'Invaluable' center Josh Baker 'viewed as the leader' of Arizona's offensive line

Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby knows the way to the hearts of his group.

Want to make offensive linemen happy? Feed them. Oglesby bonded with his group last week when he invited Arizona’s offensive linemen to his house to watch UFC 300 — and eat food.

“He can make some queso, I’ll tell you what. ... A few Saturdays in the past, he made this brown sugar chicken that he marinates,” said Arizona center Josh Baker. “Oh my goodness. It’s delicious and amazing, I’ll tell you what.”

Besides spreading the gospel of his cooking, Oglesby, one of several UA staffers who followed Arizona head coach Brent Brennan from San Jose State, and his meticulous coaching style has left a positive impression on the Wildcats offensive line.

“It’s a lot more fine detail, it’s a lot more in-depth, and it’s what we like,” Baker said of Oglesby, who was an All-Big Ten tackle at Wisconsin before he started coaching. “It’s very nice, it’s very personable, it’s very one-on-one coaching.”

Backup center Grayson Stovall said previous UA offensive line coach Brennan Carroll, who is now at Washington, “was a lot more schematic and understanding scheme.”

“Now, coming from someone who played the position, it’s a lot more fine detail, like Bake said,” Stovall said.

For Oglesby, “it’s been a really smooth transition for me to step in as the new guy,” he said.

“It’s a great group to be around,” said Oglesby. “They come to work every day no matter what the circumstances are. I’ve seen a lot of improvement from the group overall. ... Some of those communication things are really easy for that group. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses and things like that.”

Added Oglesby: “There’s been some give and take on both of our ends in keeping things the same for them as well as incorporating some new things. At the end of the day, I’m the new guy. As much as I can learn and have less learning from them, the better it is for us as far as hitting the ground running.”

Besides enjoying Oglesby’s cooking, Baker, the 6-3, 305-pound senior from Eureka, Missouri, has been “invaluable” in leading Arizona’s offensive line that returns four starters, with Baker as the most experienced one of the bunch with 2,375 snaps under his belt since the pandemic-influenced 2020 season, according to Pro Football Focus; 1,723 of those snaps have been at center.

“Having Bake has been awesome because it’s a good bridge between old and new,” Oglesby said. “I can sit down with him and ask him, ‘What was this for you in the past? Well this is what it is now,’ and he has a real good understanding of that.

“He’s viewed as the leader of the group, because he’s a center, he’s been here for a while, played a lot of football. He’s a guy that’s anchored that room with all the change that’s gone on in the past few months. ... I’m so lucky to walk into a room that has a center like Bake. He’s on top of it as far as rules with identifying runs, identifying protections.”

Not only does the Arizona center give Oglesby peace of mind at a crucial position on the offensive line, “Baker makes my job so easy, especially last year,” said starting quarterback Noah Fifita, who was thrust into the starting lineup last season before leading the Wildcats to the Alamo Bowl.

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“Coming in, everything was going so fast that there was a lot on my plate and a lot I had to think about,” Fifita said. “He took one of those most important things off my plate, which is IDs and flipping protections to where he wanted it to go.”

Ever since Fifita became the starter, the quarterback-center relationship has only grown.

“Off the field, he’s great to be around because he works so hard and he holds me accountable in one-on-one meetings and telling me everything he’s looking for,” Fifita said. “On the field, like I said, he takes one of the key components out of my job. Communication with him is great because of our relationship off the field.”

Fifita added Baker is “so in-tune” with Arizona’s offense, “so he knows what we’re thinking.”

“Most centers I’ve been around don’t really know what’s going on in the back end, and he sees back-end rotation, where pressure is coming from, so he’s able to flip the protections,” Fifita said. “But going into Year 2 as the starter, I need to help him out as well.”

Baker described his relationship with Fifita as “very professional, and we’ve gotten closer.”

“He’s got this calm level of swagger that just emanates around the room, and you can feel that and feed off of that as well,” Baker said of Fifita.

Feeding off Fifita’s calming confidence — and Oglesby’s queso and chicken — has Baker eager for his final season at the UA. Once upon a time, the Wildcats went on a 20-game losing streak and starved for a win, when Baker first arrived. Baker is now “at a point where I’ll leave it better than I found it,” he said.

“I’m excited to continue that path,” Baker said. “We went from 0-5 to 1-11 to 5-7 to 10-3 and now this year. I’m so excited for this next year of Wildcats. I’m excited to continue that trend.”

Extra points

Oglesby, on right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea’s “ability to learn and take information and apply it quickly”: “The fun thing about Jonah is he’s the type of guy you tell him something one time and he goes out and gets it done. ... It’s really been that way with the group overall. We have great leadership in there with him and Baker.”

Stovall, on Fifita, the quarterback he primarily worked with the previous two seasons: “It’s an extremely professional feeling when you’re always around him. I always knew he was going to be ready to take the spot when it was his time. It’s a good feeling when you’re with him in the huddle, because you know everything is going to be locked, everyone is dialed in and just ready to go.”

Oglesby, on Chandler native and walk-on Zarius Wells, who has played guard and tackle this spring: “Big Z has been great. Another guy who has been working his tail off to get the new technique, coaching points, all that stuff. He’s another guy who is visibly seeing himself improve when we watch tape. I’m really excited about Z. The group overall, I couldn’t be more excited about where are and the direction we’re heading.”