As Arizona gets prepared for its road game against UCLA this weekend three of the players that it had to start the season will not be on the trip. The Wildcats have already been dealing with injury issues in the secondary this season and now the Wildcats will be down three more defensive backs moving forward this season. The biggest blow come via junior safety Christian Young who has decided to now opt out of the rest of the season after suffering an ankle injury that has hampered him through the first two games. He did not even make the trip to Seattle with the rest of the team last weekend and only played a pair of snaps against USC in the opener.
Young had been competing with sophomore Jaxen Turner for the starting strong safety job leading into the season, but surprisingly was not named the starter when the first depth chart was released. At this point it is unclear if Young will eventually enter the transfer portal, but at this stage he has decided not to play for the Wildcats the rest of this season. Young has been a key part of the rotation at defensive back during his previous two seasons. He made two starts at cornerback as a freshman and played in 11 games that year before playing in all 12 games last season with six starts at safety.
He racked up 25 tackles and had two forced fumbles last season and he has 39 tackles overall up to this point in his career with the Wildcats to go along with five pass breakups and two fumble recoveries.
Two defensive backs that have not been able to get on the field yet for the Wildcats have decided to leave the program. Freshmen cornerbacks Edric Whitley and Khary Crump have both decided to leave the program. It is unclear whether or not Crump will attempt to play at another school, but Whitely is planning to enter his name in the transfer portal.
Crump was one of Arizona's highest-rated incoming players from Culver City High School in California. He picked the Wildcats over offers from Oregon, Oregon State, BYU and Utah State. His relationship with former DBs coach Demetrice Martin was a big part of the reason he signed with the Wildcats, so it always seemed that things might not work out once Martin left for Colorado after Crump had signed with UA.
The Wildcats are solid at cornerback so Crump was going to have to wait for his time to see the field. It is unclear exactly why he has decided to leave UA at this stage, however.
Whitley announced his decision to enter the NCAA's transfer portal tonight citing an "unfortunate turn of events" that has led to his decision. The Texas native gained Power Five attention late in his recruitment as he picked up offers from Miami and Ole Miss before flipping from UNLV to the Wildcats on National Signing Day in February. He was expected to be a contributor for the Wildcats at some point in the secondary, but he had not been able to move up the depth chart so far as a freshman.
"Thank you to the coaching staff and best of luck to my former teammates," he said in a statement posted to social media.
The departures leave the Wildcats with just five scholarship cornerbacks on the roster this season. Sophomore Bobby Wolfe has not been available for the Wildcats through the first two games but he is expected to make his return to the field this week. Lorenzo Burns, Christian Roland-Wallace, Malik Hausman and McKenzie Barnes are the Wildcats other scholarship cornerbacks.
UA has worked with a depleted secondary through the first two games forcing new defensive backs coach Greg Burns to turn to several walk-on players for help.
Young had been competing with sophomore Jaxen Turner for the starting strong safety job leading into the season, but surprisingly was not named the starter when the first depth chart was released. At this point it is unclear if Young will eventually enter the transfer portal, but at this stage he has decided not to play for the Wildcats the rest of this season. Young has been a key part of the rotation at defensive back during his previous two seasons. He made two starts at cornerback as a freshman and played in 11 games that year before playing in all 12 games last season with six starts at safety.
He racked up 25 tackles and had two forced fumbles last season and he has 39 tackles overall up to this point in his career with the Wildcats to go along with five pass breakups and two fumble recoveries.
Two defensive backs that have not been able to get on the field yet for the Wildcats have decided to leave the program. Freshmen cornerbacks Edric Whitley and Khary Crump have both decided to leave the program. It is unclear whether or not Crump will attempt to play at another school, but Whitely is planning to enter his name in the transfer portal.
Crump was one of Arizona's highest-rated incoming players from Culver City High School in California. He picked the Wildcats over offers from Oregon, Oregon State, BYU and Utah State. His relationship with former DBs coach Demetrice Martin was a big part of the reason he signed with the Wildcats, so it always seemed that things might not work out once Martin left for Colorado after Crump had signed with UA.
The Wildcats are solid at cornerback so Crump was going to have to wait for his time to see the field. It is unclear exactly why he has decided to leave UA at this stage, however.
Whitley announced his decision to enter the NCAA's transfer portal tonight citing an "unfortunate turn of events" that has led to his decision. The Texas native gained Power Five attention late in his recruitment as he picked up offers from Miami and Ole Miss before flipping from UNLV to the Wildcats on National Signing Day in February. He was expected to be a contributor for the Wildcats at some point in the secondary, but he had not been able to move up the depth chart so far as a freshman.
"Thank you to the coaching staff and best of luck to my former teammates," he said in a statement posted to social media.
The departures leave the Wildcats with just five scholarship cornerbacks on the roster this season. Sophomore Bobby Wolfe has not been available for the Wildcats through the first two games but he is expected to make his return to the field this week. Lorenzo Burns, Christian Roland-Wallace, Malik Hausman and McKenzie Barnes are the Wildcats other scholarship cornerbacks.
UA has worked with a depleted secondary through the first two games forcing new defensive backs coach Greg Burns to turn to several walk-on players for help.
