Today I will look at the number of career starts returning for offensive lineman. When most judge a team for the upcoming season they look at the QB, RB and WR’s that are returning. A few may take the time to look at star defensive players that are back (those with a lot of sacks or interceptions). However, very few look at the offensive line and yet the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game more often than not.
Today I will look at the number of career starts returning for offensive lineman. When most judge a team for the upcoming season they look at the QB, RB and WR’s that are returning. A few may take the time to look at star defensive players that are back (those with a lot of sacks or interceptions). However, very few look at the offensive line and yet the team that controls the line of scrimmage wins the game more often than not.
I also think we have some QB's who have the tools to play well but we need to see what they have between the ears.
I'm with you on this. I have no idea how the season will progress for them and I know there are some real issues stacked against them but there are a number of other teams in the P12 that have some issues as well and if we stay healthy I think we can be fairly successful. I'm excited about the tailback position as well as the OL and I know Dawkins has been working hard on his passing game so lets see how this plays out.
As the year went on it looked to me that Dawkins was afraid to throw the ball if a defender was within 5 yards of a receiver. Maybe going into camp as the number one will give him some confidence.
chiefzona wrote:Positives....RB play. I think the DL will be a bit better. CBs will be better. Looking for a surprise LB. I think we see one.
Who do you suppose?
I actually like the incoming freshmen LBs. Fields, Schooler, Brown, and Ramirez. Right now Fields has the upper hand but don't count out the others. Colacion is impressing and I think it's his time to make his move.
I think the whole defense will be improved. I think the DLine will be better than advertised and it will surprise
Last edited by azcat49 on Thu Jun 22, 2017 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Waiting at the Rose Bowl patiently for the cats to arrive
"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more wildcat sports"
2019 BDW Survivor Pool Champion
I'll shed my optimistic (sometimes too optimistic) point of view on next years team.
It starts with the quarterback and Dawkins has got to be the most elusive one we have seen at Arizona. The dude gets some space and is gone. With a good RB Taylor, Wilson, Tilford, and Zach Green for insurance is a pretty good backfield and Arizona returns essentially it's whole offensive line minus Tagaloa, but he wasn't anything special or close to what he was supposed to be as a starter. Add Creason, Kosinski, or Eletise at guard and you have a very solid starting five. Depth is a bit shakey right now, but there's a lot of young guys on the line and Alsadek is one of the best offensive lineman in the conference. The run game SHOULD be very good. Dawkins showed flashes of brilliance last year against Washington, the first half against Utah and UCLA. All three of which were pretty good defenses, but also showed he can't get the ball out quickly and if they are in third and long chances are he will tuck and run and miss first down by 3 or 4 yards. Also another thing I noticed is that he could move the ball well between redzones, but couldn't get in the endzone well. Also, I think one of the games Michael Lev rewatched it and counted the number of times he missed a wide open receiver to run was like 8 in one game. I see why Rod Smith likes him so much, but until he can hit the open guy they are just going to load the box and not respect him. In the spring scrimmage it was basically a throwing scrimmage because it was two hand touch for QB's and Tate made some great throws and looked very comfortable in the pocket. He waited and delivered on a lot of balls and his intermediate and long throws looked good. It was just a scrimmage, but Dawkins also left a lot to be desired in that scrimmage throwing the ball. Wide receivers are a bit of a toss up. Shun Brown is very good, Denson has a chance to have a big senior year, Poindexter has redzone target written all over him, and tony ellison is a guy who has been talked about for awhile, but hasn't had a chance to play due to injuries and Grant and Phillips at the slot. Matt Aragon the former punter actually looked like a good receiver in the scrimmage as well. The receivers don't have to be incredible because I bet they run the ball 55-45 or 60-40 this year, but if they are solid they'll be able to put up points. Once again interested in what we do at TE, Trevor Wood is the best TE prospect Arizona has gotten since Gronk, and maybe Magee coaching tight ends and being a former one finally gets them more plays. Magee has Rich's ear way more than Ragle did.
Anyways the offense has a chance to put up points and Arizona has won before with a shakey defense. Yates always emphasizes turnovers so if they are actually able to produce them this year even with a pretty bad defense they can win 6 or 7 games. If Arizona can win 7 games with the 2012 defense than it can win 7 games with the defense it has now. It all comes down to the offense in my opinion.
