Arizona will go back to work one last week as the team prepares for its final game of the season this weekend in Tempe in the annual meeting with rival Arizona State. The Wildcats are now out of contention for a bowl game plus UA lost last year's meeting with the Sun Devils in Kevin Sumlin's first attempt as head coach.
Sumlin met with the media Monday to discuss this week's game, his thoughts on the Sun Devils plus other topics. Here's a rundown of the notable topics that were addressed during his final press conference of the season.
• The press conference started off with a topic that is somewhat being carried over from the loss to Utah and that is Khalil Tate and the end of his Arizona career. There was a good feeling among those outside the program that Tate would earn the start in his final game at Arizona Stadium, but that wasn't the case. Sumlin was asked at the start of Monday's press conference why he believes Tate has not had the same type of success or "take off" under his tutelage that the senior had during the 2017 season and earlier in his career under the previous staff.
Sumlin pointed to a number of reasons why he feels that is the case. The video below is part of his explanation for what has happened to Tate the last couple seasons.
The UA head coach went on to say that his program wants the "best for every player" when asked if there was anything he wished he would have done differently about how he handled having Tate as his quarterback.
"We want the best for all of our players," he said. "The quarterback position becomes a situation where there's a lot more focus on that than there are other players on the team because it's the quarterback. That goes along with it. As a coach you're trying to make things. We don't have a set system that you have to do this, but we try to tailor. ... The results are the results and that's not just on the quarterback. ... Winning is the priority and what that looks like can come in a lot of different ways."
• Sumlin was asked about his perception of the Arizona-ASU rivalry now that he has had a chance to go through it one time and what he hopes he can do to make it a better experience for the players this season.
"You mean a better experience by winning?" Sumlin said. "That would be the better experience. As I just said, we're trying to win every game. What that looks like is different every week but certainly in a rivalry game the intensity level ratchets up. It's a game going up there (Tempe) too. As I said in the locker room after the game, for our seniors, we would like to leave with a good taste in their mouth for their last football game."
• Jalen Harris and JB Brown were not on the field much against Utah as the Arizona coaching staff decided to stick with a bigger front that featured more defensive tackles such as Mykee Irving instead. Sumlin said Monday that was by design with the coaches feeling more comfortable having some of the bigger players on the field against the Utah offensive line.
"They're not as effective against those two-tight end formations and big sets that we were seeing inside there as you saw Myles and Tre [Trevon Mason] and Barrs in there a lot because they're bigger guys," Sumlin said. "You're trying to get 300-pounders on the field and on third down primarily that's where those guys were playing for pass rush."
• Sumlin was asked about Arizona's State's run defense, which is another one of the best in the Pac-12 this year, and the UA head coach said the Wildcats have already seen the top two rush defenses the last couple weeks and he is impressed by what the Sun Devils do against the run.
"They've got a great scheme up front," he said. "They play hard. Like I said, we've seen one and two in the last two weeks and we'll see No. 3 this week. We gotta figure it out."
• Recruiting is going to come into full focus the next few weeks for Arizona once Saturday's game comes to an end ahead of the dead period and the early signing period next month. Still, Saturday's game will be a meaningful one for the Wildcats when it comes to in-state recruiting and the program's efforts to try and persuade prospects to stay home and to eventually pick the Wildcats over the Sun Devils.
"It's important," he said. "Every game is important, but this game is important from the state standpoint. There will be a lot of guys there. A lot of things have changed in recruiting just because of the early signing date. And December 18 is quicker than the first Wednesday in February. So, from that standpoint it becomes important."
As for the coaching decisions that have been made, including the firing of defensive line coach Iona Uiagalelei last week, Sumlin said the early signing period is part of what went into making those decisions but he declined to comment on what led to the decision to let go of Uiagalelei simply referring back to the statement he released after the news broke.
• There have been various hints of in-fighting and finger pointing going on over the last several weeks among the team and the staff, but something that Sumlin has continued to harp on his group staying together seemingly after every loss. As the biggest game of the season now approaches it is a message he wants to continue sending to his team this week starting with Monday evening's team meeting ahead of the week of practice.
