Mere minutes into his first official public appearance of the 2019 season, Kevin Sumlin set the tone for what he expects will be a more prosperous second year at the helm of the Arizona Wildcats football program.
He established that baseline months earlier with his team. Expectations have been raised. Another losing season won’t be tolerated. And the UA can’t wait until its Aug. 24 opener at Hawaii to ratchet up the intensity.
“Last season was not what we wanted, players or coaches,” Sumlin said during his opening address at Pac-12 Media Day on Wednesday in Los Angeles.
“We came back in January. We met and discussed openly what our expectations were as a football team and what that looks like consistencywise, on and off the field. These guys have accepted that challenge. Our coaching staff has accepted that challenge, and I’m really proud of how these guys have responded.”
Achieving a higher level of consistency was Sumlin’s main talking point in LA after a season plagued by inconsistency. The Wildcats finished 5-7, at times looking like a contender for the Pac-12 South championship and at other times looking like the worst team in the conference.
Arizona opens training camp Friday with lower external expectations but renewed internal optimism.
The media picked the Wildcats to finish fifth in the South. (Informed of that news, QB Khalil Tate responded with a quizzical look and a sarcastic question: “There’s six teams in the South, right?”)
But Sumlin liked what he saw throughout the offseason. He’s eager to check out the fully assembled squad for the first time.
“We’ve got a lot of things to work on,” Sumlin said. “One of the big things is consistency. Consistency in your life, consistency in your approach to the game and where are you as a team and as teammates. Is this just something you do, or is this something that you take pride in?
“In order to do that, you’ve got to invest. What we were investing in at that point (last season) was not enough individually and as a football team.
“Again, I couldn’t be happier with the consistency and the effort that these guys have put in in the offseason. Now we’ve got to go to work, and let’s see where we are as a team.”
Ups and downs
Sumlin is hopeful the 2019 Wildcats can avoid the wild fluctuations that characterized the ’18 Cats.
Arizona lost its first two game and its last two. In between, the Wildcats went 5-3.
After a frustrating but competitive Week 1 loss to BYU, Arizona got blown out at Houston – one of three lopsided defeats on the road. The second, at Utah, was sandwiched by a gritty home win over Cal and a heartbreaking but encouraging one-point loss at UCLA that several starters, including Tate, missed because of injury.
The third, at Washington State, came on the heels of back-to-back wins over Oregon and Colorado – Arizona’s most impressive stretch of the season.
In the finale the following week, the Wildcats’ bad side appeared at the worst possible time. After dominating Arizona State for three quarters, Arizona squandered a 19-point fourth-quarter lead. The Sun Devils retained the Territorial Cup; the Wildcats went home for the winter.
The Wildcats’ 2018 season was filled with wild fluctuations. Coach Kevin Sumlin said the UA has “a lot of things to work on” heading into 2019, but is pleased with the team’s growth.
Tate took his share of the blame for the late collapse against ASU and earlier subpar performances, and much of it was deserved. But Sumlin stressed that the senior quarterback can’t be expected to carry the team, even though he did so for a solid month in 2017.
“There’s 10 other guys on the field,” Sumlin said. “A quarterback can only do so much. We have to have people step up.”
Encouraging signs
Sumlin extended that plea beyond the offense. When asked how Arizona could lead the Pac-12 in rushing and total yards yet win only five games, Sumlin didn’t limit the discussion to the offense’s underlying inefficiencies.
“At a certain point we’ve gotta play better defense too,” Sumlin said. “And we’ve gotta improve on special teams. We missed field goals that could have won games, and extra points. All these things fit hand in hand. It’s not just offensively. We’ve got to be a better football team.”
On offense, the 2018 Wildcats too often bogged down in the red zone. They ranked 11th in the Pac-12 with a touchdown rate of just 51.1%. (It was even worse – 43.8% — in conference play.)
On defense, Arizona didn’t generate enough pass-rush pressure or cause enough turnovers. The Wildcats ranked ninth in the Pac-12 with 23 sacks and tied for ninth with 15 takeaways.
Arizona’s kickers made the second-most field goals in the league (19) but tied for the most misses (eight). The Wildcats’ three missed extra-point tries tied for second most in the conference.
Tate’s approach to the offseason suggested a greater attention to detail that could result in more drives ending in touchdowns.
After the spring game in April, Tate said he had a better grasp of the offense as a result of “trying to get extra help and understanding that I have to put more time in.” On Wednesday, Tate said he has made a concerted effort to understand the concepts behind Noel Mazzone’s offense – “really, actually trying to understand, rather than just going through the motions.”
Sumlin praised third-year edge rusher Jalen Harris, whose development could lead to a sizable bump in the Wildcats’ sack numbers. Sumlin said the 6-4 Harris recently weighed in at 249 pounds, which would be his personal best since enrolling at Arizona.
“He’s got length and athleticism,” Sumlin said. “Had a great spring. Really coming on as a pass rusher, and we need him to come on.”
The kicking game should improve if junior Lucas Havrisik can build on his strong finish to 2018. Havrisik lost the full-time field-goal job after missing five of his first nine attempts. But he made a pair from long distance – 49 and 55 yards – against Colorado and looked confident in spring.
Sumlin said players in all three phases would look bigger and stronger after another summer working with strength coach Brian Johnson – another sign, in Sumlin’s view, of the team’s commitment to improvement this offseason.
“Every coach says that every year – we’re bigger, we’re stronger,” Sumlin said. “But this is true. And with that comes confidence.”