Even though the ‘Cats only have three Poly players on the current team and seem to not have as strong of ties to the Poly players, major steps are being made to re-establish that pipeline. At the beginning of June, Arizona and the AIGA Foundation hosted the first annual Rich Rodriguez Polynesian Showcase in Tucson. This camp was made possible by the one of the foundation’s founders, former Wildcat George Malauulu, and defensive line graduate assistant Davy Gnodle.
“Basically Davy Gnodle, who is on staff there at the University of Arizona, is a member of my foundation (AIGA). They were talking in some of the meetings about some kind of showcase to help bring Polynesians back to Arizona,” Malauulu explained about how the camp came to fruition. “He just asked me if I wanted to do anything in Arizona. I said ‘Man, I’d love to since that’s my alma mater!’ We just kept talking about it and figuring out a way to go about doing it. One thing led to another.
“We got a lot of the different guys that are in our organization that are from Utah, Northern California, and Hawaii to commit to doing this event on June 9th and 10th,” Malauulu continued. “Before you knew it, it just kind of took off like a wildfire.”
...
“It was a great first event because after your first one, that’ll dictate how the second one’s going to look like,” he said. “We poured all our efforts in. We just made sure ‘If I were to go to the camp what would I do that will be entertaining to the kids?’ At the same time you get in all the tutorials, the football stuff, and include some fun activities. Had to juggle both and sure enough came up with a good turnout and good plan of attack to get these kids over there from different states at the same time.”
As for future camps in Tucson, AIGA is committed to another camp next year.
“As of right now we’ve already talked to Rich Rodriguez and we are committed for next year,” Malauulu explained. “Rich Rod was excited and he definitely would love for the event to take place again next year. On that note we are saying ‘Let’s make it bigger and better next year.’ He (Rich Rod) has a lot of good ideas and if we come to the table with good intentions I think we’ll have a another successful year come next year.”
Even though the ‘Cats only have three Poly players on the current team and seem to not have as strong of ties to the Poly players, major steps are being made to re-establish that pipeline. At the beginning of June, Arizona and the AIGA Foundation hosted the first annual Rich Rodriguez Polynesian Showcase in Tucson. This camp was made possible by the one of the foundation’s founders, former Wildcat George Malauulu, and defensive line graduate assistant Davy Gnodle.
“Basically Davy Gnodle, who is on staff there at the University of Arizona, is a member of my foundation (AIGA). They were talking in some of the meetings about some kind of showcase to help bring Polynesians back to Arizona,” Malauulu explained about how the camp came to fruition. “He just asked me if I wanted to do anything in Arizona. I said ‘Man, I’d love to since that’s my alma mater!’ We just kept talking about it and figuring out a way to go about doing it. One thing led to another.
“We got a lot of the different guys that are in our organization that are from Utah, Northern California, and Hawaii to commit to doing this event on June 9th and 10th,” Malauulu continued. “Before you knew it, it just kind of took off like a wildfire.”
...
“It was a great first event because after your first one, that’ll dictate how the second one’s going to look like,” he said. “We poured all our efforts in. We just made sure ‘If I were to go to the camp what would I do that will be entertaining to the kids?’ At the same time you get in all the tutorials, the football stuff, and include some fun activities. Had to juggle both and sure enough came up with a good turnout and good plan of attack to get these kids over there from different states at the same time.”
As for future camps in Tucson, AIGA is committed to another camp next year.
“As of right now we’ve already talked to Rich Rodriguez and we are committed for next year,” Malauulu explained. “Rich Rod was excited and he definitely would love for the event to take place again next year. On that note we are saying ‘Let’s make it bigger and better next year.’ He (Rich Rod) has a lot of good ideas and if we come to the table with good intentions I think we’ll have a another successful year come next year.”
It died with the haka. One day I truly believe the pipeline will return. It would be a great thing for the program.
Nice story on Troy Young's move from Mobile, Alabama, to Tucson. A good reminder that our players are young men, often far away from home, trying to build lives for themselves. Interesting that it was Young's high school coach who drove him across country and got him settled in Tucson.
Linked article includes a video interview with Young's high school coach. If anyone know away to use the embed code from the video to display on our board, I'd love to hear about it.
