfort, and I felt comfortable at USC. It's close to home and my family can be at a lot of my games. I feel like I have a good chance to come in and play early also.”
* 6-foot-2, 269-poind San Diego Point Loma defensive tackle Christian Heyward http://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Christian-Heyward-104599 has Arizona in his top four, along with USC, Oregon, and UCLA.
Heyward has already visited Arizona and will visit UCLA and Oregon in January with a decision planned close to Signing Day.
Recently Mike Stoops was in Heyward’s home for a visit, but numerous other schools are making stops. At this point, it is difficult to gauge where Heyward is leaning, as he has been very secretive about that aspect of his recruitment.
* Six-foot-2, 218-pound Lawton (Okla.) linebacker and Arizona commit Jabral Johnson http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=102641 recently took his official visit to Arizona and enjoyed his time.
Johnson is the type of player that can come in and contribute right away, especially with the lack of depth at linebacker.
"They basically told me that I will come and probably play special teams and learn from Paul Vassallo," Johnson said. "I will learn from him and that is going to be his senior year and once he graduates hopefully I will be able to step in and play."
In terms of the actual visit, Johnson says that there were a few aspects that really stood out.
"There were a lot of things that I did not know," he said. "The tradition of the school and all of the stuff they do before a game and all that was new.
"The Zona Zoo probably impressed me the most. It was crazy and I have been to a lot of games, but to see a student section that big was crazy."
