Leading up to Arizona’s spring football practice schedule, which begins on Tuesday and ends with the UA’s spring game on April 27, the Star is previewing how the Wildcats stand heading into the first season under new head coach Brent Brennan. Part II: Special teams.
Key returners: K Tyler Loop, CB/RS Jai-Ayviauynn Celestine, DB DJ Warnell, LB Kamuela Ka’aihue, RB/RS Rayshon Luke
Key departures: P Kyle Ostendorp, WR/PR Jacob Cowing, LS Seth MacKellar, LB Anthony Ward, RB/KR Michael Wiley
Key additions: K/P Michael Salgado-Medina (joining team in summer), LS Trey Naughton
On the rise: P Cash Peterman, LS Kameron Hawkins
Coaches: Danny Gonzales (special teams/linebackers)
The rundown: When it’s all said and done, Loop will statistically go down as one of the best kickers in UA history. College football history, too.
Arizona kicker Tyler Loop, front right, is congratulated after kicking the winning field goal by tight end Tanner McLachlan, back right, as tight end Tyler Powell (87) also celebrates as the Wildcats defeated Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, last November.
Loop, a senior from Lucas, Texas, has made 49 of 57 (86%) field goals over three seasons with the Wildcats; his career rate currently ranks 12th in college football history (with a minimum 50 attempts). If Loop maintains his completion percentage, he’ll remain as Arizona’s all-time leader. Loop is also a perfect 103 for 103 in kicking PATs, which is 20 shy of Max Zendejas’ program record.
Loop is coming off a career year for the Wildcats, making 19 of 24 field goals and influencing several games in Arizona’s 10-3 season in 2023. Loop made three field goals and three PAT attempts in Arizona’s 38-24 win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. He also extended his range by making his first 50-yard field goal; he made 2 of 4 field goals from at least 50 yards out. Loop made a 52-yard goal in Arizona’s 34-31 win over Colorado — the game Loop won for the Wildcats with a 24-yard field goal as time expired, the team’s first walk-off field goal since 2014. Loop was named Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance at Colorado. In Loop’s 84 kickoff attempts in 2023, 73 of them were touchbacks.
Despite Loop being back for another season, Arizona will have to replace longtime starters in Ostendorp and MacKellar, who both played five seasons for the Wildcats. Arizona will also have to replace Cowing, the Wildcats’ top punt returner, and Wiley, the top kick returner. While Cowing had a very pedestrian 11 returns for 65 yards, two of his returns against 11th-ranked Oregon State, including a 20-yard return to the OSU 40-yard line in the fourth quarter, were crucial for field position in the close win over the Beavers.
Arizona kicker Tyler Loop celebrates after hitting a career-long 51-yard field goal against Oregon State last season.
Hawkins, a redshirt junior from Victorville, California, and Naughton, a former Salpointe Catholic High School standout and Western Kentucky transfer, will compete for the long snapper role. Peterman, a former BYU Cougar and Phoenix-area native, is the only listed punter, but the Wildcats are adding Salgado-Medina in the summer, and he punted at Mission Viejo High School in California. Peterman, a YouTube influencer, has one of the most-followed Instagram accounts on Arizona’s roster with nearly 330,000 followers. Peterman has an NIL deal with “Parsons Xtreme Golf” (PXG) and promotes their brand.
This spring, Arizona’s leading kick returner for Arizona is Celestine, who had three returns for 56 yards in 2023. Star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was involved on the punt return unit with two returns for 11 yards.
Beyond kicking and returning positions, other special teams positions are a “valuable part of a team,” especially for backups hoping to sprout up the depth chart and play on offense or defense.
“It’s an opportunity for those guys to show they can play,” said Gonzales, who was previously the head coach at New Mexico. “If you look at an NFL roster, there’s only 46 active on game day. So you’ve got a core of 13 to 15 guys that play on every special team in that league. With a roster of 110, you don’t want all of your best players playing every special team, because there’s just so many more snaps in college than there is in the NFL.
“Those guys have to be able to prove that they can do it. But what we’ve got here with an older group, especially with the guys that we have on defense in the secondary and at linebacker, they should be bringing the young guys behind them. They’re gonna start on some of those things, they’re gonna be in their own own position. But if I’m the right guard on punt and I’ve got a guy on me that has played minimal snaps, I’m gonna get after his tail, and because they built that here with the older guys that have been good and they’re such good players, the younger guys will follow suit and it’s our job to coach them up so that those guys can show that they can do it on special teams. But they don’t have to be the main piece because they’re so valuable on either side of the ball.”
Gonzales said Brennan approached the ex-New Mexico coach and Albuquerque native about coaching special teams, which he hadn’t specialized in since he was the safeties coach and special teams coordinator for UNM from 2006-08.
“The thing about being a special teams guys, you get to touch both sides of the ball. ... It’s fun,” he said. “It gives you a different relationship with those guys.”
Arizona head coach Brent Brennan sat down with the Arizona Daily Star at Davis Sports Center. (Video by Justin Spears / Arizona Daily Star)
