There were a lot more people at Arizona's practice today and any time Khalil Tate gets a chance to talk it is bringing out the media members who don't often come to practice.
The good vibes continued today with everyone in a good mood and the Wildcats continuing to like how things are progressing this year. It's definitely the most loose I've seen the team in a while, so it will be interesting to see how it all translates this weekend. Here are today's quick notes.
* We'll start with some news that came out as Rodriguez was speaking to the media. Because of how his contract works out Rodriguez is the fifth highest-paid coach this season behind Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer. USA Today does an annual database on how much each FBS coach makes every year and Rodriguez moved into the top five today as the new list was released.
Here's a nice article from USA Today that came out earlier today as Rodriguez was speaking to the media about this week's practices. The next big date for his contract will be March 15, 2018 when the next part of that retention provision will kick in with another $1.1 million coming his way. Right now Rodriguez's buyout is approaching $6.5 million.
* On the field Rodriguez continues to talk about how much last year's game left a sour taste in his mouth. He doesn't want to call this week's game revenge and continues to opt for calling it "redemption" but he gave the best quote about how he truly feels when he thinks about that 69-7 loss last year to the Cougars when talking about it today.
* Arizona just went with shorts, helmets and shoulder pads today for practice as it usually does with its Wednesday practices as the season gets going and injuries become a little more risky. Nick Wilson was fully dressed today and that seems positive for where things are at this stage in the week. There has still been no word on the official status of the others but Dereck Boles was walking around today and looked to be good to go. I didn't get a glimpse of the linebackers and right now that will be the interesting group.
* Khalil Tate certainly sounded a little bit under the weather today, but when asked he said he is fine. He was bundled up a little more than the rest of the players but he said that he checked the weather app on his phone and saw it was going to be a little cooler so he opted for some extra layers and that it had nothing to do with a cold or being sick. That will be something to watch this week as he didn't look completely well today, but better than what Rod Smith described yesterday.
If you remember Smith said that he felt Tate's leadership has come the furthest since taking over the starting job and so I asked the UA quarterback about that today. He said it essentially comes with the territory at the position so he makes it a point to make sure he's interacting with the entire team not just the offense.
He joked afterward that there weren't a lot of players trying to listen to a 17 year old who didn't play last year so he feels he has their attention more now with what he's doing and joked that he feels like he's 43 now with the way the team listens to him.
* I caught up with safeties coach Jahmile Addae today as well and he had a ton of interesting things to say that I'll have more on in the next couple days including a discussion about recruiting. He is another coach who is really excited about the class Arizona has coming in. But on the football field he had some interesting things to say about the current group on the defensive side of the ball.
One topic I was particularly interested in hearing about his thoughts on was if having so many young players on defense helps the mentality in a way because they don't necessarily understand what they're going through yet. He called it a trick question but also made some interesting points.
"There's two extremes," he said. "There's that kid that doesn't know the inherent danger of what he's doing so he doesn't really care, and that's a Scottie Young. He's just out there playing and it doesn't bother him. Then there's some kids where the lights can be too bright. You like to hope you get the kid who doesn't give a s**t, but it doesn't happen every time."
Something else that Addae brought up about the current freshman class and the success the group has had is that he feels a lot of it had to do with the players themselves and not so much what their talent level was.
"It wasn't necessarily the kids we brought in it's how close-knit they were before they even got here," he said. "Our freshmen knew each other like as if they lived down the street before they got here. They had a group chat, they had conference calls, they were recruiting each other and every time they came down it was as a group. So those guys did a really good job of cultivating a platoon of a guys they could kind of hug arms with.
"I think that has been a really big help for those guys and building confidence off of each other. If I'm Scottie and I see Colin Schooler out there playing and making plays I'm confident that it's my brother out there doing it I can do that at my position. Our freshmen are more confident than any group we've had here and I've been here the entire time."
The good vibes continued today with everyone in a good mood and the Wildcats continuing to like how things are progressing this year. It's definitely the most loose I've seen the team in a while, so it will be interesting to see how it all translates this weekend. Here are today's quick notes.
* We'll start with some news that came out as Rodriguez was speaking to the media. Because of how his contract works out Rodriguez is the fifth highest-paid coach this season behind Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer. USA Today does an annual database on how much each FBS coach makes every year and Rodriguez moved into the top five today as the new list was released.
Here's a nice article from USA Today that came out earlier today as Rodriguez was speaking to the media about this week's practices. The next big date for his contract will be March 15, 2018 when the next part of that retention provision will kick in with another $1.1 million coming his way. Right now Rodriguez's buyout is approaching $6.5 million.
* On the field Rodriguez continues to talk about how much last year's game left a sour taste in his mouth. He doesn't want to call this week's game revenge and continues to opt for calling it "redemption" but he gave the best quote about how he truly feels when he thinks about that 69-7 loss last year to the Cougars when talking about it today.
* Arizona just went with shorts, helmets and shoulder pads today for practice as it usually does with its Wednesday practices as the season gets going and injuries become a little more risky. Nick Wilson was fully dressed today and that seems positive for where things are at this stage in the week. There has still been no word on the official status of the others but Dereck Boles was walking around today and looked to be good to go. I didn't get a glimpse of the linebackers and right now that will be the interesting group.
* Khalil Tate certainly sounded a little bit under the weather today, but when asked he said he is fine. He was bundled up a little more than the rest of the players but he said that he checked the weather app on his phone and saw it was going to be a little cooler so he opted for some extra layers and that it had nothing to do with a cold or being sick. That will be something to watch this week as he didn't look completely well today, but better than what Rod Smith described yesterday.
If you remember Smith said that he felt Tate's leadership has come the furthest since taking over the starting job and so I asked the UA quarterback about that today. He said it essentially comes with the territory at the position so he makes it a point to make sure he's interacting with the entire team not just the offense.
He joked afterward that there weren't a lot of players trying to listen to a 17 year old who didn't play last year so he feels he has their attention more now with what he's doing and joked that he feels like he's 43 now with the way the team listens to him.
* I caught up with safeties coach Jahmile Addae today as well and he had a ton of interesting things to say that I'll have more on in the next couple days including a discussion about recruiting. He is another coach who is really excited about the class Arizona has coming in. But on the football field he had some interesting things to say about the current group on the defensive side of the ball.
One topic I was particularly interested in hearing about his thoughts on was if having so many young players on defense helps the mentality in a way because they don't necessarily understand what they're going through yet. He called it a trick question but also made some interesting points.
"There's two extremes," he said. "There's that kid that doesn't know the inherent danger of what he's doing so he doesn't really care, and that's a Scottie Young. He's just out there playing and it doesn't bother him. Then there's some kids where the lights can be too bright. You like to hope you get the kid who doesn't give a s**t, but it doesn't happen every time."
Something else that Addae brought up about the current freshman class and the success the group has had is that he feels a lot of it had to do with the players themselves and not so much what their talent level was.
"It wasn't necessarily the kids we brought in it's how close-knit they were before they even got here," he said. "Our freshmen knew each other like as if they lived down the street before they got here. They had a group chat, they had conference calls, they were recruiting each other and every time they came down it was as a group. So those guys did a really good job of cultivating a platoon of a guys they could kind of hug arms with.
"I think that has been a really big help for those guys and building confidence off of each other. If I'm Scottie and I see Colin Schooler out there playing and making plays I'm confident that it's my brother out there doing it I can do that at my position. Our freshmen are more confident than any group we've had here and I've been here the entire time."
