Wildcats game day breakdown: Two Wildcats share common bond entering Territorial Cup

Two Wildcats at different stages of their careers share common bond entering Territorial Cup

One is expected to make his first career start. The other could be making his next-to-last. They both know what it’s like to live behind enemy lines.

Arizona defensive tackle Finton Connolly grew up a Wildcats fan … in Gilbert. Offensive tackle Layth Friekh grew up a UA fan … in Glendale.

Both of their fathers attended Arizona, so household loyalties were not beholden to geography.

“I was definitely never an ASU guy growing up,” said Connolly, who’s slated for his first starting assignment — and first Territorial Cup appearance – Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium.

“I loved the U of A. I grew up not liking the Sun Devils. U of A for life.”

Connolly’s fandom led to plenty of good-natured ribbing, and his eventual commitment to Arizona took it to another level. He’d hear it from his friends and even his coaches at Campo Verde High School.

He felt something similar to what he’ll experience Saturday – the sensation of being surrounded by Sun Devils.

“Non-stop,” Connolly said. “All this ASU stuff.”

Friekh had a similar experience at Peoria Centennial. ASU posters hung in classrooms. His teachers wondered why he wasn’t a fan of the hometown school.

Friekh recalled what people would say, and presumably still do: “Oh, you’re a U of A fan? What? Why don’t you go for the Sun Devils?”

Friekh took a couple of unofficial visits to ASU. He came away thinking it was “cool.” It just wasn’t for him.

“U of A was the fit for me,” Friekh said. “I knew that from the jump. I wasn’t even thinking about ASU.”

Friekh is about to make his 33rd career start. He has been the Wildcats’ left tackle for most of the past three seasons.

The senior has applied for a fifth year of eligibility. He played in one game, for a handful of snaps, as a freshman. It’s unclear whether the NCAA will grant his request.

“We’ll see how it goes,” Friekh said. “It’s submitted. We’ll hear back soon.”

If this is Friekh’s final regular-season game, at least his father will be there to watch it. Akram Friekh lives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he works as an engineer. He returned to the United States earlier this month for Arizona’s Senior Night and will be in attendance Saturday.

“When I was in high school, he’d go to all of me and brother’s practices and games, as much as he could,” Friekh said. “I know it’s killing him to not be able to come to every game and see as much as he would want to.”

Connolly’s parents and younger brother, among others, will be on hand to see Finton make his first start. His father, Sean Connolly, is a commander for the Phoenix Police Department.

Connolly has emerged as a key rotation player for the Wildcats, registering 16 tackles, including 3.5 for losses. With Luca Bruno (concussion) and Dereck Boles (ankle) banged up, the redshirt sophomore will move up the depth chart.

Connolly considers playing for Arizona “a dream come true.”

To represent the UA in the Territorial Cup — and to play a part in defeating the Sun Devils – would make the dream even sweeter.

“I can go back to my old high school coaches and rub it in their face a little bit,” Connolly said. “That’s what I’m hoping for — beat ASU on their home turf.”

'They don't care about our line being depleted'

What’s wrong with Arizona’s defense? And can it be fixed in time for the UA to defeat Arizona State on Saturday?

That’s what Wildcats fans want to know, so the Star went straight to the source. Two of them, actually.

Marcel Yates is about to conclude his second season as Arizona’s defensive coordinator. After a promising start this year, the defense has fallen off in recent weeks.

Vince Amey — who played at ASU — is about to wrap up his second season as the Wildcats’ defensive line coach. All three UA starters got hurt last week at Oregon, including two on one play.

Here’s what Yates and Amey had to say about the state of the defense, the dire situation up front and what beating the Sun Devils would mean:

Yates on Arizona’s struggles to stop the run: “We’re having a hard time doing that right now. Guys gotta fit their gaps, get lined up, use our hands. And it’s not just the D-line. It’s linebackers, corners, safeties. It’s the whole defense.”

Yates on the depleted defensive line: “I can talk about recruiting and what we need to get, but we have what we have. So you have to coach up the guys you have and get them ready to play. This is a rivalry game. They don’t care about our line being depleted. You better get the people that you have ready to play, ready to go.”

Yates on whether freshmen are still making mistakes: “You still see it. They’re still young obviously. But you can’t (lean) on that — because they’re young, we’re OK with them making mistakes. When they do make mistakes, they’re the first ones that are mad about it. So you fix it. You move on. But let’s be honest: They’re still learning. They’ve made some plays. They’ve given up some plays. But we have as a whole defense. We have some guys that aren’t that age, that are older guys, that aren’t doing the right thing.”

Amey on multiple players going down at Oregon: “I was just seeing them laying there on the field. I’m like, ‘Get up. One of y’all get up.’ (But) I have faith. In this profession, we recruit guys to have depth so they can step in. ‘Next man up’ is our motto.”

Amey on the defense’s poor performance in Eugene: “I told the dudes I wasn’t happy with the way they played. But I also blame myself. Trying to have them mentally prepared and ready, getting back to our technique of what we do best and how we do it. I think we got away from that a little bit. They got complacent because we were playing fairly well, but as a coach I gotta stay on them, harp on them about proper techniques, pad level, hands, being violent, being physical.”

