It’s been a while since we have taken a dive into the War Room, but we’re back and ready to take a look ahead to the rest of what should continue to be a busy month. Here’s the latest that you need to know heading into the second half of April. We’ll begin with the football side of things now that spring ball has officially wrapped up and move into basketball in the midst of an important several days for the program.
Football
It is now a few days removed from the end of spring practice as Kevin Sumlin’s team made it through its 15-practice spring ball schedule culminating in Saturday’s spring game that was won by the defense 87-30. There were some injured players that didn’t get their chance to see the field in front of the crowd at Arizona Stadium and there were others who Sumlin simply didn’t want to see injured and only played for a short time. In the end, however, we were able to get our best glimpse at the team heading into the rest of the offseason and while there will be others who join the team this summer there are some good indications already of what some of UA’s strengths and weaknesses will be.
* As we now start to take a look at putting a bow on the second spring under Sumlin we want to first break down what we saw Saturday evening as the Wildcats squared off with each other in the spring game. So, we will dissect who we thought stood out by position and give you our take on those groups.
- Quarterbacks: Arizona used all of its quarterbacks Saturday to varying degrees. Jamarye Joiner had the most amount of throws on the day with Khalil Tate and Kevin Doyle each having passing touchdowns. Grant Gunnell led a touchdown drive that ended with a running play, and overall the Wildcats signal callers had their highs and lows. It was an average day for the quarterbacks with no real separation among the group. Tate looked the most comfortable out of anyone, but he nearly had his touchdown pass intercepted. It mostly reflected what we saw from the entire group for most of the spring and for now that means Tate at the top of the list and several others who will battle it out to be his backup.
- Running backs: Offensively the running back unit was probably the most successful and that is to be expected coming off last season. JJ Taylor was only on the field for a short time and had just a couple runs while Nathan Tilford had the most carries and statistically had the best day out of any of the other backs. Walk-on running back Nazar Bombata had a touchdown run and looked comfortable continuing a strong performance throughout the spring. Gary Brightwell was also impressive and looked to be a lot more comfortable than in last season. The running back unit has versatility and will still lean heavily on Taylor this year.
- Receivers: It was an interesting day for the receivers. Some plays went well and others just weren’t there. The group had some trouble getting open at times and there were some miscommunications that led to a couple of the interceptions thrown. Still, there was production from the group with several players getting the chance to make catches led by Devuaghn Cooper who had his big connection with Tate that went for 83 yards with a lot of that coming on the ground from Cooper. Tre Adams was another one who had a strong day as he had a touchdown catch that went for 49 yards. Everyone who Arizona would want to see something from performed Saturday with a mix of players getting their opportunity. Overall it wasn’t a spectacular day from the group, but some of the key players made big plays and everybody was able to get in on the action.
- Tight ends: The tight end unit was thinned out in the spring when Bryce Wolma went down with his elbow injury. However, Zach Williams and Jake Peters have held things down in the meantime and both were solid during Saturday’s spring game. Williams had a few catches with some nice yards after the catch as well while Peters was able to be found a couple times for catches a well. We’ll see how much of that carries over to camp in August, but it was good for the tight ends to get more involved in the passing game Saturday.
- Offensive line: Arizona’s offensive line looked like a group that was ready to see some time off. For starters, the group is a bit banged up and only got more banged up Saturday when Edgar Burrola went down with an injury in the early going of the spring game. That cut it down to just eight players for UA to use up front. The offensive line had all kinds of issues guarding Jalen Harris and overall gave up quite a lot of pressure to the defensive line and linebackers. It did do a good job of opening up some holes in the running game, but that is expected since it is a strong suit of the unit. No doubt UA will have to improve by the time the season starts, but to be fair there were a few combinations on the field that had not played together previously. Getting healthy is the first part for UA and until that happens it will be difficult to truly judge just how good the group can be.
- Defensive line: One of the highlight spots on defense was the defensive line led by Jalen Harris who is listed as a linebacker but is considered part of the defensive line unit as of this point. He practices with that group and has been playing with his hand in the ground a lot more this offseason and he accounted for a lot of the production from the defensive front Saturday. He was able to get sacks (although quarterbacks weren’t allowed to be tackled) plus players like Kylan Wilborn, Myles Tapusoa, Finton Connolly and Justin Belknap were able to get in the backfield at different times as well. Tapusoa was the surprise of the day up front as he played despite only practicing twice in the spring. It was a good sign for his future and when he was on the field he gave the team a different look with the ability to take up blockers because of his size. It was a productive day for the Iona Uiagalelei’s group and a much-needed confidence boost heading into the rest of the spring and summer.
