I spent the afternoon in Los Angeles at Pac-12 Media Day and was able to have short chats with Khalil Tate and JJ Taylor plus an extended conversation with Kevin Sumlin. Here’s a rundown of some of the notable things said by each to give you a glimpse into some of the most important topics about the team heading into camp this week.
* There is certainly an optimism the team has right now and although the Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the South Division. Taylor said there is an excitement around the team right now that has been there the entire offseason and that’s something he’s looking forward to seeing on the field this season.
* Tate was asked a lot about his high school days considering he’s in Los Angeles this week, but there were some more important topics he addressed Wednesday that shed some light on the team. He singled out Brian Casteel as a player who has improved his speed and he said the receiver will be someone to watch this season. He also singled out Bobby Wolfe as someone to watch on the defensive side of the ball.
I asked him who could slide into the role left by Shawn Poindexter at the receiver position and Tate said Cedric Peterson is someone he believes will be a similar player for the Wildcats this year. The redshirt senior is someone who Sumlin singled out as well. Peterson is the lone UA receiver with significant experience so the ‘Cats will need him to step his game up even more this year than he has previously in his career.
* Here’s a brief rundown of some of the major topics discussed with Kevin Sumlin as he met with a few members of the Tucson media Wednesday.
- First an update from the coach’s mouth himself on the status of defensive tackles Trevon Mason and Kane Bradford. Mason has made it on to campus today, Sumlin said, and will report with the rest of the team tomorrow. Apparently the final decision was passed along to the team today, so it was certainly a close one. Bradford is not yet on campus and Sumlin said the process is ongoing with him and that his status remains the same for now. There is a sense that Bradford will make it to campus at some point soon, but he is not yet in Tucson.
“Trevon is in today,” Sumlin said. “So, he will be at the meeting tomorrow ready to go. When you get in that late I don’t know how long it’ll be until he clears and is able to practice, but he’s been cleared academically and he’s ready to go. ... Kane, we’re still waiting on him. His status hasn’t changed.”
Sumlin did confirm for those still wondering that the issues are academic related and it has to do with classes and paperwork that has to get finished with Bradford. It was the same issue with Mason who was supposed to originally enroll back in January. Sumlin said he expects everyone else who signed as part of the 2019 class to be there tomorrow when the team reports for camp.
- Sumlin remains confident that Arizona is not in terrible shape on the interior of the defensive line because there are players who could slide in and play at the defensive tackle spots if needed. Someone he mentioned is JB Brown as a possibility there.
“We’ve got a couple big guys that are in there,” he said. “The other thing is JB gives us some flexibility moving in and out. Then Jalen [Harris] being around 250 now and [Kylan] Wilborn. We feel good with those guys as edge rushers, but we’re gonna have to come on and be creative with some of these new guys that come in here that are gonna be big enough to play inside to create some depth there.”
- Sumlin was asked about Tate and how he would assess the quarterback’s 2018 season. The UA head coach said when you assess the year you have to look at everything that went into it and pointed to the early-season injury that Tate had to deal with as something that played into his performance the entire season. He admitted that there were a lot of things that “bled” onto the field resulting in things that “weren’t very good” for his team.
I asked Sumlin how much he had to coach Tate through the criticism that came with his performance on the field last year and he said there was certainly some conversations that they had about that topic and he feels Tate matured throughout that process coming off a season that was filled with a lot of hype and attention.
“We’ve talked a lot more this year just about life,” Sumlin said. “Then if it’s football related just about how you handle those things. It couldn’t have been a higher peak coming in here last year with talk about winning the Heisman and everything else. Then it couldn’t be lower than being in your hometown in street clothes not being able to help your teammates and watching us lose by one point. Knowing that if he’s healthy who knows what that looks like? All those things go into maturity and growth. How you handle that. I think those experiences really kind of drove him in the offseason with how he approached the offseason.”
- Sumlin was asked about the relationship between Tate and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and while it didn’t seem completely peachy during spring ball it certainly did seem to be in a good place. The UA head coach said he never had to play “peacemaker” between the two and felt the talk of there being some type of friction between them has been false.
“I think a lot has been made of that, but I think a lot of that has been made up,” he said. “I don’t know where that comes from.”
- It was the first opportunity to talk with Sumlin about the move to receiver for Jamarye Joiner and the UA head coach joked that it’s “old news” to him so he was caught off guard when asked about it by the media. The move is something that came together organically based off what Sumlin said, but the staff likes his athleticism at the position.
“Jamarye is moving to receiver, and he’s one of the best athletes on our team,” Sumlin said. “We met and talked about it to get him an opportunity to get on the field. He’s excited about it and he’s been doing it for the last probably month or so in these player-run practices and workouts. So we’ll see where his growth is, but he’s explosive, he’s dynamic, he’s big, he’s fast. So, he can help us.”
