CORVALLIS, Ore. – Jahmile Addae knows Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez as well as anyone.
Addae played for Rodriguez at West Virginia, worked for him at Michigan and reunited with him at Arizona, first as a football analyst and now as the Wildcats’ safeties coach.
Addae has experienced a three-win season with Rodriguez (2001) and an 11-win season (2005). They have shared many more victories than losses.
Rodriguez’s outward frustration during this miserable season is obvious; the TV cameras capture it every week.
How is Rodriguez handling it behind closed doors? Addae provided some insight during the lead-up to Arizona’s game at Oregon State on Saturday night.
“I know how bad he wants to win,” Addae said. “You can see it in his demeanor, his expressions on the sideline, his expressions in practice. People mistake it sometimes for something other than what it is, which is just pure passion. The guy’s passionate about winning and wants to do nothing more than to win.
“In this profession, in this game, that’s what the end goal is. When you’re not, it’s tough. He’s always been a winner. That’s why we’ve all got to have this sense of urgency to get things right for him.
“I stayed here to coach because I wanted to coach for him and I want to win ballgames for him. These kids chose to come here because they wanted to play for him. We’ve got to make it come to fruition and actually do it, not just talk about it.
“I’m as pissed off as he is about getting losses, maybe even more so, because I feel like we owe it to him. He puts in a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of time. At the end of the day, it’s our job to protect him. How do we do that? We win football games. As of late, we haven’t been doing that.”
Arizona lost its eighth in a row Saturday night, falling to 2-9 heading into the season finale against Arizona State.
Yates’ humbling experience
Arizona’s historically bad season is unlike anything first-year defensive coordinator Marcel Yates has experienced before.
Yates has been an assistant coach at the FBS level since 2003. In each of his previous 13 seasons at Boise State and Texas A&M, his team qualified for a postseason bowl game. That obviously isn’t the case this year.
“It’s tough,” Yates said. “My worst season as a coach has been 9-4. So I’ve been spoiled in that aspect. It’s humbling. But it’s kind of put that fire back into me to go out and recruit and go back to the basics and get this defense to where it needs to be.”
Entering this week, the defense had not made any notable statistical gains compared to 2015. The unit has played more aggressively under Yates and drew praise from Pac-12 Networks analyst Glenn Parker, who called the Oregon State game.
“They look better on defense than they did last year, whether the numbers are there or not,” Parker said. “They’re in pursuit, they’re in the right gaps, they’re doing the right things. They’re just outmanned due to injury or (lack of) talent.”
It’s hard for Yates to see that shade of gray. He considers himself a “black-or-white guy.” The defense’s performance is either good or bad in his view. So far, it hasn’t been nearly good enough.
“The fact of the matter is, we all know we need to get better,” Yates said. “We need to get better talent. We need to be better coaches. We understand that. It’s time to go do it.”
Extra points
- Freshman Tristan Cooper started at the “Spur” safety spot ahead of senior Tellas Jones. Cooper recorded his first career sack in the first half.
- Defensive end Justin Belknap got shaken up on the first play from scrimmage. He returned later in the first half but did not play in the second.
- Redshirt sophomore Jake Glatting got the nod at punter over Josh Pollack, who handled placements and kickoffs. Glatting’s first punt in the first half went out of bounds at the OSU 6-yard line.
- UA receiver Shun Brown’s 43-yard reception in the first half was his fifth catch of 43 or more yards this season.
- Christian Boettcher started in place of Jacob Alsadek at right guard. Alsadek was listed as questionable on the injury report because of an ankle injury. He did suit up.
- Redshirt sophomore linebacker Brandon Rutt made his first career start. Rutt played in place of Paul Magloire Jr., who sat out because of a groin injury.
- Despite being a redshirt junior, walk-on Abraham Mendevil was one of Arizona’s four captains. He has elected not to use his final year of eligibility next season.
- Oregon State receiver Timmy Hernandez’s first-half touchdown catch was the first of his career. Hernandez earned all-conference honors as a two-way player at Pima College last season.
