5 burning questions for Arizona football entering training camp

Following Arizona football’s media day Tuesday afternoon at Davis Sports Center, the UA players and coaches started preparing for team photos.

Several of Arizona’s Polynesian players strutted into the Wildcats’ indoor practice facility donning lava-lavas, a wraparound skirt that’s a pertinent piece of Polynesian culture.

Tuesday had open-house vibes for the Wildcats, as they look to flush last season’s 4-8 record in head coach Brent Brennan’s inaugural season. Wednesday is when school — err, the first day of fall training camp — starts for Arizona, which is exactly a month out from the Wildcats’ season opener against Hawaii in Tucson.

“Everybody is ready to get to work,” Brennan said on Tuesday. “We’re not looking in the rear view, we’re looking forward. We’re moving forward as a football program. Today we get to start keeping score, and we’re excited about that.”

Between three new coordinators — Seth Doege (offense), Danny Gonzales (defense) and Craig Naivar (special teams) — and three new position coaches, along with 54 newcomers, it’s been arguably the busiest offseason of Brennan’s coaching career.

“We’ve added more players to a roster than I’ve ever been a part of this offseason — and also more staff transition than I’ve ever been a part of,” Brennan said.

There are plenty of questions surrounding the Arizona football program entering training camp. Here are five of them:

What will be Arizona’s starting tandem at tackle?

Arizona has 20 offensive linemen this season — over a dozen of them are newcomers.

One of those newbies, Texas Tech transfer Ty Buchanan, could potentially start at left tackle, even with the return of starter Rhino Tapa’atoutai. No, Tapa’atoutai — last year’s starter at left tackle, who is recovering from a knee injury he suffered last season — didn’t get Wally-Pipped.

Buchanan was just one of Arizona’s top performers on the offensive line in the spring. With Buchanan excelling at left tackle, it’s conceivable Tapa’atoutai moves to right tackle for the upcoming season, with Michigan transfer Tristan Bounds as a viable option.

“The emergence of Ty Buchanan has been awesome this spring,” Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby said on Tuesday. “The amount of reps that he has gotten and he’s starting to feel more comfortable at that spot. With a guy like Rhino, who has the ability to swing, that’s something we’re definitely looking into.”

Buchanan, who started his career at USC and played the last three seasons at Texas Tech, played 408 career snaps at left tackle. Before Tapa’atoutai took over at left tackle last season, he was slotted at right tackle.

“Good thing about Rhino is that he is versatile that way,” Oglesby said.

Who’s the starting center?

For the first time since 2021, Arizona will have a new center with Josh Baker graduating.

The two centers in competition: Hawaii transfer Ka’ena Decambra and redshirt junior Grayson Stovall, who was Baker’s backup the previous three seasons. The two exchanged reps at center in the spring. One wrinkle: Decambra, a redshirt senior, has never played center, while Stovall has one start under his belt, which was Arizona’s 22-10 win over Northern Arizona last season.

“That’s going to be a fun thing to watch because Grayson has a lot of experience, but KD is a guy that played multiple spots on the offensive line,” Brennan said. “He’s a big, athletic kid. He’s a tough, physical kid, which you like that, and he’s also smart. That position has to be one of your most intelligent players. They have to manage so much from the center position, so that’s going to be one of those battles that’s going to be fun to watch.”

Added Oglesby: “It’s one of those positions that’s vitally important to the overall success of not just the unit but the offense.”

Oglesby said, “the spring was an opportunity to get both of them exposure to that, and those two did a really good job this spring from the two different sides of the coin they were on.”

Oglesby prefers the center competition to be settled in the near future, “not just for the fact that he works with (quarterback Noah Fifita), but the continuity of the group in how he communicates, how he makes the calls, the non-verbal communication.”

“The quicker we can solve that, the better it’ll be,” Oglesby said.

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Who are the gap-filling defensive tackles?

