Notes and takeaways from Arizona Wildcats coach Kevin Sumlin’s weekly Monday news conference at the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility:
* Sumlin isn’t putting any stock in upcoming opponent USC’s relatively slow start. The Trojans are 2-2. “USC is a very, very talented team,” Sumlin said. “They’ve had their struggles. They have a young quarterback (true freshman JT Daniels), but he’s talented. They have veteran offensive line in front of him. They’re explosive on the perimeter. Special teams-wise, they’re up near the top of the league. They’re big and athletic up front (on defense) and have a lot of guys who can run. We’ve got our work cut out for us this week.”
* Sumlin was impressed with Daniels’ ability to rally USC in the second half against Washington State last week and believes the experiences he’s had so far will benefit him.
* Sumlin on Arizona QB Khalil Tate’s performance through four games: “Because of some things that have happened with him physically, the things that he’s encountered the last three weeks, I think he’s handled things pretty well.”
* Sumlin declined to comment on the status of cornerback Jace Whittaker for the USC game. Whittaker returned to the lineup Sept. 15 vs. Southern Utah but appeared to hurt his left arm on the opening series. He hasn’t played since.
* Sumlin said linebacker Colin Schooler runs “in the 20-miles-per-hour range consistently” in practice, according to the team’s GPS tracking system. The fastest players are in the 22-mph range, Sumlin said.
* Sumlin said J.J. Taylor carrying the ball 27 times, as he did at Oregon State, could happen again depending on the situation. Sumlin wants to continue to rotate backs, but in that particular game, Taylor was hot and Arizona didn’t sub that much. He rushed for a career-best 284 yards and was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.
* Sumlin said the offensive line is emblematic of the team as a whole: It has gotten better each week. Sumlin and his staff have emphasized self-improvement with every position group.
* Sumlin on two linemen getting flagged for being too far downfield in the second quarter vs. Oregon State: “It’s something we fixed at halftime. It’s just part of our scheme.”
* Sumlin went into great detail about the fake field goal vs. the Beavers. We’ll have more on that later today.
* Sumlin on kicker Lucas Havrisik being 4 of 8 on field goals so far: “There’s no excuses. Everybody’s got a job to do. That’s certainly an area where we need to get better.” We’ll have more on Havrisik later today as well.
* Sumlin praised the Zona Zoo and said the student section has “give us a lot of energy.” He added that he hopes the team continues to play with the energy it displayed the past two weeks.
