Arizona held its final regular practice of the spring before Friday's spring game at Arizona Stadium. The atmosphere was a lot more relaxed today and Rich Rodriguez said it wasn't a bad way to end things before the spring game. To hold you over for a while here are five quick notes about today's practice.
* Outside of practice taking place and the team getting ready for Friday there were two pretty important visitors watching practice today. Four-star quarterback Sean McGrew was also out at practice today. You have heard about Modster plenty already and today was an important visit for him as he intends to make his decision real soon.
McGrew did not originally intend to visit so soon, but that is just how it worked out and he was able to watch practice as well. Both guys spent a lot of their time out of the sun and watching practice from the dugout of the old baseball stadium, which is now Arizona's football practice field. Before and after practice Modster spent a lot of time with Rod Smith and Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez made sure to introduce his entire family to Modster and spent quite a few minutes talking with him and his family.
McGrew spent a lot of time talking with Calvin Magee and it might have been the most I've seen the UA running backs coach interact with a recruit while on an unofficial visit. Magee took a lot of time to chat with McGrew and his family after practice.
* I spoke with both Jerrard Randall and Brandon Dawkins today after practice and both guys will have a little something to prove this Friday. Rodriguez said Dawkins will get an extended look in the spring game and it will be a chance for him to show that he has learned and progressed this spring. As has been talked about all spring Dawkins said the last month-plus has been about learning the plays and running the offense. He feels he has made a lot of progress in that area.
* I asked Randall if he feels he has closed the gap some since the start of spring and he didn't want to get to into it, but he said it is definitely more of a competition now and he likes that. He told me that he's working about five hours total a day on throwing the ball and he has seen the results. He said he feels the biggest improvement has come with not overthrowing guys anymore.
He has really tried to focus on that element and he said his deep ball is a lot more dialed in now.
* As for the spring game, Rodriguez said you can expect about 80-90 plays and it will be a lot more like a normal practice than anything. A lot of the big name important players will not be playing much and it will be a time for some of the backups to get in there and show what they can do.
* Lastly, as he has done quite a bit in the past Rodriguez had an ice cream truck out at practice today and the players certainly enjoyed that. It is something that Rodriguez likes to do to reward the players after fall camp or spring ball is over.
I will have more on practice later, so continue to check back.
* Outside of practice taking place and the team getting ready for Friday there were two pretty important visitors watching practice today. Four-star quarterback Sean McGrew was also out at practice today. You have heard about Modster plenty already and today was an important visit for him as he intends to make his decision real soon.
McGrew did not originally intend to visit so soon, but that is just how it worked out and he was able to watch practice as well. Both guys spent a lot of their time out of the sun and watching practice from the dugout of the old baseball stadium, which is now Arizona's football practice field. Before and after practice Modster spent a lot of time with Rod Smith and Rich Rodriguez. Rodriguez made sure to introduce his entire family to Modster and spent quite a few minutes talking with him and his family.
McGrew spent a lot of time talking with Calvin Magee and it might have been the most I've seen the UA running backs coach interact with a recruit while on an unofficial visit. Magee took a lot of time to chat with McGrew and his family after practice.
* I spoke with both Jerrard Randall and Brandon Dawkins today after practice and both guys will have a little something to prove this Friday. Rodriguez said Dawkins will get an extended look in the spring game and it will be a chance for him to show that he has learned and progressed this spring. As has been talked about all spring Dawkins said the last month-plus has been about learning the plays and running the offense. He feels he has made a lot of progress in that area.
* I asked Randall if he feels he has closed the gap some since the start of spring and he didn't want to get to into it, but he said it is definitely more of a competition now and he likes that. He told me that he's working about five hours total a day on throwing the ball and he has seen the results. He said he feels the biggest improvement has come with not overthrowing guys anymore.
He has really tried to focus on that element and he said his deep ball is a lot more dialed in now.
* As for the spring game, Rodriguez said you can expect about 80-90 plays and it will be a lot more like a normal practice than anything. A lot of the big name important players will not be playing much and it will be a time for some of the backups to get in there and show what they can do.
* Lastly, as he has done quite a bit in the past Rodriguez had an ice cream truck out at practice today and the players certainly enjoyed that. It is something that Rodriguez likes to do to reward the players after fall camp or spring ball is over.
I will have more on practice later, so continue to check back.
