Hot sheet: Arizona Wildcats freshmen making college debuts; and how you can score a Gronk bobblehead

Arizona Wildcats football home opener has a little bit of everything

Saturday's Arizona Wildcats home opener will be exciting for player making their college debuts, coaches eager to see how much the team's improved and fans who, well, like free stuff. The Star's Michael Lev and Zack Rosenblatt explain what to watch for, who to follow — and where you can score one of those Gronk bobble heads.

Arizona DL Finton Connolly 'never takes anything for granted'

From spring practice through training camp, the Arizona Wildcats’ newcomers have been the talk of the team. Tony Fields II and Nathan Tilford enrolled early and made an immediate impression. Scottie Young Jr. and Troy Young led a larger second wave.

Everyone likes shiny, new things. But there’s something to be said for veterans who already have put in the work and have earned playing time as a result.

Defensive tackle Finton Connolly is one of those players.

The redshirt sophomore, who became a rotation regular during Pac-12 play last season, secured a spot on the depth chart at defensive tackle for Saturday’s season opener against Northern Arizona. Connolly will alternate with senior Parker Zellers as part of what Arizona hopes is a deeper, beefier, more productive defensive front.

“Finton’s worked really hard,” UA coach Rich Rodriguez said. “He’s gotten in shape. He’s gotten stronger. And he’s moving better. He’s worked himself into the mix.”

Connolly made his college debut against Hawaii last September. Two weeks later he recorded his first career tackle for loss against UCLA. That’s when Connolly believes he first earned the trust of defensive line coach Vince Amey.

Connolly ended up appearing in seven games, accumulating six tackles, including two for losses. Getting a chance to play raised his profile. Then this spring something “clicked.”

“I was just more confident in myself,” Connolly said. “I was moving a lot faster. I just felt good and comfortable — moving, not thinking. Just being in my zone.”

Since coming to Arizona, Connolly has lowered his body-fat percentage and increased his weight-room numbers. Connolly, who’s listed at 6-5, 275, now can squat almost 600 pounds; when he first got to Tucson, his max was in the 400 range.

Connolly needed to continue to push himself in the offseason because Arizona added three defensive tackles to the roster.

Transfer Sione Taufahema arrived in spring and appeared to be in line for a role before suffering a knee injury that has put him on the redshirt track. Another transfer, Dereck Boles, could start at nose tackle. Freshman Kurtis Brown also is expected to be part of the rotation.

Connolly motivates himself by modeling his approach after the best defensive lineman on the planet. He’s a huge admirer of J.J. Watt, the three-time NFL defensive player of the year.

“The thing about him is how hard he works,” Connolly said. “He never takes anything for granted. I just try to be like him every day.”

Much has changed (for the better) since Sammy Morrison last played for the UA

Cornerback Sammy Morrison started the first two games of his Arizona Wildcats career in September 2015.

A lot has changed since then.

Morrison would play in 12 games that year before missing the following season because of injuries. He’s older, smarter and stronger, having added more than 20 pounds to his 5-foot-10 frame.

Only two other defensive players who started the ’15 opener remain with the team: defensive tackle Luca Bruno and linebacker DeAndre’ Miller. The entire defensive coaching staff has changed as well.

When Morrison looks around today, he sees many new faces. He likes what he sees.

“Obviously it feels good just to have another chance to get back out there after freshman year, getting hurt,” Morrison said. “The team looks really good. So I’m excited. That’s one off the things I’m most excited about. When my number’s called and I get out on the field, I know I’ll have 10 other guys ready to go.”

Arizona is brimming with optimism about its new-look defense. Where does Morrison fit into it?

The redshirt sophomore is listed as the No. 2 boundary corner behind Lorenzo Burns heading into Saturday’s opener against Northern Arizona. A spot opened up when the coaches decided to move 2016 starting corner Dane Cruikshank to safety.

They made the change in part to get the best five defensive backs on the field – but also because the depth at corner is better than what it has been. Burns and Morrison are back from injury, and freshman Tony Wallace showed enough in August to earn a spot on the Week 1 two-deep.

Morrison described the players as “extremely close.” He is serving as a mentor to Wallace.

“He definitely has exceeded my expectations,” Morrison said. “He for sure is better than me when I was a freshman. Very confident. He’s under control. He’s turning into one of my really good friends here. I love chopping up with him, talking football with him.”

Morrison is asked whether he ever talks about off-the-field topics, such as school, with Wallace. The newcomer didn’t play football as a sophomore or junior in high school because of poor grades.

Morrison said it isn’t necessary. The younger defensive backs need only observe the way the veterans carry themselves.

“We set our standards pretty high,” Morrison said. “We have some pretty smart guys in there. It doesn’t have to be said, honestly. They just look at the way we do things. If they’re not doing it, that’s on them. At the end of the day, you have to be disciplined.”

Visiting Lumberjacks have strong Tucson ties

Saturday won’t be the first time NAU cornerback Cole Sterns or linebacker Jake Casteel step foot in Arizona Stadium for a game. The two were on the NAU team that fell to the UA 77-13 back in 2015.

Despite the result, the return trip to Tucson was special for the Lumberjacks pair. Sterns was a standout at Sahuaro High School, and Casteel was part of Salpointe Catholic’s 2013 state title-winning team.

