Saturday night will be the first time the media is allowed to watch a full practice, but Friday night was the first time the team put the pads on and was able to hit and go full speed in camp so far. Rich Rodriguez alluded to that there were some things to like and other things to not like, but overall he was happy with how things went in a win for the offense. Here is a quick rundown of what was talked about after Friday night's practice.
* Only one quarterback was able to wear the red jersey Friday night and that was Brandon Dawkins. All the other signal callers were in regular white and able to be hit. Rodriguez said it came down to who was able to take care of the ball the best and the UA head coach felt that all the others aside from the projected starter Dawkins were struggling with it so they needed to take some contact. He said if Dawkins starts to not take care of the ball like he expects from his quarterbacks then he might move out of the red jersey as well. He added that on the flip side if a couple of the others do a better job of it moving forward they will go into the red jerseys. Overall it sounded like it was a better night for the quarterbacks but they are still not where Rodriguez would like as a group.
"It was a pretty competitive day," Rodriguez said. "I was really pleased the offense came out on top at the end there. I think we got a little bit tired especially on defense when the offense was going uptempo a little bit it was probably sloppy. And watching the film I'll probably verify that. You know the guys are working hard and paying attention and it's a fun group to coach. I get frustrated on some of the stuff that's not necessarily football scheme stuff it's more managing stuff when we tackle and when we don't tackle and how we practice.
"You know it seems like I'm always yelling at the beginning of camp on how you're supposed to practice. We'll eventually get that right."
It was Donovan Tate's first time taking contact in a long time and Rodriguez said he's drinking water through a fire hose right now, but he likes the promise the former baseball player has shown so far in camp and feels he has a shot to compete for the job.
"I don't know if he ever ran into a catcher or tried to break up a double play, but he had about six or seven of those today," Rodriguez said. "But I'm excited about him too. He's a grown man and we coach him like a grown man. He's got some skills and think he can definitely compete for the job."
* As we mentioned in another thread it was the first time for new Arizona Director of Player Development Chuck Cecil to speak with the media and he certainly said plenty of the right things. Again, his job is going to be different in many ways than what Matt Dudek did and will be much more focused on the current team than recruiting and even Dudek was not so much focused on recruiting over the last year. Even in that capacity there are still going to be plenty of limitations on what Cecil can do and he is not supposed to be talking football with the players or having coaching input. He can help the coaches, however, and that is where he has started to make his impact giving the staff some pointers on what to look at and improve with the current team.
If you missed it here is the video with Cecil from last night:
* As Arizona adjusts to the new recruiting rules in place and an earlier signing period than normal, Rodriguez said he is treating the December period as the actual signing period instead of waiting until February to do everything and make a push. He does believe there will still be plenty of recruits available after December and as I've mentioned I don't think a good majority of recruits will sign in December but that is still Arizona's plan. He said because of that fall recruiting will be a bit more intense than it usually is but he is still in favor of having no signing period at all.
"You do have to have a sense of urgency," he said. "There'll be a lot of quality players still available after December and not all of them will sign then, but you've gotta be aggressive in the fall recruiting and more aggressive than normal probably."
* Something that had been alluded to a bit earlier in camp and something we had been hearing about just a bit was confirmed Friday night when Rodriguez was asked about freshman receiver Drew Dixon. There are some eligibility issues with the Tucson-Sabino standout and it has meant missing some time in camp already. If you remember a couple days ago Rodriguez said that Brian Casteel is ahead of Dixon when it comes to getting on the field and him missing time and having some issues is a reason why in addition to learning the scheme.
"He's got all the measureables," Rodriguez said. "He's tall, he's physical. He's a good athlete. He's got good ball skills he's just figuring out where to line up. We've got him facing forward now. Then we've got him coming off the ball and next thing you know is where to go and how deep to run the routes and all that stuff. Drew is going to be a good player.
"We're still working through some clearinghouse things because he missed a little bit because we got an appeal in. With what little bit we've seen of him we're very excited about Drew Dixon."
* I got a chance to speak with Arizona offensive lineman Michael Eletise last night and it's clear he is much more comfortable now than he was a year ago. He's gotta be one of the happiest guys on the team and throughout our whole interview he didn't stop smiling once. As I mentioned this week I thought he looked a little bit out of shape and I was definitely on the mark. He said when he got a chance to go home over the summer he added some bad weight and he's working to get back down so he can contribute this season. He said Christian Boettcher is actually one of his best friends on the team so the fact that they are competing for the same left guard spot is fun for them. He said it has helped them each get better and it's not exactly a heated competition since they are buddies.
"He's an amazing left guard, and he teaches me a lot," Eletise said of the competition. "We sit right next to each other in the film room, so he'll be telling me 'you're steps are a little off' and then I'll say something to him. It's a back-and-forth relationship and we're both learning from each other."
When it comes to his own progress he said that Hawaiian food gets him and he knows he has to work himself into better shape to be able to play this season.
"My inside zone runs I've gotten better at and my wide runs," he said about what has improved for him going into this season. "But I think the biggest thing for me even from the spring is getting in shape. I have to give it to my strength coaches because they've really helped me and pushed me to get back in shape – even coach M (Jim Michalczik) over here. He pushed me, because I'll go home and the food is so great that I'll just be eating and I'll come back like 330-something and I'm like, 'dang, I got work to do.'"
