It’s getting warmer outside and that means things are about to get a little crazy in the sports world again. The first week of June brought plenty to discuss with Arizona as a new commitment made his way on board and as always during this time of year there is plenty on the hoops side to cover. We will not waste any more time as we’ll get right into this week’s GOAZCATS.com War Room.
Football
It was a busy weekend for Matt Dudek and the rest of the on-campus staff this weekend as the Wildcats hosted a camp for potential future Wildcats (something that still falls under his duties) and welcomed the first batch of new members to the campus for good (something else that falls under his duties). Arizona continues to have to balance the current roster and getting ready for the upcoming season with its renewed focus on recruiting as well. The summer is going to be a busy one for the ‘Cats and things are just getting going.
* Arizona welcomed in a good portion of its class this weekend with the first summer session beginning Monday. That means the newest Wildcats will be able to get going with the program and summer workouts and begin the next stage of their football careers.
Chacho Ulloa, Jacob Collacion, Michael Eletise, JJ Taylor, Bryson Cain, Jarrius Wallace, Justin Holt and Shawn Poindexter were the first group of the summer to make their way to Tucson. That group joins Kahi Neves, Khalil Tate and Isaiah Hayes as the first part of the class to make its way to Arizona to begin their careers. The rest of the class still has to graduate first before it can make the move. That will happen later in the summer when the second summer session begins. Each member of the group that came in this weekend really has a good shot to contribute early with the defensive players having the best shot since the staff is not quite pleased with the depth on that side of the ball heading into the summer.
* Injuries are not something Rich Rodriguez likes to talk about ever, but they happen and they impact the program. Arizona was hit hard with injuries last season and of course it is something that has been covered at length. The Wildcats again had to deal with either lingering injuries from the season or new injuries in some cases. While the program tries to keep things quiet on the injury front here is what we know about where things stand with some of the injured players and what to expect once camp rolls around later this summer.
- Not much has changed with Derrick Turituri and his status with that hip injury that kept him out last season. He didn’t participate in spring ball and I wouldn’t expect him to see him any time soon. There is a very real possibility he doesn’t see the field this season at all still.
- Trevor Wood has a better shot to see the field this year after dealing with another shoulder injury. When healthy he is Arizona’s best option to utilize the tight end position, but he just has never been able to get over that nagging shoulder injury he’s had since high school. It will be about making up for lost time with him, but he should be ready to go for the season. He was limited in the spring.
- As one of Arizona’s midyear greyshirt players Keenan Walker was able to get some work in during the spring with Arizona. He has all the skills and size to be a great player at Arizona, but it is going to take some time. The spring was a good time for the staff to make sure things were good to go with the knee and by all accounts everything held up. He is still a year away from being ready to go in our opinion, but when he’s fully healthy and has time in the system he has the chance to be a multi-year starter for the ‘Cats.
- It was a gruesome injury that could have ended up a lot worse than what it looked like. Still bad Brion Anduze’s knee injury on the first day of spring ball ended up keeping him out of practice and into a operating room as he had surgery on it. There is a good chance he misses the season and with some depth at the tight end spot the Wildcats are not going to rush him back. He has been making progress, however, but it will all depend on where he is at once the season gets going. Right now the safe bet is that he will still miss a decent amount of time but that is all TBD until the team gets the pads back on.
- After missing a lot of the end of the season and all of spring ball Freddie Tagaloa should finally be healthy once camp rolls around. He was extremely limited during the spring and spent his time off to the side getting healthy with his knee injury that held him back last year. At this point he should be just fine by the time the season comes around, but it will be about getting back up to speed and in condition again. At this point if he is ready to go it will be hard to keep him on the sideline and he would be right there for the left guard spot.
- Luca Bruno hurt his foot in the Territorial Cup last season and was out for the spring. He will be an important piece of the defensive line this season and at this point he should be good to go once things get moving again for camp.
- Anu Solomon and Nick Wilson were two others who had to deal with injuries during the 2015 season. At this point both were mostly limited for precautionary reasons more than anything during the spring. Wilson was essentially a full go for the spring working mostly with the second unit to give Orlando Bradford some more reps with the first team. From the sounds of it he will be a full go once the season and camp rolls around. Solomon was dealing with a hamstring injury during the spring but he should be all fine for the season.
