Jayden de Laura rolled to his right, gaining separation from hard-charging defenders and buying time for Tetairoa McMillan to work the end line.
De Laura lofted the ball into the end zone. McMillan came down with it for a 21-yard touchdown.
It was one of the signature plays of Arizona’s scrimmage Saturday night — and a prime example of the feats de Laura is capable of performing.
Wildcats coach Jedd Fisch doesn’t want his presumptive starting quarterback to go off script all the time. But Fisch doesn’t want to discourage de Laura from following his instincts either.
“The biggest mistake we would make is to try to limit him and make him play in a phone booth and not allow those plays to be encouraged,” Fisch said. “The key is for us is to be able to make sure we manage that. That he knows when to say when – when to give up on a play, when to ... understand what part of the field you’re in when you’re taking off.
“But there’s a certain gift for certain guys that they have, which is plays off schedule. He has that, so we have to be able to play within that realm.”
Another of de Laura’s best plays came on a throw outside the pocket — a well-placed touch pass to Jacob Cowing for a 29-yard gain on third down.
Fisch’s offense features plenty of plays that put the quarterback on the move. Primarily, though, it’s a pocket-based system.
More than anything, the circumstances of the game will dictate when de Laura freelances.
Jayden de Laura figures there are four or five times each game “where I'm going out of the pocket and making something happen.” The challenge comes in picking the right spots.
“It’s just educating (him on) situational football,” Fisch said. “Hey, you’re inside the 20-yard line, we’re now in field-goal range, we gotta be smart with the football. Hey, we’re in a situation where it’s a second-and-1, we don’t want to go backwards.
“There are certain plays that we have to educate him on and keep building up his football intelligence to see how good we can get.”
De Laura came to Arizona with about a season-and-a-half’s worth of playing experience at Washington State. He operated out of a different system, a run-and-shoot, where he was always in the shotgun and didn’t utilize play-action nearly as much as he will here.
De Laura strives to work on a particular element of his game every year. This year, he said, “it’s staying on script and not really going rogue, not going away from the system.”
De Laura figures there are four or five times each game “where I’m going out of the pocket and making something happen.” The challenge comes in picking the right spots.
He’ll gain a better feel for it when he masters Fisch’s scheme and terminology. It’s still a learning process for de Laura, who arrived on campus in January.
“Going under center, playing with a tight end — sometimes we got three tight ends in certain packages — so just adjusting to that,” de Laura said. “I feel like all in all, we’re doing an amazing job. Still got a lot of ways to go, but so far, so good.”
Testing T-Mac
McMillan had what Fisch described as “his best night of practice” to date. Unofficially, the ballyhooed freshman caught five passes for 76 yards. Another long completion was called back because of a penalty.
McMillan frequently has matched up against veteran cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace during spring ball. Those battles have made McMillan better.
“I always make the joke that these guys should be getting ready for their prom,” Fisch said of the freshmen who enrolled in January. “Instead, he’s going against arguably one of the better corners in the Pac-12 every day.”
Roland-Wallace has notched plenty of victories in that matchup, and it wasn’t a one-sided affair Saturday night either. McMillan had to work for every catch. Those reps should help him in the long run.
While Roland-Wallace is making it hard on McMillan, his connection with de Laura has come easy.
“Me and him communicate really good,” de Laura said. “He’s an island boy from Hawaii too. It’s like I knew him for a while.”
Extra points
Freshman receiver Kevin Green Jr. was a frequent target for Jordan McCloud and Noah Fifita. Said Fisch: “What we saw from him today was some explosiveness, his quick twitch, his ability to catch the ball in traffic at not a ton of weight right now (listed at 159 pounds) — but be able to play big at his size and play fearless and go over the middle and make plays and make guys miss and compete. He’s a ... good young player that’s going to be very good in the years to come.”
De Laura on Fifita, a freshman vying for the No. 2 QB job: “I feel like he’s older than he actually is, the way he takes in everything. He’ll come to the sidelines, and I’m over there in his ear like, ‘Hey, what did you see?’ I’ll ask him what he sees first ... and I’ll tell him what I see. This goes both ways for us. He’s catching on to everything really fast.”
Cornerback Treydan Stukes on the confidence the secondary is playing with: “We’ve got a lot of veteran guys in the room leading us — CY (Christian Young), C-Ro (Roland-Wallace), Jax (Jaxen Turner). These are all older guys that we know can play. We’ve seen them play; we’ve seen them make plays. I would say they’re leading us, but we all believe in one another. We all just go out there knowing we can do what we do.”
Turner again wore a red no-contact jersey. He was briefly “ejected” after a high hit on Dorian Singer in the end zone. Things got chippy between the offense and defense a handful of times.
Tailbacks Drake Anderson and Stevie Rocker Jr. participated in the scrimmage after being held out of contact earlier in the week. Both have missed time this spring.
The Wildcats squeezed in some special-teams work between series. Cowing and Green were the top two punt returners. Cowing, Michael Wiley, Green and Jashon Butler were the kickoff returners.
Tailback Jonah Coleman and offensive lineman Joe Borjon exited early with what Fisch said were minor leg injuries.
Shontrail Key and Davis DiVall got extensive playing time with the second unit at left tackle and left guard, respectively.
Right tackle Paiton Fears returned after being out Friday. Nickel back Gunner Maldonado participated after missing a handful of practices and was extremely active, especially as a blitzer.
Players who dressed but did not participate included receiver Anthony Simpson, tight end Tanner McLachlan and linebacker Malik Reed. Linebacker Jerry Roberts and offensive lineman Leif Magnuson also were out. Fisch said there’s a chance Roberts, who has a bruised foot, could be available for the upcoming spring game.
With Reed and Roberts out, Ammon Allen and Anthony Ward handled most of the “Mike” linebacker duties. Anthony Solomon and Kolbe Cage worked at the “Will” position.
The Wildcats return to practice Tuesday.
