Samajie Grant wasn’t exactly blowing the top off Stanford’s defense when he took a handoff with 10 minutes remaining in Saturday’s second quarter.
It was understandable. Grant started at running back for the first time since high school.
There, he gained 1,495 rushing yards as a senior with 24 touchdowns.
That number, 24, had different meaning at this point in Arizona’s 34-10 loss to the Cardinal.
Grant took the handoff, tried avoiding a heap of tacklers by backpedalling and reversing field to the opposite side.
He kept going back, and back, and back some more before lateraling it to receiver Shun Brown, who gained three yards.
Grant lost 24 yards on the play. His yards-per-carry totals dipped 2.5 to minus-1.3 yards.
UA coach Rich Rodriguez was perturbed at the sequence.
In reality, the play was indicative of the dire straits facing Arizona’s rushing attack.
Rodriguez said after the game he plans to keep Grant, a wide receiver his entire college career, at running back.
“We’ll keep him there and he’ll get better each week,” Rodriguez said.
The Wildcats have no choice.
Nick Wilson and Orlando Bradford opened the season as co-starters, with freshman J.J. Taylor waiting in the wings.
Zach Green, a redshirt junior, was next on the depth chart.
But even after the first three went down with injury (Wilson, Taylor) or were kicked out of the program (Bradford), Green has been an afterthought. He has gained 167 yards on 44 carries.
Tyrell Johnson was next in the pecking order, but the 5-foot-7-inch, 164-pound speedster was banged up at running back and moved back to receiver.
Then came Grant. Before Saturday, Grant only had carried the ball seven times for 30 yards in his Arizona career.
In the third quarter, he burst through Stanford’s defense for a 21-yard gain. He had one 14-yard rush, two for nine yards, one for five, one for four and 11 others for three or less. He finished with 64 yards on 19 carries; the numbers would’ve looked a little better without that 24-yard loss.
“He did OK,” Rodriguez said. “He’s still learning the position. He showed some explosiveness. There’s some coachable points with him that we need to get better.”
Grant was a little more critical of himself.
“If I can get myself a grade, I’d give myself a D-minus,” Grant said. “I know I can do better out there … a lot of the plays even when I got yardage I didn’t read my assignment right so I left even more yardage.”
Offensive lineman Jacob Alsadek said he felt that the offensive line could’ve acquitted itself better in the running game.
“He came in there running really hard and playing hard, and we didn’t give him as many opportunities as we should have,” Alsadek said.
Cats host big-time visitors for homecoming weekend
Arizona’s passing game wasn’t exactly at its best against the Cardinal.
Between Brandon Dawkins, Anu Solomon and Khalil Tate, the Wildcats combined to complete just 5 of 20 passing attempts for one touchdown and one interception.
There’s some help coming at the position next year, though, and both of those players were at Arizona Stadium on Saturday night.
One is Rhett Rodriguez, the Catalina Foothills High School standout and Rich Rodriguez’s son.
The other is four-star San Diego native Braxton Burmeister, who took his official to Arizona this weekend. Burmeister will compete for playing time with Dawkins, Solomon and Tate, assuming all three return.
Burmeister is adeptly closing out a record-breaking career at La Jolla Country Day, passing for 2,648 yards, 34 touchdowns and six interceptions this season. For his career, he’s the San Diego record-holder for total yards of offense, passing yards and passing touchdowns.
The Wildcats also hosted three-star offensive line commit Cody Shear, 2018 offensive lineman Jacob Isaia of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas and 2018 safety Jaiden Woodbey, the top-rated safety for next year of St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California.
Extra points
- Starting inside linebacker Michael Barton left the game in the first half with an apparent right leg injury. He returned to play in the first half, but didn’t see the field again after halftime. He collected a sack before leaving. In his place, senior Jake Matthews finished with five tackles and a half-sack.
- Tate played quarterback for Arizona’s last possession with the game already out of reach. He threw two incompletions and managed a 19-yard rush. Walk-on running back Branden Leon also played in the final drive, racking up 20 rushing yards on four carries.
- Saturday’s crowd was announced at 46,740, though the numbers were clearly smaller in the second half. The 8 p.m. start and the blowout score was a deterrent for many fans.
