If the Wildcats didn’t want to reveal much of their new offense at Saturday’s public scrimmage, one of their biggest dimensions may have just exposed himself.
Running back Chris Jennings, who dazzled in last year’s final scrimmage, did more of the same this year, getting 136 total yards in front of an estimated 7,500 fans.
“”In this offense you can do a lot of everything. I like that,”” said Jennings, who caught nine passes for 98 yards and rushed six times for 42 yards, scoring touchdowns from one and three yards out.
As for the rest of Arizona’s offense, quarterback Willie Tuitama used several screen passes and quick tosses in a solid outing, in which he went 22-of-29, amassing 196 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Tuitama rarely aired the ball out, but one of the few long passes was the highlight of the passing game – a 75-yard bomb to Anthony Johnson, who leaped in between cornerback Antoine Cason and safety Dominic Patrick, and ran another 30 yards for a score.
“”We tried to keep it pretty basic,”” said offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes about the game’s play calls. “”We didn’t do much stuff down the field. You’ve got to be careful in an open scrimmage. There are some things that we’ll do probably a little different that we didn’t want to show tonight.
“”There are some things that we’ve worked on for the entire camp that we didn’t show tonight, and I’m sure (Brigham Young) did the same with their scrimmage.””
Arizona opens the season at BYU on Sept. 1.
Tuitama’s backup, Kris Heavner, worked mainly with the second team and was almost equally impressive, going 13-of-22 for 115 yards and an interception.
Tuitama’s only blip in the scrimmage was his pass that was intercepted by safety Cam Nelson. Leaning on his back foot, Tuitama threw the ball up for grabs.
“”I thought he made good decisions for most of the night,”” said UA head coach Mike Stoops. “”The interception was bad. He made a couple bad throws. We don’t teach our kids to force the ball or throw over people. He did that a couple times.””
On top of the two interceptions, Jennings and his backup, Xavier Smith, both had a lost fumble.
On special teams, new punter Keenyn Crier averaged 52 yards on five punts, including a 75-yarder.
Jason Bondzio was 3-of-4 on field goals, converting attempts of 39, 42 and 46 yards but missing a 53-yard attempt.
Devin Ross, who is expected to be the new kick returner, had two strong returns, including a 65-yarder covering both sides of the field.
“”I saw a lot of good things,”” Stoops said. “”We’ve still got a lot of work to do. I was kind of disappointed with the turnovers, but I’m starting to see things fall into place.
“”Overall, it was good. I thought our defense played well throughout camp. We are making it hard on these guys and that’s good. We’re going to see a lot of the same stuff when we play BYU.””
