Editor’s note: Arizona quarterback Nick Foles started the first game of his collegiate career on Saturday. Foles, a redshirt sophomore, completed 25-of-34 passes for 254 yards, three touchdowns and a rushing touchdown during the Wildcats’ 37-32 win against Oregon State. The Arizona Daily Wildcat’s Brian Kimball caught up with Foles after Tuesday’s practice to discuss his performance in Corvallis, Ore., why he wears No. 8 and if there are any added perks to being Arizona’s starting quarterback.
Daily Wildcat: Was it weird to finally get into a game as a starter?
Nick Foles: It’s been a while since I’ve been the guy and it’s been since high school that I was the guy, but all of a sudden it just came back and all the confidence and the ability to do what I did in high school (I have) now.
DW: Are you growing a good-luck beard this week?
NF: (Laughs) Ah, no. I don’t know. I’ve just been growing it, I haven’t really cut it. My girlfriend wants me to cut it so I might do it this week and then grow it out for the next game.
DW: When was the last time you cut your hair?
NF: I don’t know, it’s been a while. I probably need a haircut, but I’m going to wait. I’ve gotten a little trim (in the past few months) but I haven’t really had a big haircut in a long time.
DW: Did you ever feel rattled in your first career start?
NF: Not really. As a quarterback you can’t really show that you’re getting rattled because all those guys in the huddle are looking up to you and we had a great week of practice so I had a lot of confidence going in. I felt great the whole game.
DW: Why do you wear No. 8?
NF: I’ve always been No. 7, and I was thinking about getting No. 7 but Willie (Tuitama) was No. 7 so I didn’t want to do that. I decided to make a new number and the next number I liked when I was little was No. 8 so I went with 8.
DW: Was there a pass you made against Oregon State that caught you by surprise?
NF: There was a play where it was third down-and-five and David Douglas was going over the middle and right before I got the crap knocked out of me I got it to him and I was just like, ‘Thank God. He better have caught that.’ We live together, so if he didn’t catch that, oof. But he has great hands and I knew he’d catch it.
DW: So being the starting quarterback of the team now, does that come with any perks if you know what I’m talking about?
NF: Nah. (Laughs) I mean, you walk around campus and people notice you, but nothing I’ve really noticed. Things seem about the same. I got a lot of text messages and I got a lot of phone calls after the game from friends and family, family I hadn’t talked to in a while and friends from high school who I hadn’t talked to, so that was neat. That was pretty cool.
DW: You didn’t get an ungodly amount of females friend-ing you on Facebook or anything like that?
NF: No, I’ve got a girlfriend. I don’t pay any attention to any of that. I’ve got her and I’m very lucky.
DW: All right, good answer man. So after you got back from Corvallis and could reflect on the win for a little while, what was the first thing you did when you got home?
NF: Went to sleep. (Laughs) We got back at like 2 (Sunday morning) so I went home and went to sleep and then got up and went and picked my girlfriend up and just hung out with David Douglas. He’s my roommate and we just hung out all day and relaxed. We were all pretty tired from the game. We just talked about the game and played some ping-pong.
DW: Do you have a good feel with David Douglas and David Roberts?
NF: I just go through my reads. I trust all the receivers. I’ll throw it out there and let them go make plays. They did a great job of making plays. … I threw it to them when I knew a guy was going to hit them, but I trusted them to break a tackle and they did a great job of it.
DW: Do you have any personal goals for the rest of the season?
NF: Right now, just beat Washington. That’s all I’m thinking about. That’s all I’m going to worry about is just preparing for this game like I did at Oregon State and going out there and doing the best we can.
