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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Notes: Day two of football practice

Friday’s practice was very similar to Thursday’s camp opener in that it was in helmets and shorts, so it’s still hard to get a read on anything — specifically the offensive and defensive lines. But the tempo of the practice was good and things started to get a little chippy, so it’s pretty clear that even though there have only been two days of camp, everyone’s ready to put on the pads. Here’s what else happened Friday morning: 

  • Nick Foles was on fire, at least when he was able to drop back without a defender immediately being in his face. He only threw two or three incompletions during 7-on-7 drills and was squeezing passes into very tight windows. 
  • In 11-on-11 drills, the offensive line struggled. Badly. Again, take this with a grain of salt because blocking is nearly impossible without everyone in pads, but the running backs weren’t able to find any daylight and Foles was sacked or forced out of the pocket nearly every time he dropped back. 
  • Juron Criner looks like he’s back in form. He nearly made a jumping, twisting catch while he was blanketed by two defenders, but couldn’t hold on when he went to the ground. He knocked off any rust he might have had in his few weeks back in Tucson before camp began. 
  • The first little scuffle of camp broke out between receiver Dan Buckner and cornerback Trevin Wade. During 7-on-7 drills, Wade took Buckner to the ground after Buckner caught a pass on a drag route, which is a no-no during the first few days of practice. There was some pushing and a lot of yelling, but that’s all that happened. 
  • That scuffle might have lit a fire under Buckner, because he caught a couple of long passes for scores on the day. The first was during 7-on-7 drills, when he just ran past safety Josh Robbins. The second was on the final play of the day, when he scored on a 30-something-yard pass from Foles, again wide open. 
  • Arizona’s offense didn’t waste any time scoring in the two-minute drill. The first two plays, both completions to Terrence Miller, picked up about 40 yards. The third play was an incompletion over the middle, and the final play was the touchdown strike to Buckner
  • Any pass rush that Arizona gets is going to be generated by using speed, and lots of it. Both C.J. Parish and Mohammed Usman are undersized for D-ends, but both are blazing quick and can get by tackles in the blink of an eye. 
  • Quote of the day, courtesy of Usman: “”I’m going to work as hard as I can. If I pass out, they’re going to drag me off (the field), and I’ll go back on. All I’ve got to do is work hard, and everything else will come.””
  • Usman, by the way, is a physical specimen. He’s absolutely jacked. 
  • Arizona announced that the Sept. 3 season opener against NAU will kick off at 7 p.m. from Arizona Stadium, and will be televised by Fox Sports Arizona throughout the state, and KGUN-TV in Tucson. 

So that’s it from day two of Arizona’s fall football camp. The team gets to grab some extra sleep tomorrow with practice starting at 8 a.m. instead of the usual 6:15 a.m. Check back with Dailywildcat.com for continuing coverage of Arizona’s preseason camp. 

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