The big week is finally here. This Wednesday marks the biggest day of the year in college football recruiting, but when it comes to this time of year for Arizona there is a lot more going on along with it. There is plenty to discuss about the Wildcats, including football recruiting, so lets jump right into it.
Football
Spring practice is set to begin for the Wildcats in just a a few weeks with Feb. 18 marked down as the first day. Until then it will be about continuing the offseason program and getting ready for the month of practices. At that time the picture on how Arizona could potentially look in the 2017 season will come more into focus.
* For now we will continue our look at Arizona’s 2016 season by position group along with looking ahead to the upcoming one and how things could shape up for the Wildcats. Today our series takes us to a unit that will always be under the microscope and that is the cornerbacks group. Going into last season, like the rest of the defense, there were lots of changes for the cornerback unit and this year will be no different. Out will go Donté Williams now on the staff at Nebraska and in will come defensive coordinator Marcel Yates making his move back to his natural coaching position in the secondary after spending 2016 coaching linebackers.
- 2016 overview: Williams certainly had a tough task in what proved to be his lone season at UA. Arizona’s cornerback unit came into the season at a disadvantage. The talent level just wasn’t what it needed to be and that meant relying on players who didn’t quite have a ton of experience. Things eventually sorted themselves out and there was progress, but the group as a whole struggled in certain situations. The unit was much better off playing zone coverage than it was in press man, but even then it was at times ineffective.
Williams and UA’s group was caught in a tough spot. It didn’t quite have the talent to play press coverage but it needed to at times and that meant being vulnerable. There were bright spots, however.
Dane Cruikshank redshirted his first season in Tucson and it was clear to those who watched him practice then that he just was not ready. He was much improved over the course of the spring and in fall camp he looked even better. Eventually he earned the starting job across from Davonte’ Neal and proved to be the top cornerback on the roster. There was progress from his first game of action until his last, but a lot of the same mistakes cropped up from time to time late in the year.
The other standout of the group was Jace Whittaker who had to work through some issues at times but proved to be effective as well as a starter. His ability to break up passes helped the Wildcats. He struggled at times when asked to play in man coverage but when he was allowed to play off the receiver he was one of the best if not the best corner to come up and make a play last season. Neal struggled quite a bit in his final season at UA and eventually lost his starting job. The one-time receiver just never quite made the transition to defense like he or the staff hoped and while he had his strong moments it was easier to pick him apart. He didn’t quite have the technique side down despite having the speed to keep up with receivers on the outside.
Malcom Holland came on at the end of the year and was able to contribute more, but overall Arizona didn’t have a deep group or many options to go to in the 2016 season.
- 2017 outlook: Moving on to the new season Yates will continue to have his work cut out for him, but the hope is with him moving back to his natural position and a spot he has coached before it will lead to better results. Because Arizona doesn’t have a ton of talent coming like it once thought it would with Greg Johnson and potentially Thomas Graham that means the progress will have to come from the development already on the roster in 2017.
The good news is there is talent there it just has to be honed in and developed over the course of the next several months and that is the challenge Yates will face beginning in the next couple weeks in spring ball. Cruikshank and Whittaker will head into the spring as the two starters, but even those jobs are completely locked down yet.
Arizona currently lists 10 cornerbacks on its current roster heading into spring ball and while it will get some help this summer the group will not be dramatically different come August camp. That doesn’t mean there won’t be new faces to keep an eye on as potential contributors in 2017, though.
Two players to continue to watch both ended up taking redshirt seasons in 2016. Lorenzo Burns played for the first part of the season but an injury forced him out of action and into a redshirt year. He has the talent to compete for a starting job, but he will have to be fully healthy before doing so. Burns made an impression early in camp last year and looked like for a time that he was on the fast track to starting as a freshman. He will have every chance to get back to that and at the very least things are lining up for him to be a contributor in 2017.
A good offseason could mean a chance to start as well. Antonio Parks is a bit older after greyshirting and then redshirting last season, and that could be something that ends up helping him out. He is a worker and while he was more on the back burner in 2016 the redshirt is now off and he will have his chance to make some noise. And while he hasn’t seen the field in quite a long time in a big role redshirt sophomore Sammy Morrison was good enough to start as a freshman a long time ago. If he can stay healthy he will have a shot with the limited depth the team has at the position.
