The Arizona Wildcats held an open practice Saturday at Fort Huachuca. Here are my top five observations:
1. This was the second practice of training camp that we got to watch in full. The first was the first day (Aug. 4). In both, the defense seemed to have the edge on the offense. Even though neither practice featured full pads – and the Wildcats didn’t even wear helmets Saturday – this has to be considered a positive development. Arizona appears to have some playmakers in its linebacking corps and secondary; I wrote about two of them here. My biggest concern remains the defensive line. Two of the Wildcats’ best linemen are Parker Zellers and Justin Belknap. Both are listed at 247 pounds. That’s 8 fewer than Edgar Gastelum, who's a kicker. Some young guys (Finton Connolly, Marcus Griffin) and/or some veterans (Calvin Allen, Luca Bruno) are going to have to step up and play meaningful snaps.
2. In the team periods I’ve seen, there isn’t much separation between incumbent Anu Solomon and challenger Brandon Dawkins. Solomon seems a little more comfortable in the team setting, although no quarterback was immune from Rich Rodriguez’s wrath Saturday. The main message seemed to be to pull the trigger. As Rodriguez stands behind the offense, he has a better view than we do from the sidelines. All three quarterbacks, including freshman Khalil Tate, seem to be hesitating at times, and that isn’t what RichRod wants. Getting back to Solomon vs. Dawkins, one thing I noticed Saturday is just how fast Dawkins is. He was able to get down the sideline on one play, around the edge on another. The 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore just eats up ground.
3. This is more of an observation from earlier in the week, supported by comments made Saturday: Freshman tailback J.J. Taylor looks like the real deal. We got to watch a full-pads tackling drill Wednesday, in which a ball-carrier had to run through three levels of defenders trying to disengage from blockers. Nobody could tackle Taylor. In fact, they could barely touch him. Fellow RB Nick Wilson was effusive in his praise of Taylor. “He has a lot of talent,” Wilson said. “He might have the best footwork on the team. I don’t know who would be better. He’s really impressed me.” Taylor is listed at 5-6, 155. I’m told he’s closer to 170. Either way, he’s not an every-down back. But he could be a deadly change-of-pace back, even as a freshman.
4. Some quick thoughts on some other freshmen … Offensive lineman Michael Eletise absolutely looks the part and appears to have excellent natural strength. He anchored extremely well in the drills I watched. He's on track to be a multiyear starter … Jalen Cochran looks bigger than his listed 6-3, 225. On the roster as a linebacker, Cochran basically is playing defensive end. He couldn’t hold up at that weight as a freshman, but with an offseason in the weight room, he could be a contributor by 2017. … Defensive tackle Justin Holt isn’t ready to play. I don’t know how much work he was able to do while recuperating from a broken leg suffered last November, but he clearly has a long way to go to get into playing shape. If I had to guess right now, I’d say he’ll redshirt.
5. I don’t know how the kicker/punter situation is going to shake out, and I’m not sure the coaches do either. The good news is that Gastelum seems to be at least adequate as a placekicker and potentially very good as a kickoff specialist. From what I’ve seen, Josh Pollack strikes the ball better on placements, hitting them with more authority and height. With punting, it’s sometimes hard to tell what the strategy is on any given attempt (hang time, rugby kick, etc.), and none of the candidates has looked markedly better than the others in the limited time I’ve seen them. My best guess at this point is that Pollack will handle placements and punts while Gastelum kicks off. But that’s subject to change.
