What to watch out for in Arizona Wildcats football spring practice

Most of the attention will be on Arizona’s basketball teams, who both leave this week to compete in their respective NCAA tournaments, while the Wildcats’ baseball and softball teams are off to strong starts in Pac-12 play and will be on the lookout. to play in the postseason in a few months.

So does Arizona football, which begins spring practice on Tuesday. Coach jedd fish hopes the 15 practices between now and April 15 will set the stage for the Wildcats to make a bowl appearance this year, which would be their first since 2017.

“It feels like it’s been a long time since we’ve been on the practice field, way too long,” Fisch said Monday. Finishing Nov. 25 without a bowl makes for a long offseason. I hope I never have to go this far again.

Arizona practices on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, with practices starting around 3:30 PM MT. Practices on the first, second and fourth Saturdays are at 11:40 a.m., April 1st practices at 7:00 p.m. and Spring Game on April 15th at 3:30 p.m. All exercises are open to the public.

Here’s what to look for from the Wildcats at Spring Festival:

Who’s in, who’s out

Arizona’s spring roster has 93 players, 22 of which are new to the program, and 13 players from the 2023 signing class (plus more walk-ons) are expected to arrive in June. Four players on the roster will not be available in the spring, the most significant of which is the offensive tackle Jordan Morganwho is recovering from left knee surgery which prevented him from entering the NFL draft.

Also in the spring, due to recent surgeries, are redshirt freshman defensive lineman Isaiah Johnsonsenior linebacker Anthony Solomon and a true freshman defensive back Aria parish.

Among the spring newcomers are several transfers on the defensive side, including former Oregon LB Justin Flowey and defensive linemen Tyler Manoa (UCLA), Bill Norton (Georgia) and Bad music (Cal). Among the early freshman enrollees is a quarterback Brayden Dorman, run back Brandon Johnsonreceivers Jackson Holman and Malachi Riley, offensive lineman Rhino Meetup and several defensive backs.

Spatial battles

With 15 starters returning for a total of 126 starts, Arizona doesn’t have many starting spots to fill on offense. Defense, on the other hand, is a different story.

“I expect there will be continued competition on the defensive end to determine what the starting lineup looks like,” Fisch said. You will see numerous rounds. Who starts on the defensive line with the first group, who starts at linebacker, what does it look like? I think our secondary, the safety position, will have some tough competition there. So I think the competition is real. I think there’s a lot of that on defense and special teams.

The only defenders with double-digit starts are the Defensive Backs Gunner Maldonado (15) and Treydan Stukes, and both are in different positions at the start of spring. Maldonado moves to safety after being a nickel corner last season, while Stukes is a nickel instead of a field corner.

Second year students Jacob Manuwho started the last six games at Will linebacker, and Good leaders, who started at defensive tackle in the last five, are the most likely to retain a starting spot. Everything else seems to be wide open.

Offensively, Arizona needs another right tackle with graduation Paiton is afraid and a new Z receiver coming. Fisch referred to the latter spot as vacant, referring to the Pac-12’s receiving leader Dorian Singer transferring to USC.

When this spot is available, I expect really good (competition),” Fisch said. We were going to move Jacob Cowing there initially to see how it looks, and Kevin Green will start in the slot on day one. And then bounce a little bit more, move Jacob back in and look at (freshmen) Malachi Riley and Chris Hunter, AJ Jones. Jackson Holman plans to compete for outside receiver as well as the slot. We have a really good group of young receivers, but none of them have that much playing time.

Joe Borjo is on track to start spring Sam Lang at left tackle in Morgan’s absence. meet you, Jacob Reece and even a real guard Jonah Savaiinaea tackle positions will also be looked at, although the competition won’t be decided until preseason camp, as Arizona has three tackles (Tylen Gonzalez, Elijah Payne and Raymond Pulido) arrive in summer.

De Lauras next step

Playmaker Laura Jayden was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2021, then had the third-most passing yards in school history (3,685) with 29 total touchdowns in his first season at Arizona. But when the league’s QBs are discussed, de Laura is rarely mentioned.

I want him to be talked about nationally, the way six other quarterbacks in the Pac-12 are being talked about right now, Fisch said. I think we finished sixth in overtaking the country. If there are six quarterbacks in the Pac-12 that get talked about more than Jayden, that’s none of my business.

Fisch said Arizona’s 5-7 record had a lot to do with de Laura’s lack of national buzz, but so did his turnovers (13 interceptions, four lost fumbles) and just 15 TD passes in 54 trips to the red zone.

We need to turn the ball over less, Fisch said. We need to throw more touchdowns. We don’t have to bark the ball. And if he does those things, let’s talk about it with everyone, because if you do them, you win more. And if you win more, that’s what everyone cares about in the national debates.

This is the second year the coach and QB have teamed up, and with it, Fisch expects de Laura to take a huge step like many of the Pac-12’s top pass rushers did in 2022.

Dorian (Thompson-Robinson) was a fifth-year (at UCLA) last year, Fisch said. Caleb (Williams) was with Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma and then went with Lincoln Riley to USC. Michael Penix was with Kalen DeBoer in Indiana and then went to Washington. Cam Rising was going into his second or third year in Utah. These guys were all in their second and third year together. This was our first one, we had one spring and fall that was due to a pretty bad year the year before and the year before that and the year before that. So we had to build a lot of things together. Now I feel like we’re in a place where we can now take this program and take this team and build it even better. and let Jayden really, really flourish.