If you were hoping Arizona’s annual Spring Game would provide a sneak preview of how the Wildcats will look this fall under Brent Brennan, you were probably disappointed. Unless you weren’t looking at the football.
The last of the UA’s 15 spring practices was held inside Arizona Stadium on Saturday night, and though there were live snaps and dropbacks and highlight-reel catches there was also quarterback Noah Fifita doing interviews for Pac-12 Network with flag football players surrounding him. A halftime flag game saw receiver Kevin Green Jr., playsheet and all, coaching up elementary school children, while Green Bay Packers 1st-round pick Jordan Morgan chummed it up with his old teammates.
And there were almost as many projected starters sitting out the spring finale than participating, many held out as a precaution.
“The biggest thing is you just want to come out of it healthy,” Brennan said. “But you want to play a little bit, you want to show something to the fans. The Spring Game is always a complicated thing.
“I’m kind of bummed spring is over. We don’t really get to be out on the field with them for (another) three months.”
Brennan, dressed in a blue Arizona baseball jersey and several leis, wandered back and forth between the blue (offense) and red (defense) sidelines while he and his staff ran the team through individual drills, 7-on-7 and a fair amount of full scrimmage.
Arizona’s defense had the upper hand most of the night, but toward the end the offense scored a few times to help balance things out. Brennan said that was the goal for the entire spring.
“I think it’s important in spring practice that you essentially trade punches, offense versus defense,” he said. “If it’s really lopsided you’re going to have a problem in the fall.”
With spring ball over, the coaching staff won’t get to work with the team until preseason camp begins in late July. It will all be on the players between now and then.
“We’ll take about a month off before we come back in June,” Fifita said. “Right when we get back we’ll get into summer workouts and player-led practices. It’s a collaborative effort.”
Before then, though Brennan said his assistants will hold de facto “exit” interviews with the players.
“Coaches are going to make sure all the players know where they stand, what they need to improve, and also what they did well,” he said.
Just because spring ball is over doesn’t mean the offseason activity will stop. Arizona has roughly a dozen open scholarships to fill, and that number could still increase depending on what happens in the last few days before the NCAA transfer portal closes on Tuesday.
Several UA players who entered the portal in the past few weeks remained with the team through the end of spring ball including freshman running back Jordan Washington, who was at the Spring Game but not dressed. There’s also the matter of junior cornerback Tacario Davis, who despite spending all spring with the team is still technically in the portal after entering in the wake of Jedd Fisch’s depature to Washington.
Asked about Davis, Brennan said he’s not received confirmation whether he’ll remain with Arizona. That kind of uncertainty is “just the world we’re living in,” Brennan said.