The Arizona Wildcats are still grieving the loss of Zach Hemmila, the offensive lineman who died in his sleep earlier this week.
UA coach Rich Rodriguez and a few players spoke with the media Wednesday before departing for Tempe. The team will spend the next two days at the Arizona Cardinals' training facility in Tempe.
The message: We're in this together.
"I told the team, this is not in the coaching manual," Rodriguez said. "This is not something weβve experienced doing. So weβll figure it out together. We have a Β really tight group, the guys are close, and weβre not shying away from talking about it. Weβll get through it as a team, thatβs what you gotta do."
The Wildcats will practice in Tempe on Wednesday afternoon and then twice on Thursday before returning to Tucson. They'll view Hemmila's body Thursday night as a team. Hemmila's funeral will be held Friday at St. Pius X Catholic Church on Friday afternoon. Β Β
Rodriguez and the players said that staying busy and hitting the road could be good for them. The Wildcats will also travel to Fort Huachuca on Friday night for practice on Saturday.Β
"Itβs kind of how you imagine it would be," tight end Josh Kern. "Weβre trying to maintain a normal schedule, but as you can imagine thatβs been Β little difficuly. At first I didnβt want to be around the facility. His locker is two lockers down from mine. Then we had a couple team meetings, we talked it out with Coach (Rodriguez). The more weβve been around, Iβve started to feel a little better."