* There is certainly an optimism the team has right now and although the Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the South Division. Taylor said there is an excitement around the team right now that has been there the entire offseason and that’s something he’s looking forward to seeing on the field this season.
* Tate was asked a lot about his high school days considering he’s in Los Angeles this week, but there were some more important topics he addressed Wednesday that shed some light on the team. He singled out Brian Casteel as a player who has improved his speed and he said the receiver will be someone to watch this season. He also singled out Bobby Wolfe as someone to watch on the defensive side of the ball.
I asked him who could slide into the role left by Shawn Poindexter at the receiver position and Tate said Cedric Peterson is someone he believes will be a similar player for the Wildcats this year. The redshirt senior is someone who Sumlin singled out as well. Peterson is the lone UA receiver with significant experience so the ‘Cats will need him to step his game up even more this year than he has previously in his career.
* Here’s a brief rundown of some of the major topics discussed with Kevin Sumlin as he met with a few members of the Tucson media Wednesday.
- First an update from the coach’s mouth himself on the status of defensive tackles Trevon Mason and Kane Bradford. Mason has made it on to campus today, Sumlin said, and will report with the rest of the team tomorrow. Apparently the final decision was passed along to the team today, so it was certainly a close one. Bradford is not yet on campus and Sumlin said the process is ongoing with him and that his status remains the same for now. There is a sense that Bradford will make it to campus at some point soon, but he is not yet in Tucson.
“Trevon is in today,” Sumlin said. “So, he will be at the meeting tomorrow ready to go. When you get in that late I don’t know how long it’ll be until he clears and is able to practice, but he’s been cleared academically and he’s ready to go. ... Kane, we’re still waiting on him. His status hasn’t changed.”
Sumlin did confirm for those still wondering that the issues are academic related and it has to do with classes and paperwork that has to get finished with Bradford. It was the same issue with Mason who was supposed to originally enroll back in January. Sumlin said he expects everyone else who signed as part of the 2019 class to be there tomorrow when the team reports for camp.
- Sumlin remains confident that Arizona is not in terrible shape on the interior of the defensive line because there are players who could slide in and play at the defensive tackle spots if needed. Someone he mentioned is JB Brown as a possibility there.
“We’ve got a couple big guys that are in there,” he said. “The other thing is JB gives us some flexibility moving in and out. Then Jalen [Harris] being around 250 now and [Kylan] Wilborn. We feel good with those guys as edge rushers, but we’re gonna have to come on and be creative with some of these new guys that come in here that are gonna be big enough to play inside to create some depth there.”
- Sumlin was asked about Tate and how he would assess the quarterback’s 2018 season. The UA head coach said when you assess the year you have to look at everything that went into it and pointed to the early-season injury that Tate had to deal with as something that played into his performance the entire season. He admitted that there were a lot of things that “bled” onto the field resulting in things that “weren’t very good” for his team.
I asked Sumlin how much he had to coach Tate through the criticism that came with his performance on the field last year and he said there was certainly some conversations that they had about that topic and he feels Tate matured throughout that process coming off a season that was filled with a lot of hype and attention.
“We’ve talked a lot more this year just about life,” Sumlin said. “Then if it’s football related just about how you handle those things. It couldn’t have been a higher peak coming in here last year with talk about winning the Heisman and everything else. Then it couldn’t be lower than being in your hometown in street clothes not being able to help your teammates and watching us lose by one point. Knowing that if he’s healthy who knows what that looks like? All those things go into maturity and growth. How you handle that. I think those experiences really kind of drove him in the offseason with how he approached the offseason.”
- Sumlin was asked about the relationship between Tate and offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and while it didn’t seem completely peachy during spring ball it certainly did seem to be in a good place. The UA head coach said he never had to play “peacemaker” between the two and felt the talk of there being some type of friction between them has been false.
“I think a lot has been made of that, but I think a lot of that has been made up,” he said. “I don’t know where that comes from.”
- It was the first opportunity to talk with Sumlin about the move to receiver for Jamarye Joiner and the UA head coach joked that it’s “old news” to him so he was caught off guard when asked about it by the media. The move is something that came together organically based off what Sumlin said, but the staff likes his athleticism at the position.
“Jamarye is moving to receiver, and he’s one of the best athletes on our team,” Sumlin said. “We met and talked about it to get him an opportunity to get on the field. He’s excited about it and he’s been doing it for the last probably month or so in these player-run practices and workouts. So we’ll see where his growth is, but he’s explosive, he’s dynamic, he’s big, he’s fast. So, he can help us.”