Amey on the defense’s energy in practice: “It’s been good. It’s been really good. We’re also telling them how big this rivalry is and what it means. We just gotta play hard, play fast. It’s for the Territorial Cup, for the best team in the state. Think about that. It’s real.”

Senior defensive lineman Marcus Griffin has two games to make name for himself

Marcus Griffin was a last-minute addition to Arizona’s recruiting class in 2014, but he was a big one.

The morning of signing day, Griffin — a four-star recruit from Bellevue, Washington — surprised some when he picked Arizona over Washington State, Mississippi State and California.

It was considered a coup, as the Wildcats were desperate for size on the interior of the defensive line, and Griffin, listed at 6 feet 3, 305 pounds, was considered one of the elite interior defensive lineman in the West.

It’s been four years, and Griffin’s career hasn’t exactly panned out the way it was supposed to.

“It’s been pretty rough. I came in with high expectations for myself and I had a lot of guys in front of me that were older and more mature,” Griffin said. “I had to sit and wait and as much as I wanted to go ahead of these guys, it wasn’t my time.”

Now a senior, Griffin enters the final two games of his career — Saturday’s rivalry game and a soon-to-be-announced bowl — having collected just five career tackles, and one tackle-for-loss. The TFL came two weeks ago, when Griffin received the first extended playing time of his career against Oregon State.

The Wildcats might need Griffin to play the most snaps of his career against the Sun Devils. Last week against Oregon, the Wildcats lost starting defensive linemen Luca Bruno (concussion), Dereck Boles (foot) and Justin Belknap (knee) to injuries, and their statuses for ASU are up in the air. Also, freshman defensive tackle Kurtis Brown hasn’t played in three weeks as he’s battled concussion issues.

“Obviously you never want to see your fellow brothers get hurt, that’s the worst thing to wish upon anybody,” Griffin said. “But it’s an opportunity. You gotta take it as a curse and a blessing, and make the most out of the blessing.”

Griffin waited his turn, and now he might finally get a chance to show what he can do.

“He’s been grinding, working his butt off. He deserves playing time,” said UA defensive line coach Vince Amey. “It took Marcus a couple years to mature, on and off the field. He’s done that. He’s come into his own, he’s become a man and I like that … he’s been working his butt off to get where he’s at and get some playing time.”

Griffin’s first two years at Arizona were spent playing for Bill Kirelawich, and Griffin said he felt like the defensive stye the UA employed in that stretch didn’t exactly suit his skillset. It does with Amey.

“When I first got on campus it was a different scheme, different coaching staff so the message was kind of different in what your responsibilities were,” Griffin said. “So I felt like I was little boggled by that because I wasn’t used to playing that style. But I feel like now, I feel like myself more.”

Griffin has one more year of eligibility remaining, and said he’d explore the graduate transfer route after the season. Still, he doesn’t regret coming to Arizona.

“I’ll just do this game, do the bowl game, go home, go with my family, pray on it, speak with people and make a decision and we’ll go from there,” Griffin said. “If I play again, I play again. If I don’t, I don’t. But I’m always grateful for the opportunity I had to come here and this will always be home.”

T-Cup ugliness likely to arise again on Saturday

Things were a little bit different in the Arizona-Arizona State game in the 1980s, when Chuck Cecil led the Wildcats to thrilling wins over their in-state rivals.

ASU fans welcomed Cecil and the Wildcats to Sun Devil Stadium by throwing food an ice at them as they exited the team bus. The taunts — and the thrown food — continued during warm-ups and throughout the game.

“The things that happen…” Cecil said with a smile.

Things have calmed down, but the rivalry is still hostile. Just ask current Arizona ploayers.

UA offensive lineman Jacob Alsadek said that one year, a Sun Devils fan held up a poster that said “RichRod voted for Obama.” It made him laugh.

“I’m like, dude, are you kidding?” Alsadek said. “It’s total weird stuff like that.”

Here are what three UA seniors had to say about their experience playing at Arizona State and dealing with ASU fans.

Alsadek: “I just remember my true freshman year going over there, that was the first time we brought the whole team and just sitting on the sideline hearing their fans. When you go to the locker room they have this huge fence and they can just go crazy, ASU fans yelling at you. You sense the rivalry right away, right when when walked into that place. It’s intense.

“It’s just kids — little kids — using swear words and their parents are too. I’m like, dude. This is weird. I’ve never experienced that.”

Running back Nick Wilson: “They say outlandish stuff. That’s the reason I don’t respect some of them because they’ll come up to my mom and say (curse words), it’s just outlandish.”

Defensive lineman Marcus Griffin: “I’ve seen some fans say some pretty crazy stuff to some people. I don’t think I would ever say those things to anyone personally because I think it’s very disrespectful but, you gotta just prepare yourself and your mind for that.

“If they say something, you gotta brush it off.”