Arizona head coach Brent Brennan hugs running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt during the Wildcatsโ warm-ups before the UAโs season-opening victory over New Mexico Saturday at Arizona Stadium.
Arizona offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea (71) hoists the cup after the Wildcats won the the 97th Territorial Cup with a 59-23 road win over rival ASU on Nov. 25, 2023, in Tempe.
Arizona defensive back Marquis Groves-Killebrew (20) gets called for pass interference defending the long throw to New Mexico defensive lineman Tyler Kiehne.
Arizona head coach Brent Brennan reflected on the No. 21-ranked Wildcats' 61-39 win over New Mexico and discussed Tetairoa McMillan's record performance, the rise of walk-on fullback Kayden Luke and adjustments for Week 2, among other things, during his Monday news conference. (Video by Just…
Arizona canโt afford too many injuries this season, especially on the offensive line, and particularly at left tackle.
In the first game of the post-Jordan Morgan era at Arizona, redshirt freshman left tackle Rhino Tapaโatoutai, in his first start as a Wildcat, suffered a leg injury in the second half of No. 21 Arizonaโs 61-39 win over New Mexico, which sidelined him for the rest of the contest. Tapaโtoutaiโs status for Saturday is questionable.
With Tapaโtoutai leaving Saturday and Oregon transfer Michael Wooten out with an injury he suffered in training camp, the Wildcats relied on true freshman Matthew Lado, a 6-6, 292-pound Phoenix-area native, who was one of three players from Glendale Apollo High School to sign with the Wildcats in December, along with running back Adam Mohammed and offensive lineman Michael Watkins. After Jedd Fisch left for Washington, Mohammed and Watkins followed the former Arizona head coach to Seattle; Lado stayed.
The developing Lado initially appeared to be a potential redshirt candidate, which he still can if he played in three more regular-season games and the postseason, but the opportunity for playing time arose with injuries in the early stages of the season.
With Lado at tackle, โI thought we still moved the ball when he was in there and thatโs pretty cool,โ said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.
โWhen I first got here, he was one of the young men that arrived five days earlier,โ Brennan said. โItโs awesome to see his development and process, and I think (offensive line coach Josh Oglesby) is doing a great job coaching him.โ
Lado played five snaps at left tackle and 12 at right tackle, while preseason All-Big 12 selection Jonah Savaiinaea played those dozen snaps at left tackle after playing 39 snaps at right tackle. In his nearly 1,800 offensive snaps at Arizona, Savaiinaea 985 snaps at right guard, 732 at right tackle and now 12 at left tackle, the position he played at St. Louis High School in Honolulu.
โThe flexibility that he has is going to help our football team tremendously this year and itโs also going to help him when he moves on to the next level,โ Brennan said on Saturday.
The 6-5, 336-pound Savaiinaea, one of six team captains this season at Arizona, โis an extremely talented young man, but he also has a high care factor,โ Brennan said. Savaiinaea and fifth-year center Josh Baker, another captain, โare the real leaders of that offensive front, and I think his demeanor and how hard he plays, I think that rubs off on everybody, and the fact that heโs mature.โ
โYou can move him around and he can play with confidence and know what to do,โ Brennan said.
The versatility of Savaiinaea, who is projected by ESPNโs Field Yates as the No. 21 overall pick in the NFL Draft, could be on display at left tackle on Saturday, when No. 20 Arizona faces Northern Arizona for the second nonconference game of the season.
โHeโs so special,โ Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita said of Savaiinaea. โThatโs been the case since he got on campus. He started as a true freshman at guard, moved to right tackle last year and then obviously moved to left tackle when Rhino went down. His versatility, his swagger, his confidence โ heโs never afraid to do what he needs to do for the team.
โHim being an offensive lineman, he doesnโt get as much attention as he should, but at the end of the day, heโs a first-round draft pick. Thatโs been that way since he arrived campus. Itโs a blessing having him protect us.โ
Two-minute timeout โadds a new elementโ
Arizona experienced the new in-game elements in college football on Saturday. Among the newly added items this season is the two-minute warning at the end of the second and fourth quarters. The two-minute warning is โa huge impact, because itโs an extra timeout,โ Brennan said. โYouโre coming into that part of the game, and you have four timeouts.
โIt could impact the way you try to finish a game, if youโre down, and it could impact the way you close a game, if youโre up. Weโve spent a lot of time this offseason talking through those situations and those scenarios, because it absolutely adds a new element.โ
The Wildcats also used the coach-to-player communication in helmets and Microsoft Windows tablets on the sidelines. The tablets were โinteresting, because you have that video on the sideline, you have a chunk of the side of the ball where youโd normally be on the bench, cheering on the team.โ
Added Brennan: โTheyโre now watching all of the plays from the last series, so theyโre getting coached all the way up until the next snap they have to play, which I think is valuable.โ
Wildcats move up a spot in AP Top 25
The Arizona Wildcats moved up one spot to No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll on Tuesday, after their season-opening win over the New Mexico Lobos.
Arizona received its eighth straight AP ranking dating back to last season, which is the longest stretch since 2014.
Kansas, Arizonaโs Big 12 opponent, leap-frogged the Wildcats and rose from No. 22 to No. 19 in the AP poll. Five teams from the Big 12 are ranked entering Week 2: Utah (11), Oklahoma State (16), Kansas State (17), Kansas (19) and Arizona (20).
No. 20 Arizona continues its nonconference schedule on Saturday against in-state rival Northern Arizona at Arizona Stadium at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Photos: Arizona Wildcats defeat New Mexico 61-39 in '24 college football opener