Before the season, Arizona running backs coach Scottie Graham promoted the idea that his room was one big, happy football family. He had many backs, only one ball, but it was all good.
“Everybody gets a turn,” Graham said. “What I tell my guys is, ‘Be prepared. Because everybody will get a turn. And if you get a turn, you gotta go.’ ”
The Wildcats didn’t utilize all of their tailbacks against San Diego State last week. But they rotated four throughout the game, and that quartet excelled against one of the nation’s stingiest defenses.
DJ Williams, Michael Wiley, Jonah Coleman and Rayshon Luke combined for 171 yards on 37 carries. Only four teams topped 100 yards against SDSU last season. Arizona had just 51.
“I feel really strongly that we have four very good backs that are very capable of playing and helping us win a game,” UA coach Jedd Fisch said Monday.
Fisch and Graham utilized them in a way that was unconventional but highly effective.
The backs didn’t rotate by series. They regularly subbed for one another within a series.
“We didn’t ... want to have three of them on the sideline until one got tired,” said Fisch, whose teams hosts Mississippi State in the home opener Saturday night. “So Coach Graham did a great job of making sure that every chance he had to get someone fresh in the game, he did it.”
Arizona had 75 offensive snaps. Williams, the two-time transfer, played 29 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Wiley started and played 25 snaps. Jonah Coleman played 16. Fellow freshman Rayshon Luke played eight.
The offensive touches were similarly distributed. Williams had 15, including a team-high 14 carries for 88 yards. Wiley had nine (six rushes, three catches). Coleman had 13. Luke had four.
“When you talk about carries and catches combined, the amount of touches that each guy had was pretty close to what our goal was going to be for this game,” Fisch said. “What we were able to do is, throughout the game, keep giving them a fresh body to have to tackle.”
According to PFF, every UA back averaged at least 3.57 yards after contact. Wiley led the way at 4.17 yards. Last year, he averaged 2.28.
“All those guys, you could see the benefit of our strength-and-conditioning program, coach (Tyler) Owens and his staff,” Fisch said. “Michael Wiley was breaking tackles more than he was a year ago. Jonah brought his weight down to 215 pounds and was not letting the first guy tackle him very often.”
The Wildcats turned to Williams in the second half when they were trying to preserve a double-digit lead. He carried 10 times for 75 yards and a touchdown over the final two quarters.
Williams flashed similar ability at Auburn, where he started his college career. He rushed for 130 yards on 13 carries as a true freshman against LSU. The following week, he had 93 yards and a touchdown against Ole Miss.
Williams transferred to Florida State after the 2020 season but barely played for the Seminoles last year. He came to Arizona this summer. Fisch believes Williams is just getting started.
“I think DJ is gonna get better,” Fisch said. “DJ came, what, three days prior to the start of training camp? So he didn’t have the summer conditioning program. He didn’t have the summer strength program. He’s still doing a lot extra ... to be in the best shape that he can be in for us. He’s a big body that plays with a good, low center of gravity.”
‘That’s on us’
How did Arizona manage to have a punt deflect off the arm of an upback?
As pointed out on the CBS broadcast, personal protector Josh Donovan was lined up too deep in the backfield. With the Wildcats punting from their 1-yard line, and punter Kyle Ostendorp’s heels almost touching the back line, Donovan should have been a few yards closer to the line of scrimmage.
“That’s on coaching. That’s on us,” Fisch said. “When you’re on the 1-yard line and you only have 11 yards, it’s different than when you’re on the 4-yard line and you have 14 yards, or the 5-yard line and you have 15 yards.
“We just need to do a better job of execution and coaching that.”
The punting mishap, which was recorded as a team block, resulted in a San Diego State touchdown. A subsequent field goal made the score 31-20 late in the third quarter. Williams’ touchdown early in the fourth put the game away.
Freshmen moving up
Freshmen Jacob Manu and Sterling Lane II didn’t make the initial two-deep depth chart that Arizona released last week. But both played against SDSU, and their stock appears to be rising.
Manu played five snaps at weak-side linebacker and a handful on special teams. Lane played seven snaps at the “Kat” edge-rusher position. He twice got into the backfield to disrupt plays. Each player was credited with one tackle.
“They moved up,” Fisch said. “They had a really good week of practice. They did a great job with the scout team. They kept giving a great look. They kept showing up. They kept showing up in conditioning, they kept showing up in the weight room, running fast, being strong, being physical and being instinctive.
Jacob Manu didn't enroll at UA until June, but was on the field for the season opener.
“When we saw that, we felt like that they were maturing faster then maybe we thought and therefore we had a chance to play some more young freshmen.”
Manu and Lane weren’t able to enroll until June, putting them behind the batch of freshmen who arrived in January and participated in spring practice.
Manu is one of four Class of 2022 recruits from Servite High School in Anaheim, California. Lane, who attended Oaks Christian in Westlake Village, California, was the fifth-highest-rated recruit in Arizona’s class, per 247Sports.
Extra points
- UA quarterback Jayden de Laura committed to Washington State in October 2019, when Mike Leach was the Cougars’ coach. Leach left WSU for Mississippi State after that season. De Laura then played for Nick Rolovich and Jake Dickert before transferring to Arizona. “He’s a very competitive guy and a good player,” Leach told reporters Monday. “He’s got quick feet. The ball comes off his hand quickly, and he’s accurate. He’s definitely a good player. He’s competitive, and he makes that side of the ball for them competitive.”
- Arizona (1-0) and MSU (1-0) are facing each other for the first time. The Wildcats are 1-5-1 all time vs. SEC opponents.
- The trip from Starkville to Tucson is MSU’s longest (1,474 miles) since the Bulldogs visited BYU (1,710) in 2016, per the MSU sports-information department.
- Mississippi State defeated Memphis 49-23 last week. MSU opened as a 14.5-point favorite over Arizona, per VegasInsider.com. Early money on the Wildcats dropped the line to 10.5. The over/under is 61.5.
The Star's Michael Lev and Justin Spears recap Arizona's 38-20 win over the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium.
