Arizona had its last "shorts" practice of the spring yesterday and today it was back in full pads and Rich Rodriguez remains pleased with the intensity and where his group is at. Here are some quick notes from today's practice.
* Rodriguez said he is trying to think of ways to make things more fun on Friday for the open practice, but it won't be much different than what the Wildcats did today during practice. It was the first chance for UA to really scrimmage this spring and the intensity was good at today's practice. Arizona is doing some different things and trying some different things now and so far everything is moving in a positive direction. One thing UA will do come the fall is practice in the morning to change it up. The UA head coach continues to tweak things here and there, but from the sounds of it things are progressing how he would have hoped.
* One group that is generating a lot of buzz right now is the cornerbacks unit. Donte Williams has really broken things down to very minute details for his group and he has really stressed small details and getting better in small parts. Right now the cornerbacks are stringing together some nice performances from what I've been told and it will be interesting to see how that unit looks on Friday.
* Injury wise Arizona is working through some things. Freddie Tagaloa is still on crutches and he's not going to do much of anything this spring as was said before. Sammy Morrison is working through something now as well. He didn't look too good after practice with the trainers, but luckily for most of the injured guys there is still plenty of time to get healthy.
* As you can imagine there was some recruiting talk on Wednesday and Rodriguez was certainly pleased with Greg Johnson's commitment Tuesday night. He can't talk about Johnson specifically but he said right now Arizona's concern is not about getting the numbers but what UA wants now is quality. He wants big-time players and it is reflected in the offers and Rodriguez himself said that is the priority right now quality of quantity this spring.
* In addition to that the UA head coach said he would be surprised if the 2017 class is not one of Arizona's best in school history. Now that is a big statement to make, but there are some things in place that Rodriguez hinted at that UA believes is going to put it in a good position for the long haul this year. I will say that more than one coach mentioned getting an big early commitment only means the work is starting though and UA is being very cautious to get too excited about Johnson's commitment right because Signing Day is so far away. Here is what Rodriguez had to say about the start of the 2017 class though.
* Rodriguez said he is trying to think of ways to make things more fun on Friday for the open practice, but it won't be much different than what the Wildcats did today during practice. It was the first chance for UA to really scrimmage this spring and the intensity was good at today's practice. Arizona is doing some different things and trying some different things now and so far everything is moving in a positive direction. One thing UA will do come the fall is practice in the morning to change it up. The UA head coach continues to tweak things here and there, but from the sounds of it things are progressing how he would have hoped.
* One group that is generating a lot of buzz right now is the cornerbacks unit. Donte Williams has really broken things down to very minute details for his group and he has really stressed small details and getting better in small parts. Right now the cornerbacks are stringing together some nice performances from what I've been told and it will be interesting to see how that unit looks on Friday.
* Injury wise Arizona is working through some things. Freddie Tagaloa is still on crutches and he's not going to do much of anything this spring as was said before. Sammy Morrison is working through something now as well. He didn't look too good after practice with the trainers, but luckily for most of the injured guys there is still plenty of time to get healthy.
* As you can imagine there was some recruiting talk on Wednesday and Rodriguez was certainly pleased with Greg Johnson's commitment Tuesday night. He can't talk about Johnson specifically but he said right now Arizona's concern is not about getting the numbers but what UA wants now is quality. He wants big-time players and it is reflected in the offers and Rodriguez himself said that is the priority right now quality of quantity this spring.
* In addition to that the UA head coach said he would be surprised if the 2017 class is not one of Arizona's best in school history. Now that is a big statement to make, but there are some things in place that Rodriguez hinted at that UA believes is going to put it in a good position for the long haul this year. I will say that more than one coach mentioned getting an big early commitment only means the work is starting though and UA is being very cautious to get too excited about Johnson's commitment right because Signing Day is so far away. Here is what Rodriguez had to say about the start of the 2017 class though.
