Arizona will host its annual Spring Game on Saturday night inside Arizona Stadium, but don’t expect anywhere close to the amount of flair, pomp and circumstance that existed under the previous coaching staff.
“Saturday is I think it’s going to be a little bit more (of a practice),” UA coach Brent Brennan said. “There’s gonna be some live work in there, but it’s not going to a divide the team … type of deal.”
The event, which begins at 6 p.m. PT and will air live on the Pac-12 Network, will mark the end of spring for a program that is coming off one of the best seasons in school history but is also in a transition. Brennan and his staff arrived in late January after the abrupt departure of Jedd Fisch et. al to Washington.
See you tomorrow, Wildcat Nation!
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— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) April 27, 2024
“I think the development over the 14 practices has been great,” linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “Championship teams that I’ve been around don’t hit walls during spring practice. And I think this team has done a phenomenal job of being together with all the distractions that are out there, with the transfer portal and academics and late spring ball and a new coaching staff.”
The Spring Game costs $5 to enter, but UA boosters Humberto Lopez and Jim Click bought up all the tickets for the community and are giving them away. Fans can claim tickets online using the code SPRING.
“I mean, how good is that?,” Brennan said. “What great people to do that for the community here in Tucson. I’m fired up about that, we want to pack the house. We want there to be a great crowd, we want it be a great day. Kind of a great celebration of this group of young men that’s chosen to stay together and kind of battled through a tough transition and had a great spring practice. So we want to share that excitement and that enthusiasm with our fanbase, with the students.”
Brennan said some players may be held out of the Spring Game as a precaution—“the biggest thing for us is that we want to get to fall camp with everybody as healthy as we can possibly be”—and others will be limited. One notable absence from participation will be wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who on Wednesday had a “little procedure” to address a lower leg injury suffered last weekend.
“We’re gonna be smart about who plays on Saturday, we’re going to be smart about the rep count,” Brennan said.
Among those expected to participate, though, are a few Wildcats who have put their names into the NCAA transfer portal during the spring window but who have remained with the team. Brennan said he hopes they will all stay, but understands it’s a personal choice and he wishes well anyone who moves on.
“I think as long as they’re out there, as far as the team is concerned, they’re in it, they’re going through the work, they’re in the fight with the guys are out there on the field, with the coaches that are out there on the field,” Brennan said. “And so I think that looking at it any other way is foolish because again, it’s a personal decision, an individual decision, but they’re busting their tails for their teammates, for this coaching staff and this university, for this community. That’s been that’s been really fun to watch.”
Brennan said more than 200 former players are expected to attend the Spring Game—no Gronk this time, sorry—and the UA will have several recruits, both high school and transfers, in attendance.
Asked what his message has been to visitors during spring, Brennan said it’s the team that has done most of the heavy lifting in this area.
“I think the best football programs, the players are the best recruiters in the building,” he said. “Players are the ones who are able to communicate what kind of experience they’ve had. And so that’s been really important for us as a coaching staff to get to know this team, and for them to get to know us, and get a feel for them. They already had such a strong culture and such a strong brotherhood and we want to double down on that.
“I think that’s one of the ways that you can be highly competitive is being more connected than everybody else. At a time when it’s harder to be connected than it’s ever been, just the way people are getting pulled out from all these different outside sources. I think all those guys are fun to be around. They’re great with the players that we brought in, they do a heck of a job, because they’re all there. They’re so committed to the program that they show up in a great way on official visit weekends. And it’s authentic, it’s real, and I think the recruits and their families feel it.”