Overall it is an interesting position for UA and a lot will depend on the development from now until August. It has a chance to be much improved from 2016 or it has a chance to look very similar, but the finished product is still months away from being debuted.
Football recruiting
It’s that time of the year. This week it all comes to an end and then starts over again. National Signing Day will take place Wednesday and while that doesn’t mark the end complete end of the 2017 recruiting cycle there will be a lot of answers as Rich Rodriguez finally gets to see just who was for real and who wasn’t in their commitments. There has been plenty of late turmoil for the Wildcats with a number of flips once again, but UA has also done a solid job of finding replacements for those recruits and even being proactive in adding pieces that could help it sustain any more losses.
Wednesday will be important but there are still some loose ends to have cleaned up for the ‘Cats.
* To get you ready for the big week we will go through each position group and discuss where things stand and who, if any, are the remaining important targets for the positions.
- Quarterbacks: As of now Arizona of course has Rhett Rodriguez ready to sign and there are no issues there. He is a much better quarterback prospect than people will generally give him credit for and he impressed us when we watched him earlier this season. He will come in knowing the offense better than anybody ever has under his dad, but he is also not a necessarily the caliber of quarterback UA wanted to add alone in this class. Braxton Burmeister’s late flip to Oregon put UA in a tough spot. Finding an equal replacement with a month until Signing Day was never going to be a reality, and while UA targeted Nick Tronti that didn’t end up working out. Adding a player for the sake of doing so and filling a spot is not going to happen but the Wildcats have explored other options. Some have been more quiet than others and that is one reason it wouldn’t be shocking to see a name pop up on Signing Day that the public has yet to hear about just yet. Having said that UA has had interest in Mission Viejo standout Matt McDonald and recent UCF decommit Marvin Washington has also received interest from the ‘Cats. He will make his decision Monday night coming off a visit to Connecticut. It is something to watch, but without a visit a commitment to UA seems unlikely.
So it could be a secret or it could just be scrapped altogether for Arizona at the quarterback position. It does have Jamarye Joiner already committed for 2018, which means little at this stage in reality, and there are going to be some top targets UA could be potentially in play for in addition to him as well in the class. It would make things a bit dangerous in the 2017 season should injuries take place again, but it wouldn’t be shocking at this stage to see UA just move on from this class and work to add two pieces at the quarterback spot in 2018.
Football
Spring practice is set to begin for the Wildcats in just a a few weeks with Feb. 18 marked down as the first day. Until then it will be about continuing the offseason program and getting ready for the month of practices. At that time the picture on how Arizona could potentially look in the 2017 season will come more into focus.
* For now we will continue our look at Arizona’s 2016 season by position group along with looking ahead to the upcoming one and how things could shape up for the Wildcats. Today our series takes us to a unit that will always be under the microscope and that is the cornerbacks group. Going into last season, like the rest of the defense, there were lots of changes for the cornerback unit and this year will be no different. Out will go Donté Williams now on the staff at Nebraska and in will come defensive coordinator Marcel Yates making his move back to his natural coaching position in the secondary after spending 2016 coaching linebackers.
- 2016 overview: Williams certainly had a tough task in what proved to be his lone season at UA. Arizona’s cornerback unit came into the season at a disadvantage. The talent level just wasn’t what it needed to be and that meant relying on players who didn’t quite have a ton of experience. Things eventually sorted themselves out and there was progress, but the group as a whole struggled in certain situations. The unit was much better off playing zone coverage than it was in press man, but even then it was at times ineffective.
Williams and UA’s group was caught in a tough spot. It didn’t quite have the talent to play press coverage but it needed to at times and that meant being vulnerable. There were bright spots, however.
Dane Cruikshank redshirted his first season in Tucson and it was clear to those who watched him practice then that he just was not ready. He was much improved over the course of the spring and in fall camp he looked even better. Eventually he earned the starting job across from Davonte’ Neal and proved to be the top cornerback on the roster. There was progress from his first game of action until his last, but a lot of the same mistakes cropped up from time to time late in the year.
The other standout of the group was Jace Whittaker who had to work through some issues at times but proved to be effective as well as a starter. His ability to break up passes helped the Wildcats. He struggled at times when asked to play in man coverage but when he was allowed to play off the receiver he was one of the best if not the best corner to come up and make a play last season. Neal struggled quite a bit in his final season at UA and eventually lost his starting job. The one-time receiver just never quite made the transition to defense like he or the staff hoped and while he had his strong moments it was easier to pick him apart. He didn’t quite have the technique side down despite having the speed to keep up with receivers on the outside.
