Weeks ago, before Arizona’s season began, Chacho Ulloa pointed at the floor in the Sands Club at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility.
Ulloa, a highly-recruited four-star safety, was talking about his teammate from Corona (California) Centennial High School, a diminutive running back with scant offers from Power 5 conference schools. The guy who chose Arizona over Washington State, Nevada, Montana State, Ohio, Sacramento State and Weber State.
That’s running back J.J. Taylor, and if you look at him out of pads, off the football field, you can understand why so few big schools were interested. Taylor is listed (generously) at 5 feet 6 inches and and 160 pounds.
"I mean, everybody has their opinion on everything," said the soft-spoken Taylor, "but, in my opinion, you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it, and that’s what I choose to do."
Added UA coach Rich Rodriguez: "He's short, but not small. He's put together, he's strong."
Back to that floor.
“I’m telling you, J.J. is a special kid,” Ulloa said. “He can make you miss on that tile right there.”
He can do it on the field, too.
Even with his big high school numbers — and boy, they were big: 2,149 yards and 41 touchdowns as a senior — Taylor still flew under the radar throughout the recruiting process, but Arizona caught onto him early, and made it their mission to bring him to Tucson.
Throughout fall camp, teammates and coaches — including Rodriguez — raved about Taylor’s talent, his impeccable footwork, the make-you-miss agility.
In week one against BYU, Taylor had one carry for negative four yards, and Rodriguez said he needed to get Taylor the ball more.
In week two against Grambling State, Taylor had zero touches on offense.
Then Orlando Bradford was kicked off the team following an arrest and Nick Wilson left the game with an unknown injury during Arizona’s first drive on Saturday.
Taylor shined in the spotlight.
On his second run of the game, Taylor toted the ball for a 30-yard gain, most of it coming after he juked a Hawaii defender to his feet.
Later, Taylor pulled a move straight out of the Madden video game. It comes after you press circle — a spin move that, again, had a Rainbow Warrior falling by Taylor’s feet, and another dove right past him.
Late in the third quarter, Taylor broke past at least three Hawaii defenders — all within arm’s length and tackling range — and scored a long, 61-yard touchdown.
Taylor finished with 168 rushing yards on 18 carries. It was the most individual rushing yards for anyone on Arizona since Wilson ran for 183 yards against Nevada in week two of the 2015 season.
"It was fun," Taylor said, "It was a lot of fun, actually."
Wilson didn’t play after leaving early in the game, and even though the Wildcats are lacking depth at the position after Bradford’s departure, at least one thing is clear — Rodriguez won’t forget to give Taylor the ball again.
"We were going to run him a lot anyway," Rodriguez said. "I don’t know how long (Wilson will) be out. J.J.’s going to get a great opportunity to play a lot."
Cooper makes his mark
The Wildcats are starved for another player with a “Two-Star” moniker.
If Saturday was any indication, the Wildcats might have found one in safety Tristan Cooper.
The freshman started at the “Spur” safety position on Saturday in place of an injured Tellas Jones, leapfrogging redshirt freshman Anthony Mariscal on the depth chart, and he impressed.
In the first quarter, Cooper tipped a pass as he blitzed Hawaii’s quarterback and forced an interception into the hands of safety Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles.
Later, he deflected another pass for nearly another pick.
He finished the game with eight tackles after racking up six last week.
Cooper was rated a two-star recruit by Scout.com and was likely bound for UTEP before the Wildcats came in with a late scholarship offer.
UA defensive coordinator Marcel Yates had high praise for Cooper earlier this week, telling the Star he’s “a guy that I think we’ll be talking about this year and for years to come. That kid is getting better each day. He’s one that we’re high on.”
Extra points
- About Bradford, who was arrested earlier this week and faces 11 felony counts of domestic abuse, Rodriguez told the Pac-12 Networks: “You put a hand on a woman, you’re done. You are not playing for Arizona.”
- Linebacker DeAndre’ Miller left the game in the second quarter and didn’t return. He was seen on the sideline with a team doctor sans his right shoe. John Kenny played in his place for most of the second half. UA corner Dane Cruikshank left the game after the first quarter and didn’t return.
- Linebacker Cody Ippolito was suspended for the first half after being called for a targeting penalty in the second half of last week’s Grambling game. Ippolito put up three tackles and one tackle-for-loss while shuffling in and out of the lineup in the second half.
- UA freshman Isaiah Hayes saw some time at cornerback in the second half. Up to this point, Hayes had been playing safety for the Wildcats.
- Receiver Shun Brown had a career night for Arizona, catching five passes for 92 yards and a touchdown. He had just 31 yards in his career before Saturday.
