Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin met with the media Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference. UA has the week off from a game with a bye week as it comes off its win over Colorado, but there will still be some practices to keep the team fresh. Despite the week off from a game Sumlin still wanted to meet the media and chat about the week, so here are some of the most notable things he chatted about.
I'll go in order of how the questions were asked.
- Sumlin was asked about the increased production from Jalen Harris and JB Brown this season and he again pointed back to how much PJ Johnson has helped make things easier for those two players. He has mentioned it before, but Johnson being so effective has helped the rest of the defensive line and he said that has been a big part of why Brown and Harris have been so effective this year especially as of late.
When it comes to Harris, in particular, Sumlin said the staff will evaluate how much more weight he can put on but the staff feels he is more explosive and stronger than he was in the spring so there doesn't seem to be a huge concern with getting him a ton bigger.
- Arizona will practice three times this week with a practice taking place Monday evening and another one today with the final practice coming Thursday. Sumlin said the schedule this week will give the coaching staff an opportunity to hit the road and recruit over the weekend with the coaches going both out of state and staying closer to home for games as well. Sumlin said he will be on the road to watch games as well this weekend.
When it comes to practice the plan for the week is to give players who have been used more than others some quality rest while getting other players some extra work. Sumlin said there are players who have contributed that still need some extra practice time and this week will help them.
- Sophomore running back Nathan Tilford was used for the first time Friday night and while he didn't get a chance to stay on the field for long the plan is for him to continue getting some more work as the staff figures out how it wants to end the season at that position. Sumlin said there was no update on Gary Brightwell but from the sounds of it this week will be a light one for him giving an opportunity to for Tilford to make a move.
"He's one of the guys we're talking about right now," Sumlin said of Tilford who he said is a little rusty. "This is going to be a big couple weeks for him. Ideally we don't want to hand it to JJ 40 times, and I think you've heard me say that before. I think we're all better off when we're splitting time. For him, this is a great opportunity for him to get back to practice and show what he can do. I think he's got a lot of talent. I think he works hard.
"I think the thing you worry about in a game like that is from a protection standpoint with some of the blitzes and different looks they were giving us. JJ is very, very good at that. You saw a couple of those blocks. This week is going to be for him ... to just develop and create more trust against some of the things we've seen because he's got talent. Consistency, not just for him, for young guys has been different and a week like this can really help create that trust and that consistency to get him on the field."
- Sumlin was asked if he has to remind players about staying out of trouble during the bye week and he said he sends the same message every Saturday night after a game. The UA head coach said the thing that makes this week a bit different is a lot of players will go home, which many have not done since the summer. He said freshmen, in particular, have to be on campus for so long starting in the summer that there aren't any opportunities to go home so many of the players will not be on campus this weekend. He sees that as a positive thing.
- Khalil Tate had his best passing performance of his career in Friday night's game and Sumlin said a lot of his success over the last two games has to do with being healthier and feeling better about making plays he was hesitant about before. Asked if the layoff for Tate during the week of the UCLA game helped him in more ways than just healing up his injured ankle Sumlin said he didn't know, but did discuss what he thinks has helped Tate here recently.
A lot of it centers around having some more confidence in what he is able to do on the field.
- Lucas Havrisik had himself a nice performance in Friday's game making two long kicks and getting back on track after a rough start that eventually got him benched. Sumlin mentioned Monday that he has been happy with the sophomore's response to losing his job to Josh Pollack a few weeks ago with Havrisik putting in work to get back into position to contribute again. As much as the staff didn't want to use the two-kicker system Sumlin said he likes the way both players work together.
I'll go in order of how the questions were asked.
- Sumlin was asked about the increased production from Jalen Harris and JB Brown this season and he again pointed back to how much PJ Johnson has helped make things easier for those two players. He has mentioned it before, but Johnson being so effective has helped the rest of the defensive line and he said that has been a big part of why Brown and Harris have been so effective this year especially as of late.
When it comes to Harris, in particular, Sumlin said the staff will evaluate how much more weight he can put on but the staff feels he is more explosive and stronger than he was in the spring so there doesn't seem to be a huge concern with getting him a ton bigger.
- Arizona will practice three times this week with a practice taking place Monday evening and another one today with the final practice coming Thursday. Sumlin said the schedule this week will give the coaching staff an opportunity to hit the road and recruit over the weekend with the coaches going both out of state and staying closer to home for games as well. Sumlin said he will be on the road to watch games as well this weekend.
When it comes to practice the plan for the week is to give players who have been used more than others some quality rest while getting other players some extra work. Sumlin said there are players who have contributed that still need some extra practice time and this week will help them.
- Sophomore running back Nathan Tilford was used for the first time Friday night and while he didn't get a chance to stay on the field for long the plan is for him to continue getting some more work as the staff figures out how it wants to end the season at that position. Sumlin said there was no update on Gary Brightwell but from the sounds of it this week will be a light one for him giving an opportunity to for Tilford to make a move.
"He's one of the guys we're talking about right now," Sumlin said of Tilford who he said is a little rusty. "This is going to be a big couple weeks for him. Ideally we don't want to hand it to JJ 40 times, and I think you've heard me say that before. I think we're all better off when we're splitting time. For him, this is a great opportunity for him to get back to practice and show what he can do. I think he's got a lot of talent. I think he works hard.
"I think the thing you worry about in a game like that is from a protection standpoint with some of the blitzes and different looks they were giving us. JJ is very, very good at that. You saw a couple of those blocks. This week is going to be for him ... to just develop and create more trust against some of the things we've seen because he's got talent. Consistency, not just for him, for young guys has been different and a week like this can really help create that trust and that consistency to get him on the field."
- Sumlin was asked if he has to remind players about staying out of trouble during the bye week and he said he sends the same message every Saturday night after a game. The UA head coach said the thing that makes this week a bit different is a lot of players will go home, which many have not done since the summer. He said freshmen, in particular, have to be on campus for so long starting in the summer that there aren't any opportunities to go home so many of the players will not be on campus this weekend. He sees that as a positive thing.
- Khalil Tate had his best passing performance of his career in Friday night's game and Sumlin said a lot of his success over the last two games has to do with being healthier and feeling better about making plays he was hesitant about before. Asked if the layoff for Tate during the week of the UCLA game helped him in more ways than just healing up his injured ankle Sumlin said he didn't know, but did discuss what he thinks has helped Tate here recently.
A lot of it centers around having some more confidence in what he is able to do on the field.
- Lucas Havrisik had himself a nice performance in Friday's game making two long kicks and getting back on track after a rough start that eventually got him benched. Sumlin mentioned Monday that he has been happy with the sophomore's response to losing his job to Josh Pollack a few weeks ago with Havrisik putting in work to get back into position to contribute again. As much as the staff didn't want to use the two-kicker system Sumlin said he likes the way both players work together.
