When Brent Brennan pieced together his coaching staff at Arizona, he blended his young up-and-coming coaches from San Jose State with longtime coaches.
One of those veterans, offensive coordinator Dino Babers, was brought in to help lead Arizona's offense, but also mentor and guide other offensive coaches on Brennan's staff.
“When we first brought Coach Babers in here from the beginning, the intent was to really help the young coaches grow and develop and he’s been doing a fantastic job with the offensive staff," Brennan said on Monday.
Arizona offensive coordinator Dino Babers answers questions during a preseason media luncheon at Arizona Stadium on July 30.
Babers and Brennan talked about the possibility of changing duties with another coach during "the job-hiring process" in January.
"When Brent called me down and said he wanted me to come down here and coordinate the offense, he felt like he had some guys that were capable of doing it," Babers said on Tuesday. "He wanted me to groom them and bring them along."
One of those rising stars on Arizona's coaching staff is tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Matt Adkins, who took over playcalling duties for the Wildcats' upset win over No. 10 Utah in Salt Lake City after three games with Babers calling plays.
Following a rocky performance in a blowout loss to Kansas State, where the UA didn't score after the opening drive, “We felt like going into the bye week was the right time for coach Adkins, with the help of Dino, to step into that role," Brennan said.
Arizona tight end Keyan Burnett talks with UA tight ends coach Matt Adkins during spring football practice on April 11.
“That was how we approached it,” Brennan said. “Coach Babers is on board with this, he’s been great about it, we’ve had a lot of conversations about it and he’s incredibly supportive of Matt and the staff.”
Distributing passes was a common issue with Arizona through three games this season. In the first game with Adkins at the helm, Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita completed a pass to eight different pass-catchers, including tight end Keyan Burnett, who had a breakout performance with five catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.
"There's no doubt Matthew has been doing the best job and it was going to be something that we lean that way and turn it over to," Babers said.
"He accelerated his growth from when I first met him," he added. "It was just a matter of time of when we were going to do it. We felt like the bye week might've been the best time to do it."
Adkins is a "very knowledgeable" coach, but is still relatively new to major college football coaching.
Adkins worked under Brennan for six years at San Jose State, after he played quarterback at Southern Oregon and graduated from the NAIA school in 2012. After his final collegiate season, Adkins became an offensive coordinator under his father, Doug, with the Carlstad Crusaders of the Swedish Football League.
In 2013, he was named head coach of Carlstad. When he wasn't coaching overseas, Adkins managed assistant offensive duties at Southern Oregon, which he called “a perfect time in my life,” because he was a playcaller for 30 games in one calendar year.
"He's been in a lot of responsibility roles, but he's been at a lower level, which was one of the reasons why I came in here," Babers said. "I just wanted those guys getting used to doing certain things at a Power 4, Power 5 level and making sure they have all the things they need for Coach B and the offense to be successful."
Beyond playcalling, the latest development with Arizona's coaches changes "absolutely nothing" for Babers.
"The way we do things is collaborative anyway," Babers said. "We know what plays are going to get called if they're in practice. We really don't go off-script very much.
"We know what's going to be called, you just may not know the order, which is the duty of the playcaller."
Arizona kicker Tyler Loop knocks through a 53-yard field goal Saturday night.
UA's Loop: Lou Groza Star of Week
Arizona senior kicker Tyler Loop was named the Lou Groza Star of the Week, the Palm Beach County Sports Commission announced on Tuesday.
Loop tied his career-high with three field goals, including a 33-, 47- and a 53-yarder, in Arizona's win over Utah. Loop's fourth and final attempt on Saturday was a missed 56-yarder in the fourth quarter. Loop's two extra points against Utah extended his perfect PAT rate at 115-for-115 over his five-year career.
All 24 of Loop's kickoff attempts this season are touchbacks. Loop's 84.8% career field-goal rate is the second-best among active college kickers with at least 50 attempts.
Arizona defensive back Tacario Davis, left, celebrates a fourth-down incomplete pass Saturday. Davis has been named both the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week and the Jim Thorpe National Defensive Back of the Week.
Davis earns another honor
Arizona cornerback Tacario Davis was named Jim Thorpe National Defensive Back of the Week on Tuesday following his career game against Utah.
Davis, who was also Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, helped the Wildcats upset Utah in Salt Lake City. Davis had seven solo tackles and five pass breakups — three on fourth-down plays — against the Utes.
Arizona landed former Memphis defensive tackle Jarra Anderson through the transfer portal.
UA D-Lineman Anderson out for season
Arizona defensive tackle Jarra Anderson announced on Instagram Tuesday morning that he will miss the remainder of the season and medically redshirt after he suffered a leg injury in training camp.
Anderson revealed he suffered a stress fracture in his shin during training camp.
"I have been contemplating on my return for this, but after heavy consideration with my family, I have decided to medically redshirt for my sophomore year to come back stronger and at full health for the upcoming season," he said.
The 6-2, 277-pound Katy, Texas native played one season at Memphis, before entering the transfer portal. Anderson recorded 10 tackles, two stops for loss and 1.5 sacks in 11 games at Memphis. He was named to Pro Football Focus' All-Freshman Team in 2023.
Extra points
- Brennan, on the possibility of players redshirting for the remainder of the season after playing four games: "There are some guys that are trying to figure that out and we'll figure that out in the next couple of days. There are other guys who are kind of at the ready. I don't want a player to use a year and not play. That doesn't make any sense to me. So if a freshman decides to play or we decide to play a freshman, he is in the game. I will be on everyone's rear end about that. If we're saying that he's going to play, then he's going to play."
- Brennan said the decision to not challenge Utah tight end Brant Kuithe’s fumble near the end of the first half was because of "the television timeout at that time, so it gave them four minutes to look at it, so I wasn't going to challenge it." Said Brennan: "The guys on the headset, I'm talking to them and they're watching the replay. They're like, 'It's close.' I'm talking to the officials and they're like, 'We've already looked at it, we're still looking at it, we're still looking at,' and at that point, I'm not going to want to challenge that."
- Babers said "getting a win (at Utah) is a big deal, adding: “That is a big-time win, and now we’re gonna see where we’re gonna go from it. Are we going to be a flash in the pan or turn this into something big?”
- Arizona's Big 12 home opener against Texas Tech on Saturday is a "stripe out." The seat and color chart at Arizona Stadium can be found at ArizonaWildcats.com.