Brennan confirmed that freshman offensive lineman Peter Langi and junior college transfer defensive tackles Ezra Funa and Zac Siulepa are working through summer academic obligations before they can be added to the roster.

While Arizona defensive coordinator Gonzales called the defensive tackle tandem of transfers — and likely starters — Deshawn McKnight and Tiaoalii Savea “a pleasant surprise” following a productive spring, the Wildcats are thin at defensive tackle without Siulepa and Funa.

Brennan said Gonzales’ defense has an “aggressive, attacking, movement-style front, so those pieces are going to be more interchangeable than what they have been in the past.” Brennan noted edge rusher Tre Smith, a 6-5, 259-pounder, as a flexible defensive lineman who could play some snaps inside.

Gonzales said Cerritos College transfer Leroy Palu, redshirt sophomores Jarra Anderson and Julian Savaiinaea and Northwestern State transfer Chancellor Owens as others who could play defensive tackle.

How many receivers will crack the rotation?

“How are you going to replace T-Mac?” is the most common question Brennan has been asked all offseason after the Wildcats lost Tetairoa McMillan to the NFL Draft.

The simple answer: “You don’t,” Brennan said.

“You don’t replace a player like that,” he added. “He’s that talented, he’s that special. Now, do I think that we have more people in that room that can contribute in that room than we had last year? I do.”

Arizona wide receivers coach Bobby Wade said the UA wide receivers will have a “1A and 1B for every single position” at wide receiver. Wade said his ideal number of wide receivers used in a game “is six at the very least” or potentially eight.

Likely players in that potential eight-man rotation include returning starter Chris Hunter III, along with transfers in Tre Spivey III, Kris Hutson, Luke Wysong, Javin “Nunu” Whatley, freshmen Isaiah Mizell and Gio Richardson and rising returners in Brandon Phelps, Devin Hyatt and Jeremiah Patterson.

“I think we have a good grasp of the six or eight guys that will be in the rotation to start,” Wade said. “I’m definitely pleased with the group that we have.”

What will MSM’s role be?

Arizona signed three kickers and punters in the offseason to compete with sophomore Michael Salgado-Medina: Australian punter Isaac Lovison, Illinois State transfer Ian Wagner and freshman walk-on Tyler Prasuhn.

Lovison, the Melbourne native, played Australian rules football prior to signing with Arizona. Lovison joins Arizona through the “ProKick Australia” program, which produced Aussie NFL punters such as Mitch Wishnowsky, Michael Dickson, Cameron Johnston and Lou Hedley, among others.

“There’s an entire continent of guys that run and kick,” Naivar said. “No offense to the guys from the (United States), those guys train for Australian rules football. They run like a linebacker, they train like a linebacker. When you see Isaac walk through the door, that’s an impressive-looking guy.”

Wagner, a Sierra Vista native, is a “big weapon” and has a “powerful leg for kickoff” and will also compete with Salgado-Medina, who started at punter last season, for Arizona’s starting placekicker role — and the successor to Baltimore Ravens rookie Tyler Loop.

“With Michael having the ability to punt and kick, it gave us a slot to add a specialist to hone in on that and be a strong component to fight for the field goal job,” Naivar said.

Salgado-Medina starting at kicker or punter will be “TBD,” Naivar said.

Extra points

– Even though senior tight end Keyan Burnett transferred back to Arizona after spending the spring at Kansas, he isn’t a sure-fire starter. Brennan said redshirt junior Tyler Powell “made a great move this offseason” and noted senior Sam Olson “as a productive player.” Added Brennan: “Does (Burnett) walk back in the door Tight End 1? Probably not at the start of (fall) practice because there are other players there that are making great progress, but is he going to be in the mix? Is he going to be at the front of the line? Sure. That’s one of those positions where competition is going to be fierce because there are some players in there.”

– Gonzales said nickel back Treydan Stukes, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last season, will be limited for the first week of training camp.