Earlier in Arizona’s training camp, UA cornerbacks coach DeWayne Walker referred to his veteran trio of Christian Roland-Wallace, Isaiah Rutherford and Treydan Stukes as “three starters.”
Rutherford and Roland-Wallace took most of the snaps in training camp after Stukes was sidelined with an unspecified leg injury suffered on Aug. 8.
Fortunately for the Wildcats, Stukes should play in Saturday’s season opener against San Diego State at Snapdragon Stadium, coach Jedd Fisch said.
“I don’t know how many reps or what it’ll look like,” Fisch said during his news conference on Thursday, “but I was told today that he will be cleared.”
Added Fisch: “We’ll see how he does today, tomorrow and Saturday to make a decision on starting, but it does sound promising in regards to his ability to participate in the game.”
Rutherford, who transferred from Notre Dame prior to the 2021 season, will start opposite of Roland-Wallace alongside safeties Jaxen Turner and Christian Young.
Stukes will come off the bench. A Litchfield Park native and former track star at Goodyear Millennium High School, Stukes joined the Wildcats in 2020 as a walk-on. He was put on scholarship in 2021.
Burmeister ‘unfinished’ as a college QB
Braxton Burmeister is excited to quarterback his hometown San Diego State Aztecs for two reasons: the beach and jiujitsu training.
The well-traveled graduate transfer from La Jolla says he’s been around MMA for “a long time.” He said the sport helps his play as a quarterback, even if “I had to stop that, because we’re in fall camp.”
“Jiujitsu is all about strategy, knowing the next move and setting it up, so it’s a lot more of a mind game than what people see,” he said. “That helps me for sure, being one step ahead.”
Burmeister recently told the San Diego Union-Tribune he hopes to fight in the UFC someday. For now, Burmeister’s battleground isn’t an octagon, but a 100-yard field at the brand new Snapdragon Stadium.
“I’m very excited to play in this new stadium against Arizona,” Burmeister said. “It’s beautiful. It’s top notch and an awesome facility. We can’t wait to go out there and compete.”
Burmeister verbally committed to Arizona twice out of high school only to sign with Oregon. That seems like a lifetime ago: Khalil Tate was a freshman backup the year Burmeister verbally committed, and the Wildcats beat rival Arizona State for the Territorial Cup.
Burmeister, a dual-threat quarterback, said he was enamored with Arizona’s spread offense under former coach Rich Rodriguez and then-offensive coordinator Rod Smith.
Burmeister decommitted from the Wildcats the first time, saying there was “a lot of stuff that happened behind the scenes that happens in recruiting.”
But after deliberation and evaluating other programs, Burmeister — who also considered Florida, Washington, South Carolina and Illinois, among others, out of La Jolla Country Day — recommitted to the Wildcats.
Oregon, with current Arizona quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty as Burmeister’s lead recruiter, swooped in and poached him just before the signing period began.
“I don’t really remember much about my recruitment. It was a long time ago,” Burmeister said. “I’m excited because (this week is) just another game and the first game, so naturally that’s the reason why. I’m excited to get going and play football.”
Big rivalry
Burmeister backed up current NFL star Justin Herbert at Oregon before leaving for Virginia Tech, where he sat out for a season due to NCAA transfer rules.
During the condensed, pandemic-influenced 2020 season, Burmeister went 4-1 as a starter for the Hokies. Last season, Burmeister threw for 1,960 yards, 14 touchdowns and four interceptions while rushing for 521 yards and three touchdowns. He said the highlight of his time at Virginia Tech was beating Virginia both times he was quarterback.
“It’s similar to the Arizona-Arizona State rivalry. It’s a big rivalry. We played once at Virginia Tech, won that game, then played once at Virginia and won that game. Both games were intense, big-time rivalry games,” Burmeister said. “Getting those two rivalry wins under my belt was pretty cool.”
Justin Fuente was fired as coach following the season, and Burmeister joined the exodus from Blackburg.
Brady Hoke and the Aztecs then came calling.
“I had one more year of eligibility left, so I decided to come home and play my last season,” Burmeister said.
Compared to the Oregon and Virginia Tech systems, Burmeister said, “There’s a lot more freedom in this offense.”
“The thing we talk about in the quarterback room is, ‘We have options,’ so that’s the coolest part about being in the offense,” he said.
Asked to describe his college journey, Burmeister used the word “unfinished.” He said he has a goal to “win a bunch of games” in his final season.
“I’m very happy with how everything played out,” Burmeister said. “They have a winning culture here, and I got here in January and they all welcomed me to the program. It’s been a great six months.”
Late-night pandemonium on the recruiting trail
If you’re a high-profile junior in high school, particularly on the West Coast, there’s a chance you heard from the Arizona coaching staff once the clock hit midnight on Thursday.
Thursday morning marked the start of contact period for the 2024 recruiting class.
Fisch called it “wild — mayhem.”
“My phone was going nuts,” he said. “That’s what makes it great. That’s what makes college football so special. You have to love that part of it. You have to love the idea that you can build your team out on Sept. 1 of 2022 — and what you want it to look like for 2024. … The Twitter-verse went crazy, and if you’re these kids … and all of a sudden Power 5 coaches and coaches in Division I football are reaching out to you, it’s got to be a great feeling.
“It’s got to be a great feeling for them, and certainly a great feeling for us to talk to their parents and their kids, and see how excited they were even if it was 12:30 at night.”