Football recruiting
As the first week of June comes to a close that means it is camp season and the Wildcats absolutely be busy for the rest of this month and things started over the weekend with Arizona hosting its prospect camp on Sunday. That meant a number of recruits on campus plus the ‘Cats had the added bonus of adding a commitment as well.
* That is where we will start with Arizona earning its 10th pledge of the 2017 class Sunday afternoon when local athlete recruit Drew Dixon gave the hometown program his commitment. Dixon always said he planned on waiting until the summer to make his decision, but it always felt like it would come sooner than that. He is not necessarily the type of prospect that Arizona would have waited until the end of the process for, but he is a recruit the Wildcats can and will use. At this point he will come in as an athlete recruit with the opportunity to play receiver the most likely scenario for him.
He has bounced back between quarterback and receiver during his high school career, but receiver is where the staff likes him because of his size. The Tucson-Sabino standout had some other options and a strong senior season would have likely brought more, but his recruitment always had an Arizona feel to it and he ended up coming through with the pledge before the summer even arrived.
Dixon built a strong relationship with Calvin Magee and the rest of the UA staff with the campus being so close and being able to stay at home and continue playing college football made a difference. His commitment makes 10 for UA and moves the Wildcats up to No. 16 in the 2017 team rankings.
* Arizona already has a good idea of a number of prospects it wants to have on its National Signing Day list, but camps always provide an opportunity for other recruits to make their way into that category and Sunday the Wildcats were able to get some notable prospects out for a trip and participate in camp. USC commit Randal Grimes was one of the most notable as he made yet another trip out to Tucson with some of the other Las Vegas talent.
Grimes has been to UA multiple times already and the Wildcats would certainly love to add him at the receiver position. Even though he is plenty familiar with the campus and staff pulling him away from that USC pledge will not be easy.
Malik Hausman was another recruit who was on campus for the camp from Las Vegas and the Bishop Gorman cornerback picked up an offer from UA. It is his fifth offer overall and while there are others on the Bishop Gorman squad that have gained more attention Hausman was solid at a recent adidas seven-on-seven event in California we watched him at. He will likely only continue to see his recruitment pick up this summer and when the season arrives, so it is good for UA to jump in now.
Another Vegas prospect who was on campus was Edgar Burrola from Desert Pines. The 6-foot-6 offensive tackle recruit has some smaller offers, but Arizona came through with his biggest yet on Sunday. He is definitely someone who benefitted by camping with the Wildcats and now it will be a matter of where things go from here.
Football
It was a busy weekend for Matt Dudek and the rest of the on-campus staff this weekend as the Wildcats hosted a camp for potential future Wildcats (something that still falls under his duties) and welcomed the first batch of new members to the campus for good (something else that falls under his duties). Arizona continues to have to balance the current roster and getting ready for the upcoming season with its renewed focus on recruiting as well. The summer is going to be a busy one for the ‘Cats and things are just getting going.
* Arizona welcomed in a good portion of its class this weekend with the first summer session beginning Monday. That means the newest Wildcats will be able to get going with the program and summer workouts and begin the next stage of their football careers.
Chacho Ulloa, Jacob Collacion, Michael Eletise, JJ Taylor, Bryson Cain, Jarrius Wallace, Justin Holt and Shawn Poindexter were the first group of the summer to make their way to Tucson. That group joins Kahi Neves, Khalil Tate and Isaiah Hayes as the first part of the class to make its way to Arizona to begin their careers. The rest of the class still has to graduate first before it can make the move. That will happen later in the summer when the second summer session begins. Each member of the group that came in this weekend really has a good shot to contribute early with the defensive players having the best shot since the staff is not quite pleased with the depth on that side of the ball heading into the summer.
* Injuries are not something Rich Rodriguez likes to talk about ever, but they happen and they impact the program. Arizona was hit hard with injuries last season and of course it is something that has been covered at length. The Wildcats again had to deal with either lingering injuries from the season or new injuries in some cases. While the program tries to keep things quiet on the injury front here is what we know about where things stand with some of the injured players and what to expect once camp rolls around later this summer.
- Not much has changed with Derrick Turituri and his status with that hip injury that kept him out last season. He didn’t participate in spring ball and I wouldn’t expect him to see him any time soon. There is a very real possibility he doesn’t see the field this season at all still.
- Trevor Wood has a better shot to see the field this year after dealing with another shoulder injury. When healthy he is Arizona’s best option to utilize the tight end position, but he just has never been able to get over that nagging shoulder injury he’s had since high school. It will be about making up for lost time with him, but he should be ready to go for the season. He was limited in the spring.
