Arizona is definitely in the dog days of the preseason. It's clear everyone is a little bit over practice and like I mentioned yesterday Rich Rodriguez is just not as happy or cheery as he was a couple weeks ago. It's down to crunch time and these first couple days of being back with school going on haven't been great based on the sounds of it.
Here are today's quick practice notes that included chats with freshmen defensive players Tony Wallace and Troy Young plus redshirt freshman Lorenzo Burns.
* The specialists don't get as talked about as they should but there is a nice battle going on right now with the kickers. As of now freshman Lucas Havrisik is the leader at the kickoff spot and today Rodriguez said he is "tied" with veteran Josh Pollack as the team's top field goal kicker. Rodriguez said Brian Knorr is going to be charting everything over the next week but it is a battle that could go up to the first game next Saturday.
* If you're looking for freshmen receivers to play this season we have had stories on both of them this week. Rodriguez said today that Brian Casteel and Gary Brightwell have been the two who have picked things up quickest among the group and he expects both to play some type of role on this year's team.
"It's a really good group of guys," he said. "They're still picking up the schemes but overall the athleticism is really good with the wideout group, and the freshmen group is gonna be really good. Some of them still have a lot to learn but I think Brian and Gary are probably the two freshman furtherest ahead mentally."
He has high hopes for Drew Dixon and Isaiah Lovett as their careers go on because of their combination of size and athleticism.
"Him and Isaiah Lovett are tall, athletic guys that have big frames and good ball skills," Rodriguez said of the local receivers. "So, I'm excited about the future for those guys."
* Arizona had scouts from several NFL teams out at practice today with franchises such as the Washington Redskins, LA Rams and Dallas Cowboys represented. As of this point the primary targets for those eyes are Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, Jacob Alsadek, Layth Friekh and Gerhard de Beer to a lesser extent.
* On the injury front some good news with DeAndre' Miller back in uniform today. He's still in the walking boot but he had his uniform on today whereas yesterday he was just in plain clothes. It's a good sign for him and shows that he is at least not too far off from being able to get back in the mix at the "STUD" position. Jacob Alsadek was on a cart with the medical staff as the last one out of practice today as the media was leaving the post-practice media session. A member of the equipment team had his pads and helmet. I'm not sure if he was just a bit overheated or if it was something else, but there wasn't anything visibly wrong with him (i.e. knee, ankle, etc.) although he didn't look great riding back to the locker room.
* Troy Young said he has had a lot of help from Flannigan-Fowles over these last few weeks and right now he has played a lot as the junior "bandit" safety's backup. Young said he anticipates playing a lot on special teams and for now he is working with the second unit at bandit. It was my first chance to get an up-close look at him and stand next to him and he is physically one of the more game-ready players on the entire team not even just the freshmen group.
Freshman cornerback Tony Wallace has been getting work in with the second unit as well and like Young he feels his impact will be felt most on special teams but also with the reserve group where he hopes he can make some noise this season.
Here are today's quick practice notes that included chats with freshmen defensive players Tony Wallace and Troy Young plus redshirt freshman Lorenzo Burns.
* The specialists don't get as talked about as they should but there is a nice battle going on right now with the kickers. As of now freshman Lucas Havrisik is the leader at the kickoff spot and today Rodriguez said he is "tied" with veteran Josh Pollack as the team's top field goal kicker. Rodriguez said Brian Knorr is going to be charting everything over the next week but it is a battle that could go up to the first game next Saturday.
* If you're looking for freshmen receivers to play this season we have had stories on both of them this week. Rodriguez said today that Brian Casteel and Gary Brightwell have been the two who have picked things up quickest among the group and he expects both to play some type of role on this year's team.
"It's a really good group of guys," he said. "They're still picking up the schemes but overall the athleticism is really good with the wideout group, and the freshmen group is gonna be really good. Some of them still have a lot to learn but I think Brian and Gary are probably the two freshman furtherest ahead mentally."
He has high hopes for Drew Dixon and Isaiah Lovett as their careers go on because of their combination of size and athleticism.
"Him and Isaiah Lovett are tall, athletic guys that have big frames and good ball skills," Rodriguez said of the local receivers. "So, I'm excited about the future for those guys."
* Arizona had scouts from several NFL teams out at practice today with franchises such as the Washington Redskins, LA Rams and Dallas Cowboys represented. As of this point the primary targets for those eyes are Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, Jacob Alsadek, Layth Friekh and Gerhard de Beer to a lesser extent.
* On the injury front some good news with DeAndre' Miller back in uniform today. He's still in the walking boot but he had his uniform on today whereas yesterday he was just in plain clothes. It's a good sign for him and shows that he is at least not too far off from being able to get back in the mix at the "STUD" position. Jacob Alsadek was on a cart with the medical staff as the last one out of practice today as the media was leaving the post-practice media session. A member of the equipment team had his pads and helmet. I'm not sure if he was just a bit overheated or if it was something else, but there wasn't anything visibly wrong with him (i.e. knee, ankle, etc.) although he didn't look great riding back to the locker room.
* Troy Young said he has had a lot of help from Flannigan-Fowles over these last few weeks and right now he has played a lot as the junior "bandit" safety's backup. Young said he anticipates playing a lot on special teams and for now he is working with the second unit at bandit. It was my first chance to get an up-close look at him and stand next to him and he is physically one of the more game-ready players on the entire team not even just the freshmen group.
Freshman cornerback Tony Wallace has been getting work in with the second unit as well and like Young he feels his impact will be felt most on special teams but also with the reserve group where he hopes he can make some noise this season.
