As spring football practice concludes, Arizona hosts its annual spring football game this Saturday. The Wildcats will take the field at 1 p.m. at Arizona Stadium for their only public appearance of the spring football season.
The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Arizona.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez said he enjoys spring games and welcomes the opportunity to have football outside of the regular season.
“It’s such a long time between bowl games and the first game,” Rodriguez said. “It’s good to have a little bit of excitement and talk about football for a couple hours on a Saturday.”
Fans will get a chance to see Arizona without several leaders from last season’s squad. Among those who need replacements are Ka’Deem Carey, B.J. Denker, Jake Fischer and Marquis Flowers.
That means starting spots at running back and quarterback and two linebacker positions need to be filled. Rodriguez will probably have his eye on several players who could potentially fill those positions throughout the game.
“Competition is great for us,” redshirt senior Jared Tevis said. “Some of the younger guys are trying to establish their role.”
As the highest profile position on the field, quarterback will be an area of particular interest. There are seven quarterbacks on the roster, with redshirt sophomore Connor Brewer and redshirt senior Jesse Scroggins as the most notable names. Brewer transferred from Texas and Scroggins from USC.
However, there will be more to this Saturday than just the football game. Rodriguez said he saw other colleges’ fan challenges and decided to implement his own this spring.
In what is being dubbed “Super Wildcat Weekend,” fans will get the chance to participate in three “Hard Edge Challenges:” kick a 50-yard field goal for $500, out-throw an Arizona quarterback for $250 and call a play during the spring game.
“I start seeing some other people do some things and I’m like, ‘What the heck, let’s have some fun Saturday,’ and I had an ulterior motive really,” Rodriguez said. “If there’s a guy out kicking 50 yard field goals that’s a student, I need to get him on the team. If there’s a quarterback that can throw farther than my quarterbacks, then I need to look at him too … but I also think it will be fun for the fans.”
In addition to the Hard Edge Challenges, the weekend will also consist of a golf tournament Friday morning and the first A-Club Letterwinners flag football game on Saturday at 11:15 a.m.
Admission is free to the game and in all parking lots except Lot 6093. The UA did advise fans to arrive early because Spring Fling is occurring on the UA Mall.
Fans will enter through Gates 1 and 2, which will open at 11 a.m. The first 1,000 fans will receive vouchers for free admission to Spring Fling.
Outside food is not allowed, except for bottled water.
—Follow Roberto Payne @HouseOfPayne555
