The rep distribution is about to change
After seven morning practices to begin camp, Arizona went under the lights inside the stadium on Friday night for its first preseason workout in full pads.
It was the first of five scheduled night practices leading up to the Aug. 31 season opener against New Mexico, which will have a 7 p.m. start under the same conditions.
“Having not played under these lights here for a while, I think that was good to see,” UA coach Brent Brennan said. “They’re bright, they really are. I saw some of our receivers struggling with that, and so we’re gonna have to do a good job of getting out here some throughout the rest of training camp.”
Following a scheduled off day Saturday, the UA will practice three consecutive days as it moves into the second half of camp. And it’s around then that some tough decisions will have to be made.
“Normally the first couple of weeks of training camp everybody’s getting some opportunity because you want to give everybody a chance,” Brennan said. “But over the course of those two weeks you start to have a lot of film, a lot of reps, a lot of stuff to evaluate and you start making some determinations. Definitely some of those reps will start to taper.”
Arizona has quite a few starting spots still up for grabs, as well as key backup roles like the No. 2 quarterback, hoped-for deep rotations at wide receiver and defensive line and players in the secondary who can contribute to the Wildcats’ nickel, dime and dollar packages.
Brennan said those battles will be decided on a position-by-position basis, with each going “kind of at its own pace.” But he also said game prep for New Mexico is likely to start about 10 days out from the game, on or around Aug. 21, so many could be completed by then in order to assure the top contributors are ready for the opener.
“That’s the reality of football,” Brennan said. “We have to get to what we think is the best group out there to play the best football we can, and so those those people need reps, and they need the most practice opportunities we can provide.”
In the meantime, still expect a lot of mixing and matching both with the 1s and 2s, as was the case Friday night when Rayshon ‘Speedy’ Luke got the first rep at running back but then next time the first-team offense was out there it was Quali Conley, while on the D-line projected starters Isaiah Johnson and Chubba Ma’ae were not initially with the 1s before taking the spots held by Dominic Lolesio and Keanu Mailoto the next go-around.
“Sometimes this guy moves up and the next day you move down and somebody else up,” Brennan said. “We’re just trying to create a little bit of pressure there. You hope that those kind of battles have the necessary intensity that they can kind of try and elevate both people involved.”
Out of action
Among those not dressed to participate or absent Friday night were wide receiver Malachi Riley, offensive linemen Leif Magnuson and Michael Wooten and safety Jack Luttrell. Brennan doesn’t address individual injuries, but it’s worth noting that Magnuson has not been at practice the last few days, opening the door for the likes of Alexander Doost, Jonah Rodriguez and Ryan Stewart to battle for the staring right guard job.
“When those things exist, we just go with what we got,” Brennan said. “The good thing is, is that when you have a situation it gives other people a chance to get reps and hopefully accelerate their development.”
Receiver Tetairoa McMillan practiced but not in team reps, instead running routes with no defender. He did catch a pass from Noah Fifita during Thursday’s practice and looks on track to play in the opener.