Arizona is scheduled to begin spring practice Saturday. Like all teams at this time of year, there are a ton of unknowns about the Wildcats β questions that cannot be answered definitively with the start of the 2017 season almost seven months away.
But the questions must be asked, and answers must be attempted, in the wake of a 3-9 campaign, a turbulent recruiting cycle and a surprising number of coaching changes.
So over the course of this week, weβll delve into five key issues as Arizona prepares to start spring drills.
Question No. 2: How important is spring practice for the Wildcatsβ young linebackers?
Big. Huge. Gargantuan.
Opportunities abound at the βMikeβ and βWillβ positions in Arizonaβs defense β and reinforcements wonβt arrive in full until fall camp.
Heading into spring, the Wildcats have only three returning scholarship players at those two positions: redshirt junior Brandon Rutt and redshirt freshmen Jacob Colacion and Kahi Neves (assuming he doesnβt move to βStudβ). Thatβs it.
Rutt showed some playmaking chops in limited late duty last season; if he continues to progress, he could become Arizonaβs latest former-walk-on success story. Colacion and Neves spent their first season at the UA on the sideline, helping the scout team and, in Colacionβs case, rehabbing a knee injury suffered during his senior year of high school.
We donβt know much about them at this point, and neither does new linebackers coach Scott Boone, who begins his first Arizona spring camp with a clean slate on everyone. So even though theyβve been on campus for a while, spring essentially represents Colacion and Nevesβ first chance to make a first impression.
The same goes for two incoming freshmen who enrolled in January: Tony Fields II and Jose Ramirez. Like Neves last year, Fields and Ramirez have an opportunity to get a head-start on the other class of 2017 linebackers: Joshua Brown, Anthony Pandy, Colin Schooler and Kylan Wilborn. Whether they can parlay that advantage into immediate playing time remains to be seen.
Based on their size and initial positional listings, Fields (6-2, 200) and Ramirez (6-3, 209) appear ticketed for Will duty; Colacian is a Mike. Presumably, Neves will be one as well.
Rutt filled in at the Will late in the season and displayed a knack for being around the ball. His three takeaways β two fumble recoveries and one interception β led the team.
Ideally, Fields, Ramirez and Wilborn will push him. Arizona will be seeking the same from Brown, Pandy and Schooler at the Mike; all three are listed as inside linebackers.
But thatβs then β fall camp. This is now. Arizona has what it has, and in terms of sheer numbers, it isnβt much.
The Wildcats got into this predicament, if you want to call it that, when their top five tacklers within the linebacking corps graduated or left the program for other reasons. They have DeAndreβ Miller coming back at the Stud, a linebacker-defensive end hybrid position. But for all intents and purposes, theyβre starting from scratch at linebacker.
No one will win one of those jobs this spring. Thereβs something to be said, though, for being the leader in the clubhouse heading into summer.
SPRING PREVIEW SERIES
Part 1: The QB competition
