WSR Gridiron Report

My son and I will be there.

Cool.

I was hoping we could get some mobile updates/opinions from anyone that is there.

Thanks.

I wish I could have been to the same press conference Ricky went to so I could have understood what was wrong with Morrison. It was obvious that he wasn't doing well as soon as they started warming up. Scott is far ahead of the rest and is the obvious first choice. A'more and Cappelini had their moments, but they looked pretty green.

I had a little different idea about the day but then I like to watch the defense. I had the feeling this was a less than full speed scrimmage because the defensive coverage was pretty bad at a time when the defense should be more organized than the offense. They didn't change their defense on any play except on the goal line stands. The defensive backs were confused often and there were at least two touchdowns where I had no idea who was covering the receiver. They couldn't touch Scott and Morrison by design and two of the touchdowns happened where realistically there would have been sacks. The tackling was not crisp and I think that may have been ok for this show. No one on defense teed off on anybody.

We are still looking for someone to kick extra points although we were good on at least 50 percent of them.

As Ricky said, there were fun things to watch. Fischer did look good. The offensive line looked ok but then the defensive line didn't look particularly aggressive. I spent a lot of time looking at numbers and learning names.

These guys are not in game shape, the offense is far from organized and if I were the coach I would not have put on this show until at least the 3rd week. They were brave to do this because they knew it wouldn't look very competitive. However, RR is trying his hardest to get this going. He had a lot of people show up today and they had a lot of touchdowns to cheer for as Bear Down was played at every touchdown. Most of the people I saw are glad to see this coach reach out to the people and to see Byrne sell the idea of being a dedicated Wildcat. What we saw today is nothing like what we will see in about six months. I now know where the pieces are supposed to be in the 3-3-5 defense. I'm not sure those 11 guys are completely sure what they're supposed to do when the ball is snapped. I suspect they will look night and day different even by the end of spring ball.

By the way, it was hot in Phoenix today. Next year we need to do this in the the UofP stadium. Also there were no cheerleaders. I'd like to know how they are doing also. Pom Pom girls were not there. If Byrne will start the affair next year by bringing a guy out to the middle of the field and let him kick about five forty yard field goals in a row without a miss while the girls lead us in a few cheers in the air conditioned stadium, selling season tickets will be a piece of cake. I am ready to come to Tucson for some fun Saturday nights. It can't come too soon. Bear Down!

I was there and wandered the sidelines for a while. Scott is in charge of the offense, and is looking good as far as picking it up and telling guys where the should be. Morrison pulled a chest wall muscle in warm-ups (a common QB injury) and couldn't play. Lots of struggles with the new tempo, but that is to be expected. Lots of self-indicting comments like "&^%$ I really &^%$#@ that up!"...so the guys are trying to catch on.
The RBs looked pretty darned good. I was disappointed in Ka'deem's condition, but that will come quickly. Jenkins and Baker will push him, and Nwoko is back, and we need his size. The receivers are bringing their ball-concentration and soft hands back. They will be good.
The O-line looked slow to me, but that won't last....they'll get faster. The D-line wasn't a factor. The LBs seemed to be picking it up pretty well.
Loved the organization of the coaching staff- they were all over everything, talking and teaching. The KNOW what they're doing.
Good turn-out, lots of nice people. The staff hung around for a while signing autographs, and for as ragged as it was, it was just a tad better than I was expecting. By opening of camp in August, we won't recognize today's work, and the pace will be about 2x what it was today..

Ted Miller interview with video.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/36356/video-arizona-coach-rich-rodriguez

Thanks for the personal perspectives guys. I enjoyed reading all of it.

Guys,
I want to thank everyone for their insights.
What intrigues me the most about the practices is the pace and how it will translate into our ultimate fitness and mental agility to change on the go come the season............
Sounds to me like the O definitely has the advantage thus far and the D has plenty to pick up.
Also what interests me is exactly how Adam Hall was used yesterday and how has he been used in practice thus far.
If anyone recalls we had a very serious discussion here about a month and a half ago when some claimed that Hall was going to be playing cornerback and it was said from others - including me - lets wait to see exactly how this translates onto the field regarding terminology.
So what is it? I have read a couple of articles that have said Hall played and was at full speed, so where exactly was he playing and how was he being used?
I cannot wait to see what Casteel does with this defense.

Wato: As a former WR in high school who never paid attention to anything other than my position, I must apologize. I have always for the life of me focused on offense when I watch a scrimmage or practice, usually skill positions at that. Then when I watch games I'm focused on the line play and the defense. I have no clue why this is. I saw Adam's number out there on the field but the only defensive guys I watched for as much as a play or two were Dame and the frosh LB who came in at the semester. And that was only because I didn't recognize their numbers. I never even noticed Wagner, who was a guy I wanted to mentally check out.

Honestly I never bought into the whole corner thing. Adam is a safety that could possibly play the hybrid Linebacker spot in the 3-3-5. But I think the safety spots are hall and flowers to lose, regardless of what some people might say.

I see that Mark May's tweet indicates that he felt about the same as I did about the scrimmage; namely that RR may surprise in 12. After all the downplaying that RR has been doing about his offense I was actually quite surprised at how they performed. Ted Miller of ESPN has readjusted his rankings of PAC coaches as well and has RR now, up near the top in just about a dead heat tie for first with Kelly.

Yeah, for many years in the 90s and early 2000s they were the class of the ACCAC before AWC and EAJC geared up again with out of state kids that make their rosters look like an SEC training ground.