Over the last three seasons, the Arizona Wildcats have made a conscious effort to stockpile as much talent as possible at wide receiver.
They’ve brought in transfers, signed high school recruits, developed a few Mike Stoops holdovers and have built the group into one of the best in the Pac-12.
But have you ever wondered how the UA’s cornerbacks have felt about all that?
After all, those are the guys that have to go up against Cayleb Jones, David Richards, Samajie Grant, Nate Phillips and Trey Griffey and the rest every single day at practice.
They’re the ones who have to deal with the big bodies Richards, Jones and Griffey bring and the speed Phillips and Grant possess.
It’s the best thing for the UA cornerbacks, even though it can’t be fun.
“We have the finest receiver corps in the country,” cornerbacks coach David Lockwood said after a recent training camp practice. “They’re all back from last year, and have another year of experience. They’re out there competing, and it’s great for our guys.
“Any time you have an opportunity to go up against guys like this every day, it should make things a little easier on game day.”
So that the wide receivers seem to have the early edge on the cornerbacks in training camp may not be that big of a deal.
It may not look pretty right now, but there’s hope that the cornerbacks will see considerable improvement over the next three weeks because of the competition on the other side of the ball.
“I always tell our guys if we’re competing, if we’re getting better, that means they are getting better, and vice versa,” Lockwood said. “That’s a good thing. Bottom line, September 3rd, we’re playing against an opponent, not our guys, which is nice.”
The UA’s group at cornerback is young and doesn’t possess a lot of game experience.
Redshirt sophomore Jarvis McCall is the most experienced of the group, playing in 12 games last year and compiling 49 tackles. True sophomore Cam Denson, who has been running with the first group so far this camp, played in 12 games last year and posted 21 tackles and a pair of interceptions.
And then there’s DaVonte’ Neal, who moved from wide receiver to corner in the spring, and junior college product Dane Cruikshank, who just arrived in the summer.
Junior Devin Holiday, who played in six games last year, could also get in the mix.
“There is some concern (about the youth at cornerback), and not only because of that, because we also have to play so many of them, too,” coach Rich Rodriguez said. “I have mentioned before plenty of times that we have to get 22 guys ready on defense. Some of them are going to be freshmen or newcomers. We have a lot more bodies there. We have guys that are athletic enough to play. Now our secondary coaches will do a good job of getting those young guys ready.”
McCall suffered through a shoulder injury during the spring and didn’t get a lot of reps. He’s been hampered by a minor injury through the first few days of training camp as well.
As a result, Neal and Denson have been getting most of the work with the first unit in 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 situations.
But Lockwood is making sure to give everyone a long look this camp. Cruikshank, who Rodriguez said will need some time to adjust, has been thrown into the fire early as has true freshman Sammy Morrison, the son of former Wildcat Darryl Morrison.
“The good thing is we finally have some numbers now,” Lockwood said. “We can get some guys in there, get some experience. The big thing is numbers. They push themselves now.”
Even with a veteran secondary last year, which included then-senior Jonathan McKnight at corner, the UA’s pass defense was shaky at times. The UA allowed 281.2 passing yards per game, fourth-most in the Pac-12 and eighth-most nationally. The Wildcats ranked 102nd out of 125 teams in passing efficiency defense.
The Wildcats gave up 292 yards per game through the air in 2012. They lowered that number to 233 in 2013, just to see it go back up last year.
Though Arizona’s cornerbacks are unproven, Lockwood and Rodriguez are hopeful the camp battles with receivers will get the UA ready for the season.
“Everybody has to continue to work and get better at their position and their craft and executing their techniques,” Lockwood said. “If they do that as a group, I think we’ll have a chance.”
