Arizona is now in full swing with the new season as football August camp is a week in and the shift back to the current team making its turn now. It was a jam-packed week and here is this week’s GOAZCATS.com War Room to get you all caught up.
Football
As we always do we’ll start with football in this week’s War Room and now the Wildcats have the first week of fall camp in the books. Things will start back up again Monday evening as Rich Rodriguez’s team puts on the full pads for the first time this August. That is when the next separation will begin within the roster as it will give the staff a chance to really see who it thinks can contribute this season.
Last week Arizona was in shorts the whole week adding shoulder pads for a couple of the days as well. Monday will bring a full go with live hitting periods and that will mean some more clarity to the depth chart.
* Even without full pads it was an important week for Arizona and one that provided plenty of news. Here is a look back at the top five story lines of the first week of August camp as Arizona begins to prepare for the second week of camp that will feature some two-a-days.
- The center position battle started out the week as one that most people had their eye on with no real clear-cut favorite. By the end of the week things had taken a turn and now there is some more clarity. One of the reasons things shifted is because Rodriguez announced that Carter Wood would likely be done for the season and thus his career because of a chronic foot injury that he has battled through.
The redshirt senior was in line to be the starting center this season as he had held onto his spot with the first unit since spring ball. Rodriguez was certainly disappointed as Wood is a favorite of the staff and they wanted to see what he could do this year.
“Unfortunately one guy, Carter Wood, doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to play because of injuries and medical,” Rodriguez said Saturday night. “So we replaced him. ... It doesn’t look like Carter is going to play at all. The doctors have told him it’s going to be a chronic thing and I don’t know if Carter will be able to play at all this season. I feel bad for him, but right now it doesn’t look good.”
Because of Wood’s injury that meant senior guard Cayman Bundage moved over to center by the end of the week. The Oklahoma native has a ton of experience and Arizona had tried him at the center spot early in his career, but it just never stuck. Now he has cleaned up his ability to snap and as of this point Bundage looks like the favorite to land the starting job.
“We had a wide-open competition and this just means it’s still wide open,” Rodriguez said. “Cayman Bundage has been taking a lot of reps there. Him and Zach Hemmila have been rotating with the ones at the center position an equal number of snaps.”
Coming off two years where Rodriguez didn’t have to worry about the center position, there are some things he and the staff will be looking for these next few weeks as the battle continues.
“Obviously you have to be able to snap the ball consistently and be able to handle himself with a head-up nose guard and make all the calls,” Rodriguez said. “Cayman’s got experience and Zach’s got experience ... so it’s not like they’re rookies, but it will be an important part for us to shore up the next two weeks.”
At this stage it is looking like Bundage will stick at center with Hemmila replacing him at guard in the first group.
- Another big story to come out of the first week is how impressive freshman receiver Shun Brown has looked. Some injuries have helped Brown become a bigger part of the second unit so far this August and the Louisiana native has taken advantage of his opportunity. The 2015 signee has worked in the slot with that second unit as well as on special teams returning punts and at this point it would be surprising if he is not a contributor right away for UA.
Rodriguez said this week he expects the freshman will contribute this year right away.
- Along the defensive line the Wildcats lost one body in Timmy Hamilton, but the one player who has continued to make noise with the top group of six is redshirt sophomore Luca Bruno. The Oak Park, California native made plenty of progress during the spring and he came back with a lot more added weight this fall and that has certainly set him up to be a big time part of Arizona’s defense this year. Adding weight has been a struggle for Bruno in the early going of his career with UA but he and the staff got him on the right track after last season and now he looks like a legitimate defensive lineman.
Rodriguez expects him to be an important part of the team this year now.
“He had a great summer,” Rodriguez told GOAZCATS.com. “He got a whole lot bigger and stronger, and he’s ready to contribute I think at a couple positions defensively and that’s good. I think he’s hungry and he’s got the size now to be an every down player. ... He wasn’t really ready physically and mentally (last season) ... it’s a whole lot different now.”
For Bruno it is an exciting time as he knows as long as he continues to make progress these next few weeks he will likely be starting along Arizona’s defensive line against UTSA.
“I’m about 296 today, so I’m trying to actually lose a little bit so I can keep the running going,” Bruno told GOAZCATS.com. “I’m trying to get to about 294, but it’s helped me out a lot with the strength component. The bigger you are the more you can lift. ... It set me up to be a starter and put myself out there to show what I got.
“It’s really carried over from spring, and really in spring it was the whole technique side of it. Reggie has been a big leader this summer and that came from the spring, so he was really pushing on us.”
