The Arizona Wildcats’ 2024 season has not been what they’d hoped for. They hold a 3-4 (1-3) record after a 34-7 loss to Colorado on Saturday and will have to win three of their final five games to get to a bowl.
Unfortunately, that task just got a lot more difficult as their injury luck continues to worsen. On Monday, head coach Brent Brennan that starting linebacker Jacob Manu and starting left tackle Rhino Tapa’atoutai will miss the remainder of the season after the injuries they suffered in Saturday’s loss to Colorado.
Manu, who leads Arizona with 47 tackles on the year, appeared to suffer a non-contact knee injury early in the game and never returned. Meanwhile, Tapa’atoutai suffered a leg injury just before halftime and didn’t return in the second half of the game.
“It’s unfortunate how those things happened,” Brennan said on Monday. “This is a situation where you always say next guy up, but somebody has to pick up the flag and somebody has to get ready to go. We’re counting on each other, what we do collectively and how we play, to give us a chance to play clean football on Saturday in terms of what we choose to do schematically.”
The Wildcats are likely to turn to sophomore Kamuela Ka’aihue to replace Manu at linebacker, while replacing Tapa’atoutai could prove more difficult. With an All-Conference talent like Jonah Savaiinaea, Arizona could opt to move him to the left side of the line, or they could have Michael Wooten return to right tackle, as he did against Colorado.
Arizona will try to turn things around this week when they host West Virginia, who also comes into the matchup with a 3-4 record.
