Rich Rodriguez, the Arizona Wildcats’ full-time coach and part-time comedian, occasionally punctuates answers to press queries in a presidential manner:
“That’s fake news!”
Nothing sounds more insincere to UA fans than the notion that its tight ends will be more involved in the passing game. It has been suggested many times but hasn’t come to fruition for most of Rodriguez’s tenure.
Why might this year be different?
For starters, tight end Trevor Wood is playing the best football of his college career — and is being targeted accordingly.
Wood caught several passes during Arizona’s open practice Saturday, continuing a trend that began in spring. Not coincidentally, that was the Wildcats’ first spring with Rodriguez confidante and co-offensive coordinator Calvin Magee in charge of the tight ends. It was also their first without departed wide receivers Nate Phillips, Trey Griffey and Samajie Grant.
Those three left a void, and Wood is among those who could fill it. The redshirt junior has bonded with Magee, who played tight end in the NFL for four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I’m just taking his mentorship and going with it,” Wood said. “He played a long time in the league. Any tip I can get, I’ll take.
“He knows those little things that can help you to be better the next day.”
Wood regularly works with Magee after practice, trying to improve his ball skills and other parts of his game. It was Rodriguez who proclaimed that “this is the best Trevor’s looked in his career,” and Wood appreciates the compliment. His simple goal is daily, incremental improvement.
“He’s really dedicated to it,” Magee said. “He’s really trying to learn the position and pay attention to the small things, the little details.
“He’s making plays. He gives us a different element to what we can do.”
Wood is a massive man, listed at 6 feet 6 inches and 265 pounds. Quarterback Brandon Dawkins has noted the benefits of having big targets such as Wood and 6-5 Shawn Poindexter among his primary options.
Magee is trying to impress on Wood the importance of playing big.
“He’s a big-bodied kid, and he needs to use that,” Magee said. “Tight ends need to play big. They need to be brutes.”
Based on size alone, Wood presents a mismatch for any defensive back. Knowing that, the coaches are moving Wood — and backup Jamie Nunley, who’s 6-5, 230 — to different spots. They might line up along the line, on the wing or out wide.
“We’ve always utilized what we’ve had and tried to fit it into the offense,” Magee said. “We happen to have some guys now. If a guy can flex out and do some things where we don’t have to sub, he fits that mold.”
Naturally, Wood likes the idea of the coaching staff “putting us in position to make plays.” Now it’s a matter of actually going out and doing it.
Wood spoke to reporters on the same day the UA announced it will give away Rob Gronkowski bobbleheads during the Sept. 2 opener against Northern Arizona. The future All-Pro caught 75 passes for 1,197 yards and 16 touchdowns in his two healthy seasons at Arizona, and fans still complain that he wasn’t utilized enough.
Wood caught seven balls for 49 yards last season. He missed the previous year because of a shoulder injury. He didn’t register a reception as a freshman.
No one is expecting Wood’s production to reach Gronk-like levels this season. The outside skepticism remains. But program insiders insist Wood and his fellow eight ends won’t be afterthoughts either.
“I’ve got a good feeling,” Wood said.
New energy on special teams
In addition to adding tight ends to Magee’s plate in the offseason, Rodriguez hired Brian Knorr to coach special teams. The energetic, enthusiastic Knorr has made a positive impression thus far.
‘We’ve taken a whole different approach and mentality to special teams this year,” kicker Josh Pollack said. “We’ve been calling it ‘Special Forces.’ It’s cool. It kind of gets people fired up. It makes it so people want to be on special teams.”
Knorr also has added an analytical element to special teams. Every practice rep is graded and charted. Field-goal attempts are broken down into specific zones — left middle, right middle, etc. — to determine patterns and areas in need of improvement.
“We grade the day,” Knorr said. “We just try to use as much metrics as we can with these guys to evaluate them.”
Special-teams struggles contributed to the Wildcats ranking last in the Pac-12 and 122nd in the nation in field-position differential last season — the difference between their average starting position and their opponents’.
Extra points
• Rodriguez said he has developed a good relationship with UA athletic director Dave Heeke, who took over the job in spring. The two recently met to discuss the football program, facilities and other topics. “I’m excited,” Rodriguez said. “He’s working hard to try to help us get some things done for the future.”
• Rodriguez said new UA president Robert C. Robbins is expected to visit the team at Thursday’s practice.
• The Wildcats worked in full pads Tuesday and basically will do so on an every-other-day basis. The offense, which won Tuesday’s practice, connected on several deep passes, Rodriguez said.
• Rodriguez said cornerbacks Lorenzo Burns and Sammy Morrison are playing the best football of their UA careers. Burns and Morrison are likely to form the second unit behind projected starters Dane Cruikshank and Jace Whittaker.
• Safety Anthony Mariscal, a redshirt sophomore, is not currently on the training-camp roster and hasn’t practiced during training camp.