Joshua Brown (and some other new players) winning over fans even before practice starts.
Hope the kids have money left for season tickets after skate rental fees.
Ball Control. That is what this offense should focus on in order to limit the defense's time on the field. As has been mentioned, the running game is the best thing this team has going. And all you need to do is look at the 2nd half of the ASU game to know that you can win a game without much passing. Not all defenses are as bad as ASU's but at least this team should be able to get first downs.
Would agree with this. First downs are really important in the success of RR teams. His teams at AZ have not been big play teams but rather teams that generally rack up 30 FD's a game.
Our strength is the Oline and the running backs, we jut need Dawkins to throw enough to keep the defense a little honest
Waiting at the Rose Bowl patiently for the cats to arrive
"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more wildcat sports"
2019 BDW Survivor Pool Champion
If we stay healthy, we could be ok. Dawkins, Tate, Wilson and Taylor are all potentially productive options for a strong ground attack. We didn't lose much on D, so maybe that stabilizes. We've had such a bad run with injuries, maybe that will even out.
Bottom line too, it's a put up or shut up year for RR. Either we show improvement or we likely get a new coach.
DFF is an NFL guy I think. Jarvis McCall, seems like he has been on the team for 10 years. I like the players lounge
Waiting at the Rose Bowl patiently for the cats to arrive
"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more wildcat sports"
2019 BDW Survivor Pool Champion
I don’t recall even having the courage to speak. I nodded “Yes.” I didn’t have a piece of paper or a ball.
Scott Piper took the pen out of my hand.
“Turn around,” he said.
He signed his name on the back of my t-shirt. From that moment forward, he had a fan for life; a kind act extended to an insecure boy was all it took. I wore that shirt to school and to play touch football until the ink was washed out in the laundry and it turned to shreds.
Scott Piper caught 46 passes that year and I cheered for every one. The Cats went 9-2, no fluke. A year later as senior in 1975, he caught 45 more, led the team in receiving yards and scored seven touchdowns. I cheered even louder. Arizona went 9-2 again. The “fluke” talk was history.
In 1976, Scott Piper was drafted in the sixth round by the Buffalo Bills. He wore No. 82.
Five years later, I arrived on campus and wanted to wear No. 86, like my childhood Wildcat idol. That jersey had already been claimed. I asked for No. 82.
That is a great story. Javier should have asked if he really lined up wrong against ASSU in 75. That TD was called back and we lost 24-21. He was on the line of scrimmage. The refs really f'd us in that game
Waiting at the Rose Bowl patiently for the cats to arrive
"I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more wildcat sports"
2019 BDW Survivor Pool Champion
Zona Zealots is the place to go for positive stories. This Shereen Rayan story on Isaiah Hayes, Sophomore safety, touches on the challenges of balancing a rigorous academic load and football.
Hayes is a Pre-Eller student who had to fly in the wee hours of the morning after late night games on Saturdays and then attended late Sunday study sessions with his team for each new game plan. Being a Pre-Eller student is hard enough, but trying to maintain a high GPA and pass business calculus in your freshman year while being an active player on the football team, that was not easy.
The Pac-12 schedule for the Wildcats, as Coach Rod will tell you, does no favors for the players serious about both school and play. The team had 6:00 am practices too. “Travelling caught me off guard, you know, getting off planes at 4:00 am, that was bad, and then having to do practice and walkthroughs and all that it was just crazy,” explained Hayes.
ANGCatFan wrote:Zona Zealots is the place to go for positive stories. This Shereen Rayan story on Isaiah Hayes, Sophomore safety, touches on the challenges of balancing a rigorous academic load and football.
Hayes is a Pre-Eller student who had to fly in the wee hours of the morning after late night games on Saturdays and then attended late Sunday study sessions with his team for each new game plan. Being a Pre-Eller student is hard enough, but trying to maintain a high GPA and pass business calculus in your freshman year while being an active player on the football team, that was not easy.
The Pac-12 schedule for the Wildcats, as Coach Rod will tell you, does no favors for the players serious about both school and play. The team had 6:00 am practices too. “Travelling caught me off guard, you know, getting off planes at 4:00 am, that was bad, and then having to do practice and walkthroughs and all that it was just crazy,” explained Hayes.
