When Rich Rodriguez arrived there was not much for him to work with, and now that he has almost all his own guys in you are starting to see how things have shifted. It's no accident this camp is the best one yet under Rodriguez. When you look at the makeup of the roster this year the bottom end is a lot closer (talent wise) to the top guys then ever before. That is driving competition within practice and to me that is one of the big reasons things are running more smoothly too. Guys know if they don't put in the right amount of work there is a good chance there is someone ready to take their place. Look at a guy like Luca Bruno who has went from a tight end at the end of last season to a starter on the defensive line in about eight months.
I think on top of knowing they can win now plus the level of competition has made a good recipe for Arizona. Throw into that a roster filled with almost all guys this staff recruited and you have a good roster for this point in a building process.
In those first couple years there were some guys on the roster who should not have been at this level, but the cupboard was so bare Arizona had no choice. Those guys have been weeded out now and to me the gap between Arizona's "worst" players and its "best" is not as big as it used to be.
I think on top of knowing they can win now plus the level of competition has made a good recipe for Arizona. Throw into that a roster filled with almost all guys this staff recruited and you have a good roster for this point in a building process.
In those first couple years there were some guys on the roster who should not have been at this level, but the cupboard was so bare Arizona had no choice. Those guys have been weeded out now and to me the gap between Arizona's "worst" players and its "best" is not as big as it used to be.