Eletise said right now he's about 310 and he said when he got back from Hawaii he was about 325 or 330 and it got him in some "trouble." It will be interesting to see how much he can keep the weight off the rest of camp and give himself the best shot to get on the field.
* Only one quarterback was able to wear the red jersey Friday night and that was Brandon Dawkins. All the other signal callers were in regular white and able to be hit. Rodriguez said it came down to who was able to take care of the ball the best and the UA head coach felt that all the others aside from the projected starter Dawkins were struggling with it so they needed to take some contact. He said if Dawkins starts to not take care of the ball like he expects from his quarterbacks then he might move out of the red jersey as well. He added that on the flip side if a couple of the others do a better job of it moving forward they will go into the red jerseys. Overall it sounded like it was a better night for the quarterbacks but they are still not where Rodriguez would like as a group.
"It was a pretty competitive day," Rodriguez said. "I was really pleased the offense came out on top at the end there. I think we got a little bit tired especially on defense when the offense was going uptempo a little bit it was probably sloppy. And watching the film I'll probably verify that. You know the guys are working hard and paying attention and it's a fun group to coach. I get frustrated on some of the stuff that's not necessarily football scheme stuff it's more managing stuff when we tackle and when we don't tackle and how we practice.
"You know it seems like I'm always yelling at the beginning of camp on how you're supposed to practice. We'll eventually get that right."
It was Donovan Tate's first time taking contact in a long time and Rodriguez said he's drinking water through a fire hose right now, but he likes the promise the former baseball player has shown so far in camp and feels he has a shot to compete for the job.
"I don't know if he ever ran into a catcher or tried to break up a double play, but he had about six or seven of those today," Rodriguez said. "But I'm excited about him too. He's a grown man and we coach him like a grown man. He's got some skills and think he can definitely compete for the job."
* As we mentioned in another thread it was the first time for new Arizona Director of Player Development Chuck Cecil to speak with the media and he certainly said plenty of the right things. Again, his job is going to be different in many ways than what Matt Dudek did and will be much more focused on the current team than recruiting and even Dudek was not so much focused on recruiting over the last year. Even in that capacity there are still going to be plenty of limitations on what Cecil can do and he is not supposed to be talking football with the players or having coaching input. He can help the coaches, however, and that is where he has started to make his impact giving the staff some pointers on what to look at and improve with the current team.
If you missed it here is the video with Cecil from last night:
* As Arizona adjusts to the new recruiting rules in place and an earlier signing period than normal, Rodriguez said he is treating the December period as the actual signing period instead of waiting until February to do everything and make a push. He does believe there will still be plenty of recruits available after December and as I've mentioned I don't think a good majority of recruits will sign in December but that is still Arizona's plan. He said because of that fall recruiting will be a bit more intense than it usually is but he is still in favor of having no signing period at all.
"You do have to have a sense of urgency," he said. "There'll be a lot of quality players still available after December and not all of them will sign then, but you've gotta be aggressive in the fall recruiting and more aggressive than normal probably."
* Something that had been alluded to a bit earlier in camp and something we had been hearing about just a bit was confirmed Friday night when Rodriguez was asked about freshman receiver Drew Dixon. There are some eligibility issues with the Tucson-Sabino standout and it has meant missing some time in camp already. If you remember a couple days ago Rodriguez said that Brian Casteel is ahead of Dixon when it comes to getting on the field and him missing time and having some issues is a reason why in addition to learning the scheme.
"He's got all the measureables," Rodriguez said. "He's tall, he's physical. He's a good athlete. He's got good ball skills he's just figuring out where to line up. We've got him facing forward now. Then we've got him coming off the ball and next thing you know is where to go and how deep to run the routes and all that stuff. Drew is going to be a good player.
"We're still working through some clearinghouse things because he missed a little bit because we got an appeal in. With what little bit we've seen of him we're very excited about Drew Dixon."
* I got a chance to speak with Arizona offensive lineman Michael Eletise last night and it's clear he is much more comfortable now than he was a year ago. He's gotta be one of the happiest guys on the team and throughout our whole interview he didn't stop smiling once. As I mentioned this week I thought he looked a little bit out of shape and I was definitely on the mark. He said when he got a chance to go home over the summer he added some bad weight and he's working to get back down so he can contribute this season. He said Christian Boettcher is actually one of his best friends on the team so the fact that they are competing for the same left guard spot is fun for them. He said it has helped them each get better and it's not exactly a heated competition since they are buddies.
"He's an amazing left guard, and he teaches me a lot," Eletise said of the competition. "We sit right next to each other in the film room, so he'll be telling me 'you're steps are a little off' and then I'll say something to him. It's a back-and-forth relationship and we're both learning from each other."
When it comes to his own progress he said that Hawaiian food gets him and he knows he has to work himself into better shape to be able to play this season.
"My inside zone runs I've gotten better at and my wide runs," he said about what has improved for him going into this season. "But I think the biggest thing for me even from the spring is getting in shape. I have to give it to my strength coaches because they've really helped me and pushed me to get back in shape – even coach M (Jim Michalczik) over here. He pushed me, because I'll go home and the food is so great that I'll just be eating and I'll come back like 330-something and I'm like, 'dang, I got work to do.'"
Eletise said right now he's about 310 and he said when he got back from Hawaii he was about 325 or 330 and it got him in some "trouble." It will be interesting to see how much he can keep the weight off the rest of camp and give himself the best shot to get on the field.