- Sophomore running back Nick Wilson was able to take it easy during the spring as Arizona kept him limited as a precaution coming off a freshman year where there were some injuries. When he was healthy the Fresno, California native was a difference maker and this fall he has looked the best he has at UA. Wilson has been impressive through the first week of camp and Rodriguez expects quite a bit out of him this season.
“He’s a sharp football guy,” Rodriguez said of Wilson. “He understands football and I think that helped. I think he’s obviously more experienced now, but I think he’s a little quicker and a little bigger now too.”
The UA head coach said Arizona’s staff has been trying to instill a thought process of not trying to attack a defense’s biggest players to preserve Wilson’s health and that is something the sophomore running back has been working on this camp so far.
“I fell really good going into my second year,” Wilson said. “I can’t believe it’s my second year. I feel like I just got here. I’m real happy with where I’m at right now. ... I’m very healthy right now and everything is working right. I don’t really have too many issues and no real nicks and bruises but that will come with time.”
- One of the most obvious differences about this fall camp to people who cover the team has been how calm things have been with the coaching staff - generally speaking - and the smoothness to how practices have run through one week. Rodriguez even gave Arizona some extra time off by shortening Saturday night’s practice and he anticipates giving the group a little more time off than planned as well.
Overall there have been a lot of good signs for UA to start camp this week.
“Normally as you go through practices it gets less spirited, but today was more,” Rodriguez said after Saturday’s practice. “I don’t know if it’s just because if it’s because we had great weather or a shorter practice - we shortened practice by about 15 minutes. But they came to work so I was really pleased with it. ... I think the intensity is as good for a fourth practice as we’ve had if that makes any sense. ... I expect Monday to be even better.”
Junior receiver Samajie Grant has been through fall camp a couple times now already, and he too senses there is a different feel about how things are running right now with the Wildcats.
“This week has been a learning experience,” Grant told GOAZCATS.com. “There’s a lot of things that are different. Like coach Rod said the other day there is more competition on both sides of the ball and people are competing. So the first week has been fun. It’s been real fun. ... Looking back at last year all the players realize that all of our close games was because we weren’t doing our best.
“I’m not going to lie last year at practice we were lagging around and playing around then once we got to team (periods) we would go. Team is like the fourth quarter here and it showed. We didn’t come back until the fourth quarter. Now everybody from the start is going hard and full on, and that’s going to prepare us for the games.”
Football
As we always do we’ll start with football in this week’s War Room and now the Wildcats have the first week of fall camp in the books. Things will start back up again Monday evening as Rich Rodriguez’s team puts on the full pads for the first time this August. That is when the next separation will begin within the roster as it will give the staff a chance to really see who it thinks can contribute this season.
Last week Arizona was in shorts the whole week adding shoulder pads for a couple of the days as well. Monday will bring a full go with live hitting periods and that will mean some more clarity to the depth chart.
* Even without full pads it was an important week for Arizona and one that provided plenty of news. Here is a look back at the top five story lines of the first week of August camp as Arizona begins to prepare for the second week of camp that will feature some two-a-days.
- The center position battle started out the week as one that most people had their eye on with no real clear-cut favorite. By the end of the week things had taken a turn and now there is some more clarity. One of the reasons things shifted is because Rodriguez announced that Carter Wood would likely be done for the season and thus his career because of a chronic foot injury that he has battled through.
The redshirt senior was in line to be the starting center this season as he had held onto his spot with the first unit since spring ball. Rodriguez was certainly disappointed as Wood is a favorite of the staff and they wanted to see what he could do this year.
“Unfortunately one guy, Carter Wood, doesn’t look like he’s going to be able to play because of injuries and medical,” Rodriguez said Saturday night. “So we replaced him. ... It doesn’t look like Carter is going to play at all. The doctors have told him it’s going to be a chronic thing and I don’t know if Carter will be able to play at all this season. I feel bad for him, but right now it doesn’t look good.”
Because of Wood’s injury that meant senior guard Cayman Bundage moved over to center by the end of the week. The Oklahoma native has a ton of experience and Arizona had tried him at the center spot early in his career, but it just never stuck. Now he has cleaned up his ability to snap and as of this point Bundage looks like the favorite to land the starting job.
“We had a wide-open competition and this just means it’s still wide open,” Rodriguez said. “Cayman Bundage has been taking a lot of reps there. Him and Zach Hemmila have been rotating with the ones at the center position an equal number of snaps.”
Coming off two years where Rodriguez didn’t have to worry about the center position, there are some things he and the staff will be looking for these next few weeks as the battle continues.