- Linebackers: Arizona’s main linebackers didn’t stay in the game for long but the entire group made its presence felt. The one thing that stood out is that UA has a legitimate group there now with Day Day Coleman looking the part at linebacker during his time on the field. Colin Schooler and Tony Fields II were all over the field during their time in the game and made some solid stops. Anthony Pandy was one of the best performers of the day as he was making plays all over the field as well. As a whole UA’s linebacker unit lived up to what we had been hearing and seeing during the rest of the spring.
- Safeties: Like the other defensive groups, Arizona’s safety unit had a solid day as well with several pass breakups throughout the game. Scottie Young Jr. missed a great opportunity for an early interception on the touchdown pass from Tate to Cooper, but overall the group had a strong performance with Christian Young having one of the highlight plays as he stripped Drew Dixon on a pass play forcing a fumble and giving the defense one of its takeaways on the day. UA’s safety group is deep once again and there were certainly some bright spots with the unit.
- Cornerbacks: It’s hard to ignore what McKenzie Barnes did coming up with two interceptions on the day to lead the cornerback unit that made several impressive plays throughout the day. Troy Young made some solid plays as well as he spent a decent amount of time on the field. Lorenzo Burns and Jace Whittaker did a good job of locking up the UA receivers during their time on the field, but the unit was still missing its most talked-about player Christian Roland-Wallace who missed the game because of an injured hamstring. It certainly feels like the group is in a better spot right now than this time a year ago with some depth at the cornerback spots.
Special teams: It was a good day for the special teams as far as kicking goes as Lucas Havrisik made three field goals overall with his longest coming from 55 yards out. He did miss one kick, but his three makes were certainly impressive kicks. UA had some issues with the punt return as Brian Casteel had a brain cramp and downed a punt inside the 1-yard line. Stanley Berryhill III is likely to be Arizona’s punt returner when all is said and done, so that should smooth things out a bit more. Matt Aragon served as the punter and with the plays not being live it made it more difficult to truly get a gauge on his punts, but from everything we have heard there will be an open competition in training camp and Kyle Ostendorp should have every opportunity to earn that job as a freshman.
Overall, the Wildcats spring game wasn’t perfect and certainly didn’t feel like a look at a complete team. So, it will be hard to judge Arizona based on just what took place Saturday. There were some clear bright spots with players like Harris and Barnes, there were also many of the same questions that were there at the beginning of the spring. Many of those answers will not come until the team gets back together in August for camp when it will begin preparations for the season.
Football
It is now a few days removed from the end of spring practice as Kevin Sumlin’s team made it through its 15-practice spring ball schedule culminating in Saturday’s spring game that was won by the defense 87-30. There were some injured players that didn’t get their chance to see the field in front of the crowd at Arizona Stadium and there were others who Sumlin simply didn’t want to see injured and only played for a short time. In the end, however, we were able to get our best glimpse at the team heading into the rest of the offseason and while there will be others who join the team this summer there are some good indications already of what some of UA’s strengths and weaknesses will be.
* As we now start to take a look at putting a bow on the second spring under Sumlin we want to first break down what we saw Saturday evening as the Wildcats squared off with each other in the spring game. So, we will dissect who we thought stood out by position and give you our take on those groups.
- Quarterbacks: Arizona used all of its quarterbacks Saturday to varying degrees. Jamarye Joiner had the most amount of throws on the day with Khalil Tate and Kevin Doyle each having passing touchdowns. Grant Gunnell led a touchdown drive that ended with a running play, and overall the Wildcats signal callers had their highs and lows. It was an average day for the quarterbacks with no real separation among the group. Tate looked the most comfortable out of anyone, but he nearly had his touchdown pass intercepted. It mostly reflected what we saw from the entire group for most of the spring and for now that means Tate at the top of the list and several others who will battle it out to be his backup.
- Running backs: Offensively the running back unit was probably the most successful and that is to be expected coming off last season. JJ Taylor was only on the field for a short time and had just a couple runs while Nathan Tilford had the most carries and statistically had the best day out of any of the other backs. Walk-on running back Nazar Bombata had a touchdown run and looked comfortable continuing a strong performance throughout the spring. Gary Brightwell was also impressive and looked to be a lot more comfortable than in last season. The running back unit has versatility and will still lean heavily on Taylor this year.
- Receivers: It was an interesting day for the receivers. Some plays went well and others just weren’t there. The group had some trouble getting open at times and there were some miscommunications that led to a couple of the interceptions thrown. Still, there was production from the group with several players getting the chance to make catches led by Devuaghn Cooper who had his big connection with Tate that went for 83 yards with a lot of that coming on the ground from Cooper. Tre Adams was another one who had a strong day as he had a touchdown catch that went for 49 yards. Everyone who Arizona would want to see something from performed Saturday with a mix of players getting their opportunity. Overall it wasn’t a spectacular day from the group, but some of the key players made big plays and everybody was able to get in on the action.
