Just about halfway thru camp..

[JTC]

..thoughts so far? Impressions? Here are mine-

Months ago, as I looked ahead to football season, my expectations were very tempered. Cautiously optimistic. This was before I heard anything about the young O-line having a chip on their shoulder, etc. I was thinking 6-6, 7-5 at best.

Fall camp came, first week and a half passed. . heard a lot about Usman and Parish at the ends, the passion of Joe Salave'a and how the kids love to play for him, heard about our 37 receivers And with all that, I started to get really pumped. I didn't even mention the secondary, and how we have some hard-hitters and corners that won't shut up and talk a good game. After all this, I thought, wow - maybe this team can make a lot more noise than I thought. Maybe we be this physical D, and this extreme air-raid offense and just tear sh*t up.

Then another week and a half passed. The Cats came back from Ft. Huachuca after having their scrimmage there. The right side of the O-line is struggling somewhat, becoming somewhat of a rotating door as they try to find starters for that side of the line. Haven't heard a whole lot about how the LB's are doing (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). Neither the D nor the O had a significant upper hand in the scrimmage there. Still pumped at this point, but I probably have a tiny bit of that caution back. Just a teeny bit. I do know that we're gonna have quite a few young guys that are gonna get significant PT. Overall, I think our defense can be better than last year. And no matter how long Arizona practices, until that O-line goes against another team, we just don't know how well they'll perform.

I'm still as excited, tempered expecations, but not quite as tempered as they were this past spring. A few more days for the young guys to make some noise and work their way up. It'll be interesting to see what the 2-deep is especially on D once the dust settles.

[azcat49]

No worries, if you havn't noticed from past fall camps, Stoops likes to experiment with groupings. In my mind, he knows who will start but he is looking for guys he can build confidence in.

Come Okie St, I think we will all be surprised.

[JTC]

Originally Posted by azcat49

No worries, if you havn't noticed from past fall camps, Stoops likes to experiment with groupings. In my mind, he knows who will start but he is looking for guys he can build confidence in.

Come Okie St, I think we will all be surprised.

No worries here, or if there are, it's nothing new that I've noticed. I still think this team has it in them to be better than expected this year. Whether or not that happens is another thing. Either way, I'm just as geeked up about the season as I was before.

[uacats]

Bryson ACL tear. Wow!

[UAEebs86]

Originally Posted by uacats

Bryson ACL tear. Wow!

That sound you hear is Matt Scott's redshirt sailing out the window...

[scumdevils86]

crap

[Dosia]

Is the training staff doing something wrong or what? With the amount of knee injuries its getting to the point where this isnt normal.

[UAEebs86]

Originally Posted by uacats

Bryson ACL tear. Wow!

On Channel 4 news they just said it was a sprain.

Coach Stoops was visibly agitated by some questions
about all the injuries.

[ALASKACAT]

If it is an ACL tear, is this one of those cases where a redshirt senior can apply for a hardship waiver and receive a sixth year of eligibility or is he fukked?

[Winger]

Nice post JTC.

The balance of the level of play b/w the D and O tells you something I think.

Guessing Beirne is back in 3-4 weeks, could be half to 3/4 speed before that.

[Merkin]

Originally Posted by ALASKACAT

If it is an ACL tear, is this one of those cases where a redshirt senior can apply for a hardship waiver and receive a sixth year of eligibility or is he fukked?

Fukked. If you take a voluntary redshirt and later get injured, the NCAA will normally deny the 6th year. If you have two seasons wiped out due to injury then the NCAA may grant a 6th year.

[mofohefe]

From the Tucson Citizen: "Neither Alex Zendejas nor Jaimie Salazar has separated himself from the other in the battle to be the starting placekicker, Stoops said.

'We’re still inconsistent. Good at times, bad at times. We’ve got to be more consistent as a group,' Stoops said.

At the end of Monday evening’s practice, Zendejas was wide left from on a 29-yard attempt. Salazar was good from 29 yards."

This better not be the 3rd year in a row with sh*tty special teams and a kicker who will make you pull your hair out (and lose games), but it sure sounds like it might be the case. I know we've beaten that horse, but my God, how long is this going to be a problem area for us? How many games do you think Stoops needs to lose on special teams before he thinks it's a good idea to invest a little more into them?


http://tucsoncitizen.com/wildcatrepo...sprained-knee/

[BigO]

With Folk & Bondzio, we were spoiled with kicking. They were nearly automatic. Now, we see what it's like with a struggling kicking game...and it sucks just as bad as you would expect it to.

[catgrad97]

If you haven't been following the other threads--or Randazzo or Bonney's reports at Brad Allis' site--the kicking game and punt blocking are scaring hell out of a lot of people.

Makes me think that, with less than two weeks to go until game action, Anae may need to be brought in to coach the lines on the kick and punt teams as well. Whoever's coaching them right now is seriously not doing his job and leaving the hard work of our other units very vulnerable to quick scores.

Make no mistake, a blocked punt or kick is going to decide at least one game for Wildcat football this fall, and I don't want to be watching when it does. All the good things our O and D are capable of could get thrown out the window by a blocked return for TD.

[barringer97]

Originally Posted by mofohefe

From the Tucson Citizen: "Neither Alex Zendejas nor Jaimie Salazar has separated himself from the other in the battle to be the starting placekicker, Stoops said.

'We’re still inconsistent. Good at times, bad at times. We’ve got to be more consistent as a group,' Stoops said.

At the end of Monday evening’s practice, Zendejas was wide left from on a 29-yard attempt. Salazar was good from 29 yards."

This better not be the 3rd year in a row with sh*tty special teams and a kicker who will make you pull your hair out (and lose games), but it sure sounds like it might be the case. I know we've beaten that horse, but my God, how long is this going to be a problem area for us? How many games do you think Stoops needs to lose on special teams before he thinks it's a good idea to invest a little more into them?


http://tucsoncitizen.com/wildcatrepo...sprained-knee/

Anyone read Scorecasting yet?

Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won

http://www.amazon.com/Scorecasting-H.../dp/0307591794

There is a chapter on how they follow a high school team and how they go for it on every 4th down, always go for 2, always onside, and never kick punts or field goals. They have won the state title (Arkansas?) every other year and have something like a 90% winning %.

Basically it states that it most cases (statistically) you should never kick and always go for it.

Coaches will never go for it because their job is on the line, and the few that do "go for it" (Belichick) can't get fired.

http://www.freakonomics.com/2005/11/...on-in-the-nfl/

To me, it's painfully obvious that we should go for it every time, never kick a field goal (unless clock makes us) and always go for two, but we can't because coaches (Stoops) are too afraid to go outside the norm because they fear for their job.