The Arizona Wildcats are coming off an awful season after one year under coach Brent Brennan. Can they bounce back in Year 2?
The Wildcats went 4-8 a year ago, with a 2-7 record in the Big 12. That was a huge step back from their final year in the Pac-12, where they won 11 games and a bowl game.
What do Brennan and the Wildcats have in store for Year 2? Well, we at Heartland College Sports haven’t written our full previews yet. That will come later in the summer. But, Lindy’s Sports recently published its preview for the Big 12, including the Wildcats.
The magazine isn’t high on Arizona. It picked the Wildcats to finish 15th in the conference. Here are three thoughts on the preview.
SO MUCH CHANGE
Look, change is inevitable in the transfer portal era, and it doesn’t matter if the program is in great shape or in bad shape (though the former helps mitigate some of that turnover).
But the change in Tucson is a bit overwhelming. Lindy made a couple of good points.
First, both coordinators have flipped. The Wildcats lured former Texas Tech quarterback and Marshall coach Seth Doege to run the offense. He wants to push the pace. That should be welcome news for quarterback Noah Fifita.
Danny Gonzalez is running the defense now. At least he was with Arizona last year as a linebackers coach. But he’ll put his own imprint on the unit.
Second, Lindy’s pointed out that more than half of the roster is Brennan’s guys. Remember the days when it took a coach four recruiting cycles to get “his guys?” It wasn’t that long ago. That’s why the pressure is already on Brennan at Arizona.
FIFITA’S QUOTE
Lindy’s usually includes a quote from a player or a coach. This one from Fifita was interesting.
“We have all the pieces in this room right now to do everything we want,” he said.
It wasn’t clear if he meant the offense or the whole team. But let’s focus on the offense. Anytime a team has experience under center, it has a leg up. But this Wildcats team had an identity issue last year. It was hard, week-to-week, to figure out what they were trying to do.
Losing wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan to the NFL makes it hard to carve that identity. Doege wants a fast offense, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there are games where Fifita throws the ball 40 times.
But this team must run the ball better. That doesn’t mean a 100-yard rusher every game. But the Wildcats need a set of backs that can average about 4.5 yards per carry as a group. That would help immensely.
Fifita thinks they have all the ingredients. We’ll see. He’s one of only four returning starters on that side of the ball. There’s a lot of change.
THE PASS RUSH HAS TO COME THROUGH
Survival in college football means rushing the passer effectively. That’s something Arizona didn’t do a year ago. With its most experienced unit on the defense being the secondary, Gonzalez and his defensive staff must find a combination of pass rushers that won’t leave his secondary hanging out to dry.
Arizona will try and accomplish this with three new starters. The only holdover is Tre Smith, who migrated with Brennan from San Jose State. Lindy’s projects that Dominic Lolesio will be on the other end, with Tia Savea and Deshawn McKnight working the tackle positions.
Savea and McKnight are transfers. Savea is intriguing as he’s making the jump from UT Martin, an FCS school.
The onus is on the front four to get to the quarterback more often this season. It’s not just sacks. It’s pressures and getting quarterbacks to throw the ball off-time that will help an experienced secondary flourish.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