- Tight ends: The tight end unit was thinned out in the spring when Bryce Wolma went down with his elbow injury. However, Zach Williams and Jake Peters have held things down in the meantime and both were solid during Saturday’s spring game. Williams had a few catches with some nice yards after the catch as well while Peters was able to be found a couple times for catches a well. We’ll see how much of that carries over to camp in August, but it was good for the tight ends to get more involved in the passing game Saturday.
- Offensive line: Arizona’s offensive line looked like a group that was ready to see some time off. For starters, the group is a bit banged up and only got more banged up Saturday when Edgar Burrola went down with an injury in the early going of the spring game. That cut it down to just eight players for UA to use up front. The offensive line had all kinds of issues guarding Jalen Harris and overall gave up quite a lot of pressure to the defensive line and linebackers. It did do a good job of opening up some holes in the running game, but that is expected since it is a strong suit of the unit. No doubt UA will have to improve by the time the season starts, but to be fair there were a few combinations on the field that had not played together previously. Getting healthy is the first part for UA and until that happens it will be difficult to truly judge just how good the group can be.
- Defensive line: One of the highlight spots on defense was the defensive line led by Jalen Harris who is listed as a linebacker but is considered part of the defensive line unit as of this point. He practices with that group and has been playing with his hand in the ground a lot more this offseason and he accounted for a lot of the production from the defensive front Saturday. He was able to get sacks (although quarterbacks weren’t allowed to be tackled) plus players like Kylan Wilborn, Myles Tapusoa, Finton Connolly and Justin Belknap were able to get in the backfield at different times as well. Tapusoa was the surprise of the day up front as he played despite only practicing twice in the spring. It was a good sign for his future and when he was on the field he gave the team a different look with the ability to take up blockers because of his size. It was a productive day for the Iona Uiagalelei’s group and a much-needed confidence boost heading into the rest of the spring and summer.
- Linebackers: Arizona’s main linebackers didn’t stay in the game for long but the entire group made its presence felt. The one thing that stood out is that UA has a legitimate group there now with Day Day Coleman looking the part at linebacker during his time on the field. Colin Schooler and Tony Fields II were all over the field during their time in the game and made some solid stops. Anthony Pandy was one of the best performers of the day as he was making plays all over the field as well. As a whole UA’s linebacker unit lived up to what we had been hearing and seeing during the rest of the spring.
- Safeties: Like the other defensive groups, Arizona’s safety unit had a solid day as well with several pass breakups throughout the game. Scottie Young Jr. missed a great opportunity for an early interception on the touchdown pass from Tate to Cooper, but overall the group had a strong performance with Christian Young having one of the highlight plays as he stripped Drew Dixon on a pass play forcing a fumble and giving the defense one of its takeaways on the day. UA’s safety group is deep once again and there were certainly some bright spots with the unit.
- Cornerbacks: It’s hard to ignore what McKenzie Barnes did coming up with two interceptions on the day to lead the cornerback unit that made several impressive plays throughout the day. Troy Young made some solid plays as well as he spent a decent amount of time on the field. Lorenzo Burns and Jace Whittaker did a good job of locking up the UA receivers during their time on the field, but the unit was still missing its most talked-about player Christian Roland-Wallace who missed the game because of an injured hamstring. It certainly feels like the group is in a better spot right now than this time a year ago with some depth at the cornerback spots.
Special teams: It was a good day for the special teams as far as kicking goes as Lucas Havrisik made three field goals overall with his longest coming from 55 yards out. He did miss one kick, but his three makes were certainly impressive kicks. UA had some issues with the punt return as Brian Casteel had a brain cramp and downed a punt inside the 1-yard line. Stanley Berryhill III is likely to be Arizona’s punt returner when all is said and done, so that should smooth things out a bit more. Matt Aragon served as the punter and with the plays not being live it made it more difficult to truly get a gauge on his punts, but from everything we have heard there will be an open competition in training camp and Kyle Ostendorp should have every opportunity to earn that job as a freshman.
Overall, the Wildcats spring game wasn’t perfect and certainly didn’t feel like a look at a complete team. So, it will be hard to judge Arizona based on just what took place Saturday. There were some clear bright spots with players like Harris and Barnes, there were also many of the same questions that were there at the beginning of the spring. Many of those answers will not come until the team gets back together in August for camp when it will begin preparations for the season.
