Arizona football: How losing Orlando Bradford will affect Wildcats

Orlando Bradford is no longer an Arizona Wildcat. The UA dismissed the sophomore tailback from the program Wednesday after he was arrested and charged with seven felony counts of domestic violence.

What follows is an analysis of the impact of Bradford’s departure strictly from a football perspective:

Even before this incident, or series of incidents, happened, the much-discussed Nick Wilson-Bradford platoon never materialized. Although the UA listed them as co-starters — and although the coaches talked them up that way — Wilson took the vast majority of snaps during the first two games.

The workload was as one-sided as could be: Wilson had 41 carries, Bradford five and freshman J.J. Taylor one.

But if Wilson had gotten hurt — which happened last season — the Wildcats had Bradford ready to go. Even if he didn’t get the touches he had been promised in the first two games, the coaches believed Bradford could carry the load. He showed them as much against Oregon State (19 carries, 83 yards, three touchdowns) and New Mexico (11-62) last season.

Now, if Wilson were to go down, the next option is Taylor. Which in and of itself is perfectly fine. By all accounts, Taylor looked fantastic during training camp. He needed to get more work anyway.

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However, a position that once seemed deep is now perilously thin. Rich Rodriguez has said repeatedly that he likes to have 3-4 running backs he can trust. Arizona is down to two and several question marks.

The next man up, presumably, is redshirt junior Zach Green, who never has been able to crack the rotation. If not Green, then Branden Leon, one of three walk-ons who fill out the tailback corps.

Coaches have spoken highly of Leon. And we’ve seen walk-ons (Justin Belknap) and former walk-ons (Jake Matthews, Parker Zellers) excel for Arizona on the defensive side of the ball. But it’s suboptimal if you’re one injury away from a walk-on potentially being the No. 2 running back in an offensive system in which running backs play a vital role.

Speedy slot receiver Tyrell Johnson has played some running back, so perhaps that’s a possibility. But Johnson isn’t ideally suited for tailback at 5-7, 164 pounds.

Is Taylor ready to be a bell-cow back in college at 5-6, 170? We might find out sooner than anyone expected.