Arizona left tackle Raymond Pulido 'unavailable this season' for Wildcats

Arizona sophomore left tackle Raymond Pulido “is going to be unavailable this season,” said UA head coach Brent Brennan after the Wildcats’ first day of training camp on Wednesday.

Pulido is out for undisclosed reasons. With Pulido out, the Wildcats now have three returning starters on the offensive line: right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea, center Josh Baker and left guard Wendell Moe.

The 6-6, 335-pound Pulido signed with Arizona last season as a four-star recruit out of Apple Valley, California, after he was previously committed to Alabama. With Savaiinaea moving from right guard to right tackle, Pulido was named starter at guard as a true freshman.

Pulido missed the first three games of the 2023 season due to a bicycle accident near Arizona Stadium in the days leading up to the season opener. Pulido also missed time during his freshman season after suffering an ankle injury in the Pac-12 opener at Stanford.

In his debut at left tackle against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, replacing then NFL-bound Jordan Morgan, Pulido surrendered three sacks and six pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. PFF also gave Pulido a 33.3 pass-blocking grade for his performance in the Alamo Bowl. In the second half of the Alamo Bowl, Arizona shuffled Savaiinaea back to right tackle and subbed in Leif Magnuson, while former tackle Joseph Borjon was benched.

Pulido started at left tackle in the spring, but nursed a leg injury and was replaced by redshirt freshman Rhino Tapa’atoutai, who started at left tackle on Wednesday. With Moe sidelined on Wednesday, Tapa’atoutai started alongside left guard and Northwestern transfer Alexander Doost, a 6-7, 295-pound Phoenix native, center Josh Baker, Magnuson and Savaiinaea.

Former Oregon Duck Michael Wooten earned second-team reps at left tackle. Wooten, a 6-4, 310-pound redshirt sophomore from Duquesne, California, signed with Oregon as a three-star recruit out of Los Angeles-area Sierra Canyon High School in 2022. Wooten redshirted his freshman season at Oregon and appeared in one game.

Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby said in June that “the sky’s the limit for Mike.”

“With the training he’s going to get in the strength and conditioning program as well as the changes we’re going to make to his game overall on the offensive line, it’s going to make huge dividends for him,” Oglesby said.

The Wildcats also signed former San Diego State offensive tackle Jonah Rodriguez, a 6-4, 275-pound redshirt freshman, in the transfer portal. Oglesby, who tried recruiting Rodriguez to San Jose State, said the San Diego native “is an amazing talent and has the ability to play all five positions.”

“Great combination of speed and strength, which is going to be huge for us in the offensive line room. ... I saw his name pop up (in the transfer portal) and I called him right away, and it was like we picked up right where we left off,” Oglesby said. “It was awesome getting him here on the trip and not having that weird, awkward, buffer stage where we’re getting to know each other, because we already had history together.”

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita said the left tackle candidates are “doing a great job and they’ve done it all summer, they did it in the spring.”

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“I know Coach O will get them right. Coach O is a fantastic coach. We’ve got some good candidates at that spot,” Fifita said. “That’s the best part about football: competition. We’re building that trust, building that camaraderie, and the biggest part, whoever it is, they know that we trust them. Confidence goes a long way. We always talk about the culture, the family, and we expect it to shine through once again.”

Finding the successor to Morgan at left tackle is “going to be something we have to work through over the next couple of weeks,” Brennan said.

Added Brennan: “Good news is we have a lot of time to do it.”

Freshman DB Turran Williams ‘won’t participate in the fall’

Leading up to training camp, Brennan revealed Arizona freshman defensive back Turran Williams “is going to be part of us, but he won’t be able to participate in the fall.”

The 6-3, 190-pound Williams, a Pasadena, California native, signed with the Wildcats’ 2024 recruiting class and joined the team as an early enrollee in the spring, but didn’t participate in practices and stood on the sidelines.

“Like I said before, I’m not going to talk about the medical issues, because when you do, it becomes the whole focus of everything,” Brennan said. “And I’m excited about the football season starting. I want to talk about the guys who are available.

“That’s where the story is. That’s the fun stuff,” Brennan said. “That’s where I want to focus.”

Extra points

• Arizona added its “redline” mantra to wall of the Dick Tomey Practice Fields adjacent to 6th Street, with a “the standard for everything we do” caption underneath redline. Additionally, the wall also has “effort,” two red “100” emojis, “execution,” “prove it,” “accountability,” and “own it, fix it.”

To the right of the Tomey mural at Arizona’s practice field is a large Big 12 logo.

• Several players were sidelined on Wednesday, including star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who was dressed out but didn’t participate in drills or any team periods. McMillan, who suffered a left leg injury in the spring, was expected to be limited at the start of training camp. McMillan worked with strength and conditioning coach Cullen Carroll on the sidelines and did various leg workouts. Other players in full gear but didn’t participate include cornerback Tacario Davis, “Star” defensive back Treydan Stukes, Syracuse transfer defensive lineman Kevon Darton, left guard Wendell Moe, offensive lineman JT Hand and offensive tackle Tylen Gonzalez.
• Arizona defensive coordinator Duane Akina said Stukes “is one of the best-kept secrets in college football.” Said Akina, who has coached four Jim Thorpe Award winners: “Here’s a guy that’s as good as any player as I’ve had.”
• Arizona added eighth-year linebacker Jared Small, who played six seasons at LSU before a one-year stint at Tulane, and former Oregon punter Lachlan Bruce, a Geelong, Australia native. Punter is a position of need and the Wildcats added one from the Aussie pipeline that’s produced several Division I and NFL punters. Said Brennan: “We were looking for a couple of spots to fill and I think they’ll add some competition to those positions. They both played a lot of football. I’m excited to see what that looks like. That’s going to be a heavy evaluation process.”