- As one of Arizona’s midyear greyshirt players Keenan Walker was able to get some work in during the spring with Arizona. He has all the skills and size to be a great player at Arizona, but it is going to take some time. The spring was a good time for the staff to make sure things were good to go with the knee and by all accounts everything held up. He is still a year away from being ready to go in our opinion, but when he’s fully healthy and has time in the system he has the chance to be a multi-year starter for the ‘Cats.
- It was a gruesome injury that could have ended up a lot worse than what it looked like. Still bad Brion Anduze’s knee injury on the first day of spring ball ended up keeping him out of practice and into a operating room as he had surgery on it. There is a good chance he misses the season and with some depth at the tight end spot the Wildcats are not going to rush him back. He has been making progress, however, but it will all depend on where he is at once the season gets going. Right now the safe bet is that he will still miss a decent amount of time but that is all TBD until the team gets the pads back on.
- After missing a lot of the end of the season and all of spring ball Freddie Tagaloa should finally be healthy once camp rolls around. He was extremely limited during the spring and spent his time off to the side getting healthy with his knee injury that held him back last year. At this point he should be just fine by the time the season comes around, but it will be about getting back up to speed and in condition again. At this point if he is ready to go it will be hard to keep him on the sideline and he would be right there for the left guard spot.
- Luca Bruno hurt his foot in the Territorial Cup last season and was out for the spring. He will be an important piece of the defensive line this season and at this point he should be good to go once things get moving again for camp.
- Anu Solomon and Nick Wilson were two others who had to deal with injuries during the 2015 season. At this point both were mostly limited for precautionary reasons more than anything during the spring. Wilson was essentially a full go for the spring working mostly with the second unit to give Orlando Bradford some more reps with the first team. From the sounds of it he will be a full go once the season and camp rolls around. Solomon was dealing with a hamstring injury during the spring but he should be all fine for the season.
Football recruiting
As the first week of June comes to a close that means it is camp season and the Wildcats absolutely be busy for the rest of this month and things started over the weekend with Arizona hosting its prospect camp on Sunday. That meant a number of recruits on campus plus the ‘Cats had the added bonus of adding a commitment as well.
* That is where we will start with Arizona earning its 10th pledge of the 2017 class Sunday afternoon when local athlete recruit Drew Dixon gave the hometown program his commitment. Dixon always said he planned on waiting until the summer to make his decision, but it always felt like it would come sooner than that. He is not necessarily the type of prospect that Arizona would have waited until the end of the process for, but he is a recruit the Wildcats can and will use. At this point he will come in as an athlete recruit with the opportunity to play receiver the most likely scenario for him.
He has bounced back between quarterback and receiver during his high school career, but receiver is where the staff likes him because of his size. The Tucson-Sabino standout had some other options and a strong senior season would have likely brought more, but his recruitment always had an Arizona feel to it and he ended up coming through with the pledge before the summer even arrived.
Dixon built a strong relationship with Calvin Magee and the rest of the UA staff with the campus being so close and being able to stay at home and continue playing college football made a difference. His commitment makes 10 for UA and moves the Wildcats up to No. 16 in the 2017 team rankings.
* Arizona already has a good idea of a number of prospects it wants to have on its National Signing Day list, but camps always provide an opportunity for other recruits to make their way into that category and Sunday the Wildcats were able to get some notable prospects out for a trip and participate in camp. USC commit Randal Grimes was one of the most notable as he made yet another trip out to Tucson with some of the other Las Vegas talent.
Grimes has been to UA multiple times already and the Wildcats would certainly love to add him at the receiver position. Even though he is plenty familiar with the campus and staff pulling him away from that USC pledge will not be easy.
Malik Hausman was another recruit who was on campus for the camp from Las Vegas and the Bishop Gorman cornerback picked up an offer from UA. It is his fifth offer overall and while there are others on the Bishop Gorman squad that have gained more attention Hausman was solid at a recent adidas seven-on-seven event in California we watched him at. He will likely only continue to see his recruitment pick up this summer and when the season arrives, so it is good for UA to jump in now.
Another Vegas prospect who was on campus was Edgar Burrola from Desert Pines. The 6-foot-6 offensive tackle recruit has some smaller offers, but Arizona came through with his biggest yet on Sunday. He is definitely someone who benefitted by camping with the Wildcats and now it will be a matter of where things go from here.
