The Arizona Wildcats held their final practice of spring camp Thursday afternoon. Here are some notes and observations from spring practice No. 14:
* Hunter Echols and JB Brown teamed up for the play of the day. Echols deflected a pass, and Brown intercepted it. He then returned the ball down the left sideline before running out of bounds and getting dogpiled by his defensive teammates. Defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said it was the defense’s 23rd takeaway of spring ball.
* Freshman QB Noah Fifita threw the prettiest pass of the day, a perfectly placed post route to Jaden Clark in 11-on-11. Jayden de Laura later launched an equally accurate sideline pass into the awaiting arms of Jacob Cowing, who beat double coverage on the play. Fifta threw a sharp back-shoulder pass to Dorian Singer during the same period.
* The defense mostly got the better of the offense during the red-zone period. Cornerbacks Treydan Stukes, Christian Roland-Wallace and Isaiah Rutherford all recorded pass breakups. Safety Dalton Johnson had two, including a near interception of Jordan McCloud. Jalen Harris had a run stuff on fourth down. Keyan Burnett (short pass from de Laura) and Stevie Rocker Jr. (run up the middle) scored touchdowns.
* Linebacker Matthew Weerts had a pass breakup on a sideline pass intended for Drake Anderson during 7-on-7.
* The final play of practice saw freshman receiver AJ Jones make a one-handed grab in the end zone to beat Rutherford and snare an arcing pass from Fifita.
* Freshman tailback Jonah Coleman was a full participant after working on the side Tuesday. Fellow tailback Jalen John shed the red, no-contact jersey he had been wearing.
* Receivers Ma’jon Wright and Anthony Simpson worked on the side, as did linebacker Anthony Solomon. Linebacker Jerry Roberts was also out.
* With Solomon and Roberts not participating, Ammon Allen and Kolbe Cage were the first-team linebackers.
* Before they broke up to go over plays for the spring game, the players ran a series of sprints. When they finished, UA coach Jedd Fisch proclaimed that spring practice had ended and the coaching staff applauded their effort.
* Attendees at practice included Tedy Bruschi, who will be one of the honorary coaches for the spring game Saturday; UA men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd; UA athletic director Dave Heeke; and Pac-12 Networks analyst Yogi Roth, who will call the spring game along with Ted Robinson and Ashley Adamson.