“It was a crazy feeling,” Sterns said in a video posted to NAU’s Twitter feed. “At first it was kind of shocking, kind of star struck a little bit but after I got out there it was just playing football like anything else. Like any other stadium.”

Casteel has a little more of a connection to Arizona’s program — his father was UA coach Rich Rodriguez’s defensive coordinator from 2012-15 before he was fired last year. Jeff Casteel is now coaching at Nevada, so he won’t be at Saturday night’s game.

Jake Casteel’s mother and sister, still a UA student, will be.

“As soon as my dad got the job there I was 16, I moved there I was instantly a fan. So I was down there a lot, around there a lot,” Casteel said. “It’s gonna be awesome.”

They aren’t the only NAU players (or coaches) with connections to Tucson and the Arizona Wildcats. Here are some more:

Tim Davis: NAU’s offensive line coach was a graduate assistant at Arizona in 1987.

LB Byron Evans II: Senior from Phoenix is the son of former Arizona linebacker great Byron Evans, a longtime NFL pro who won Pac-10 defensive player of the year in 1986. The younger Evans managed 26 tackles as a junior at NAU.

LB Taylor Powell: Sophomore was a member of 2013 Salpointe Catholic team that also included Casteel, Arizona receiver Cam Denson and former Wildcats Justin Holt and Kaelin Deboskie. Powell is Salpointe’s all-time leading tackler.

QB Connor Leavens: The former Marana star will likely redshirt as a freshman. As a senior, he helped guide the Tigers to a 9-3 record.

TE Max Michalczik: Former Catalina Foothills standout is the son of UA offensive line coach Jim Michalczik. He played on the same Falcons team as UA backup quarterback Rhett Rodriguez.

LB Markquise Simmons: The Tucson High and Pima College product joined NAU this season. In 18 junior college games, Simmons finished with 100 total tackles, three tackles for loss, one forced fumble and 1.5 sacks.

OL Jonas Leader: The freshman offensive lineman was a standout at Canyon del Oro.

Shake your head if you want a Gronk giveaway

Rob Gronkowski hasn’t suited up for Arizona in nine years. And when he was here, Gronk appeared in just 22 college games.

Still, Gronkowski has become the most recognizable Arizona athlete in any sport. He’s a Pro Bowl tight end and one of the highest-paid players at his position in the NFL. Gronkowski has become famous enough to be depicted on “Family Guy” — he and his brothers moved in next door to the Griffins — and to compete on “Celebrity Family Feud” with the rest of the Gronkowski clan.

And, as of Saturday, Gronk has a bobblehead.

The UA will give out 10,000 bobbleheads at the Wildcats’ season opener against Northern Arizona. It won’t be a traditional, first-10,000-fans-get-it sort of giveaway, though. Season-ticket holders have been guaranteed one bobblehead per account. The remaining bobbleheads will be given out as part of a lottery, with the winners announced during the third quarter.

“We were looking to try to add something to this first game,” said Ben Chulick, Arizona’s associate athletic director for marketing. “For this home opener, to add a little more pizazz, to add a little more excitement.”

Gronk approves. Wednesday, the New England Patriots tight end posted a video of himself and his bobblehead, well, bobbing. He wrote: “My answer when asked if I had a good time at U of A.”

Gronkowski was a part of the process from the beginning.

“He was very excited about it,” Chulick said.

Arizona explored a few different options. A bobble-arm doll was considered, as was a more-traditional bobblehead featuring a shirtless Gronk.

“We definitely wanted to play off the spike idea and thought, can we do the arm? Can we make the arm spike?’” Chulick said. “And then just thought about the way that these are made, that’s more likely to get broken so there’d be a lot of kids with bobbleheads of one-armed Gronks around Tucson. We didn’t want that.”

Now, Gronkowski will join a small list of UA luminaries to be honored in bobblehead form. Lute Olson, Mike Candrea and Sean Miller have been similarly honored.

“We were thinking this might be the best stadium giveaway we’ve ever done for Arizona football,” Chulick said.

Wildcats freshman Tony Fields ready for long-awaited college debut

Arizona’s first depth chart featured more than a few surprises. Tony Fields II’s inclusion was not one of them.

Yes, Fields, an outside linebacker, is a true freshman. But he’s been locked in with the Wildcats’ first-team defense since the start of camp.

Saturday night, Fields will play his first college game. Here’s what Fields said:

On his first game: “I’m very excited. I’ve been waiting for this all my life and it’s finally here so there’s a little jitters, a little butterflies, but I’m ready to take the task.”

On the defense’s progress: “I feel like we’re getting better and better, the intensity is rising more and more and everybody is flying to the ball, so by game time we’ll be ready.”

On being named a starter: “It’s an honor, it’s a blessing, I thank God for everything, but it’s not something I wasn’t expecting. You have to have the highest confidence at all times so I expected to come in here and play and that’s what I did.”

On early-game jitters: “The first play, the first series is going to be the hardest series. This is where everybody that plays college football, everybody I talk to, they say the first series is going to be the hardest but after that it’s going to be easy flows.”

On finally facing an opponent: “Man, I’m getting tired of going against my teammates. You gotta ease up sometimes, you can’t really let out the dog completely but now on Saturday when the lights come on, it’s all out.”