Arizona made it through the first three days of practice and it will now get a day off Sunday. Here are some quick notes from Saturday night's practice.
* I thought the energy was pretty good during the open portion tonight. Rich Rodriguez didn't see it that way and he was not happy with how things began so that meant a little reminding of how he wants things to go.
* Rodriguez didn't want to touch who is starting or who isn't starting when it comes to kicker and punter, but if today's early portion of practice is any indication the cupboard is bare behind Josh Pollack. The staff does not want to have one player doing both jobs, and while Rodriguez said it is looking like they will have two there is going to have to be some real progress by the other guys. Rodriguez is worried about the work load if one player is doing all the kicking and punting. I've said it before, but special teams could be an adventure this season.
Not related, but still with the special teams Arizona had freshmen DeVaughn Cooper and JJ Taylor working on kickoff returns.
* Since it was asked of Rodriguez I'm allowed to mention it, but Christian Boettcher started to practice but then put on a yellow jersey with an unspecified injury. He and Freddie Tagaloa are batting for the starting spot Rich Rodriguez said. Tagaloa has made some good progress these first few days, but Rodriguez isn't going to hand him anything. The staff really likes Boettcher ... like really likes him a lot. Jamardre Cobb didn't participate once again. Kahi Neves arrived to practice late, but he did not practice either. He had a class to deal with so his is an excused absence. He should be back practicing on Monday.
* Because the lightning forced things to move quickly inside the post-practice tradition of giving a little treat to the top performers of practice was closer to the media today. One player who I've mentioned already and received one of the awards was Lorenzo Burns. I don't know how quickly he can get into the picture, but he has only helped his cause through three days. If he's still going at this pace in a couple weeks it might be hard to keep him off the field. We'll see.
* I thought the energy was pretty good during the open portion tonight. Rich Rodriguez didn't see it that way and he was not happy with how things began so that meant a little reminding of how he wants things to go.
* Rodriguez didn't want to touch who is starting or who isn't starting when it comes to kicker and punter, but if today's early portion of practice is any indication the cupboard is bare behind Josh Pollack. The staff does not want to have one player doing both jobs, and while Rodriguez said it is looking like they will have two there is going to have to be some real progress by the other guys. Rodriguez is worried about the work load if one player is doing all the kicking and punting. I've said it before, but special teams could be an adventure this season.
Not related, but still with the special teams Arizona had freshmen DeVaughn Cooper and JJ Taylor working on kickoff returns.
* Since it was asked of Rodriguez I'm allowed to mention it, but Christian Boettcher started to practice but then put on a yellow jersey with an unspecified injury. He and Freddie Tagaloa are batting for the starting spot Rich Rodriguez said. Tagaloa has made some good progress these first few days, but Rodriguez isn't going to hand him anything. The staff really likes Boettcher ... like really likes him a lot. Jamardre Cobb didn't participate once again. Kahi Neves arrived to practice late, but he did not practice either. He had a class to deal with so his is an excused absence. He should be back practicing on Monday.
* Because the lightning forced things to move quickly inside the post-practice tradition of giving a little treat to the top performers of practice was closer to the media today. One player who I've mentioned already and received one of the awards was Lorenzo Burns. I don't know how quickly he can get into the picture, but he has only helped his cause through three days. If he's still going at this pace in a couple weeks it might be hard to keep him off the field. We'll see.