Sumlin met with the media Monday to discuss this week's game, his thoughts on the Sun Devils plus other topics. Here's a rundown of the notable topics that were addressed during his final press conference of the season.
• The press conference started off with a topic that is somewhat being carried over from the loss to Utah and that is Khalil Tate and the end of his Arizona career. There was a good feeling among those outside the program that Tate would earn the start in his final game at Arizona Stadium, but that wasn't the case. Sumlin was asked at the start of Monday's press conference why he believes Tate has not had the same type of success or "take off" under his tutelage that the senior had during the 2017 season and earlier in his career under the previous staff.
Sumlin pointed to a number of reasons why he feels that is the case. The video below is part of his explanation for what has happened to Tate the last couple seasons.
The UA head coach went on to say that his program wants the "best for every player" when asked if there was anything he wished he would have done differently about how he handled having Tate as his quarterback.
"We want the best for all of our players," he said. "The quarterback position becomes a situation where there's a lot more focus on that than there are other players on the team because it's the quarterback. That goes along with it. As a coach you're trying to make things. We don't have a set system that you have to do this, but we try to tailor. ... The results are the results and that's not just on the quarterback. ... Winning is the priority and what that looks like can come in a lot of different ways."
• Sumlin was asked about his perception of the Arizona-ASU rivalry now that he has had a chance to go through it one time and what he hopes he can do to make it a better experience for the players this season.
"You mean a better experience by winning?" Sumlin said. "That would be the better experience. As I just said, we're trying to win every game. What that looks like is different every week but certainly in a rivalry game the intensity level ratchets up. It's a game going up there (Tempe) too. As I said in the locker room after the game, for our seniors, we would like to leave with a good taste in their mouth for their last football game."
• Jalen Harris and JB Brown were not on the field much against Utah as the Arizona coaching staff decided to stick with a bigger front that featured more defensive tackles such as Mykee Irving instead. Sumlin said Monday that was by design with the coaches feeling more comfortable having some of the bigger players on the field against the Utah offensive line.
"They're not as effective against those two-tight end formations and big sets that we were seeing inside there as you saw Myles and Tre [Trevon Mason] and Barrs in there a lot because they're bigger guys," Sumlin said. "You're trying to get 300-pounders on the field and on third down primarily that's where those guys were playing for pass rush."
• Sumlin was asked about Arizona's State's run defense, which is another one of the best in the Pac-12 this year, and the UA head coach said the Wildcats have already seen the top two rush defenses the last couple weeks and he is impressed by what the Sun Devils do against the run.
"They've got a great scheme up front," he said. "They play hard. Like I said, we've seen one and two in the last two weeks and we'll see No. 3 this week. We gotta figure it out."
• Recruiting is going to come into full focus the next few weeks for Arizona once Saturday's game comes to an end ahead of the dead period and the early signing period next month. Still, Saturday's game will be a meaningful one for the Wildcats when it comes to in-state recruiting and the program's efforts to try and persuade prospects to stay home and to eventually pick the Wildcats over the Sun Devils.
"It's important," he said. "Every game is important, but this game is important from the state standpoint. There will be a lot of guys there. A lot of things have changed in recruiting just because of the early signing date. And December 18 is quicker than the first Wednesday in February. So, from that standpoint it becomes important."
As for the coaching decisions that have been made, including the firing of defensive line coach Iona Uiagalelei last week, Sumlin said the early signing period is part of what went into making those decisions but he declined to comment on what led to the decision to let go of Uiagalelei simply referring back to the statement he released after the news broke.
• There have been various hints of in-fighting and finger pointing going on over the last several weeks among the team and the staff, but something that Sumlin has continued to harp on his group staying together seemingly after every loss. As the biggest game of the season now approaches it is a message he wants to continue sending to his team this week starting with Monday evening's team meeting ahead of the week of practice.