Malcom Holland came on at the end of the year and was able to contribute more, but overall Arizona didn’t have a deep group or many options to go to in the 2016 season.
- 2017 outlook: Moving on to the new season Yates will continue to have his work cut out for him, but the hope is with him moving back to his natural position and a spot he has coached before it will lead to better results. Because Arizona doesn’t have a ton of talent coming like it once thought it would with Greg Johnson and potentially Thomas Graham that means the progress will have to come from the development already on the roster in 2017.
The good news is there is talent there it just has to be honed in and developed over the course of the next several months and that is the challenge Yates will face beginning in the next couple weeks in spring ball. Cruikshank and Whittaker will head into the spring as the two starters, but even those jobs are completely locked down yet.
Arizona currently lists 10 cornerbacks on its current roster heading into spring ball and while it will get some help this summer the group will not be dramatically different come August camp. That doesn’t mean there won’t be new faces to keep an eye on as potential contributors in 2017, though.
Two players to continue to watch both ended up taking redshirt seasons in 2016. Lorenzo Burns played for the first part of the season but an injury forced him out of action and into a redshirt year. He has the talent to compete for a starting job, but he will have to be fully healthy before doing so. Burns made an impression early in camp last year and looked like for a time that he was on the fast track to starting as a freshman. He will have every chance to get back to that and at the very least things are lining up for him to be a contributor in 2017.
A good offseason could mean a chance to start as well. Antonio Parks is a bit older after greyshirting and then redshirting last season, and that could be something that ends up helping him out. He is a worker and while he was more on the back burner in 2016 the redshirt is now off and he will have his chance to make some noise. And while he hasn’t seen the field in quite a long time in a big role redshirt sophomore Sammy Morrison was good enough to start as a freshman a long time ago. If he can stay healthy he will have a shot with the limited depth the team has at the position.
Overall it is an interesting position for UA and a lot will depend on the development from now until August. It has a chance to be much improved from 2016 or it has a chance to look very similar, but the finished product is still months away from being debuted.
Football recruiting
It’s that time of the year. This week it all comes to an end and then starts over again. National Signing Day will take place Wednesday and while that doesn’t mark the end complete end of the 2017 recruiting cycle there will be a lot of answers as Rich Rodriguez finally gets to see just who was for real and who wasn’t in their commitments. There has been plenty of late turmoil for the Wildcats with a number of flips once again, but UA has also done a solid job of finding replacements for those recruits and even being proactive in adding pieces that could help it sustain any more losses.
Wednesday will be important but there are still some loose ends to have cleaned up for the ‘Cats.
* To get you ready for the big week we will go through each position group and discuss where things stand and who, if any, are the remaining important targets for the positions.
- Quarterbacks: As of now Arizona of course has Rhett Rodriguez ready to sign and there are no issues there. He is a much better quarterback prospect than people will generally give him credit for and he impressed us when we watched him earlier this season. He will come in knowing the offense better than anybody ever has under his dad, but he is also not a necessarily the caliber of quarterback UA wanted to add alone in this class. Braxton Burmeister’s late flip to Oregon put UA in a tough spot. Finding an equal replacement with a month until Signing Day was never going to be a reality, and while UA targeted Nick Tronti that didn’t end up working out. Adding a player for the sake of doing so and filling a spot is not going to happen but the Wildcats have explored other options. Some have been more quiet than others and that is one reason it wouldn’t be shocking to see a name pop up on Signing Day that the public has yet to hear about just yet. Having said that UA has had interest in Mission Viejo standout Matt McDonald and recent UCF decommit Marvin Washington has also received interest from the ‘Cats. He will make his decision Monday night coming off a visit to Connecticut. It is something to watch, but without a visit a commitment to UA seems unlikely.
So it could be a secret or it could just be scrapped altogether for Arizona at the quarterback position. It does have Jamarye Joiner already committed for 2018, which means little at this stage in reality, and there are going to be some top targets UA could be potentially in play for in addition to him as well in the class. It would make things a bit dangerous in the 2017 season should injuries take place again, but it wouldn’t be shocking at this stage to see UA just move on from this class and work to add two pieces at the quarterback spot in 2018.