“Obviously you have to be able to snap the ball consistently and be able to handle himself with a head-up nose guard and make all the calls,” Rodriguez said. “Cayman’s got experience and Zach’s got experience ... so it’s not like they’re rookies, but it will be an important part for us to shore up the next two weeks.”
At this stage it is looking like Bundage will stick at center with Hemmila replacing him at guard in the first group.
- Another big story to come out of the first week is how impressive freshman receiver Shun Brown has looked. Some injuries have helped Brown become a bigger part of the second unit so far this August and the Louisiana native has taken advantage of his opportunity. The 2015 signee has worked in the slot with that second unit as well as on special teams returning punts and at this point it would be surprising if he is not a contributor right away for UA.
Rodriguez said this week he expects the freshman will contribute this year right away.
- Along the defensive line the Wildcats lost one body in Timmy Hamilton, but the one player who has continued to make noise with the top group of six is redshirt sophomore Luca Bruno. The Oak Park, California native made plenty of progress during the spring and he came back with a lot more added weight this fall and that has certainly set him up to be a big time part of Arizona’s defense this year. Adding weight has been a struggle for Bruno in the early going of his career with UA but he and the staff got him on the right track after last season and now he looks like a legitimate defensive lineman.
Rodriguez expects him to be an important part of the team this year now.
“He had a great summer,” Rodriguez told GOAZCATS.com. “He got a whole lot bigger and stronger, and he’s ready to contribute I think at a couple positions defensively and that’s good. I think he’s hungry and he’s got the size now to be an every down player. ... He wasn’t really ready physically and mentally (last season) ... it’s a whole lot different now.”
For Bruno it is an exciting time as he knows as long as he continues to make progress these next few weeks he will likely be starting along Arizona’s defensive line against UTSA.
“I’m about 296 today, so I’m trying to actually lose a little bit so I can keep the running going,” Bruno told GOAZCATS.com. “I’m trying to get to about 294, but it’s helped me out a lot with the strength component. The bigger you are the more you can lift. ... It set me up to be a starter and put myself out there to show what I got.
“It’s really carried over from spring, and really in spring it was the whole technique side of it. Reggie has been a big leader this summer and that came from the spring, so he was really pushing on us.”
- Sophomore running back Nick Wilson was able to take it easy during the spring as Arizona kept him limited as a precaution coming off a freshman year where there were some injuries. When he was healthy the Fresno, California native was a difference maker and this fall he has looked the best he has at UA. Wilson has been impressive through the first week of camp and Rodriguez expects quite a bit out of him this season.
“He’s a sharp football guy,” Rodriguez said of Wilson. “He understands football and I think that helped. I think he’s obviously more experienced now, but I think he’s a little quicker and a little bigger now too.”
The UA head coach said Arizona’s staff has been trying to instill a thought process of not trying to attack a defense’s biggest players to preserve Wilson’s health and that is something the sophomore running back has been working on this camp so far.
“I fell really good going into my second year,” Wilson said. “I can’t believe it’s my second year. I feel like I just got here. I’m real happy with where I’m at right now. ... I’m very healthy right now and everything is working right. I don’t really have too many issues and no real nicks and bruises but that will come with time.”
- One of the most obvious differences about this fall camp to people who cover the team has been how calm things have been with the coaching staff - generally speaking - and the smoothness to how practices have run through one week. Rodriguez even gave Arizona some extra time off by shortening Saturday night’s practice and he anticipates giving the group a little more time off than planned as well.
Overall there have been a lot of good signs for UA to start camp this week.
“Normally as you go through practices it gets less spirited, but today was more,” Rodriguez said after Saturday’s practice. “I don’t know if it’s just because if it’s because we had great weather or a shorter practice - we shortened practice by about 15 minutes. But they came to work so I was really pleased with it. ... I think the intensity is as good for a fourth practice as we’ve had if that makes any sense. ... I expect Monday to be even better.”
Junior receiver Samajie Grant has been through fall camp a couple times now already, and he too senses there is a different feel about how things are running right now with the Wildcats.
“This week has been a learning experience,” Grant told GOAZCATS.com. “There’s a lot of things that are different. Like coach Rod said the other day there is more competition on both sides of the ball and people are competing. So the first week has been fun. It’s been real fun. ... Looking back at last year all the players realize that all of our close games was because we weren’t doing our best.
“I’m not going to lie last year at practice we were lagging around and playing around then once we got to team (periods) we would go. Team is like the fourth quarter here and it showed. We didn’t come back until the fourth quarter. Now everybody from the start is going hard and full on, and that’s going to prepare us for the games.”
