Arizona did not have a game last week, the first of two in-season byes, but it was far from a week off for the Wildcats ahead of starting Big 12 Conference play. “There was a lot going on, but I think we really attacked it,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Monday. “I think our players […]
Arizona did not have a game last week, the first of two in-season byes, but it was far from a week off for the Wildcats ahead of starting Big 12 Conference play.
“There was a lot going on, but I think we really attacked it,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Monday. “I think our players did a fantastic job, as did our coaches. There was a lot of practice, a lot of work that had to get done, but then there was also recruiting and all the things that come with that. And then us continuing to work hard to kind of build our brand and build our program.”
Speaking of brand building, on Saturday Brennan (accompanied by Wilbur Wildcat) participated in the NASCAR Racing Experience at Phoenix Raceway. It was the start of a collaboration between the NASCAR venue and UA football that will include events in and around Arizona Stadium for the Oct. 11 game against BYU.
“When you look through the lens of just the business of college football, how do we continue to build and push the brand of Arizona football?,” Brennan said. “And we felt like Red line was just such a simple thing, kind of in alignment with race cars. And so I got a chance to redline a race car. I’ll be honest with you, I was a little bit nervous. You’re standing there, and those cars are going by crazy fast. Everything that we’re doing here in Arizona is we’re trying to build a program that is sustainable, successful and sustainable over time. And how do we find creative ways in the new world of college football to do that? And I thought that was a really great step.”
After a few days off, Arizona returned to practice Sunday in preparation for a trip to Ames, Iowa and a battle with No. 14 Iowa State. It will be the schools’ first meeting since 1968.
Here’s what Brennan said about the Cyclones, and other topics, at his Monday presser to open game week:
On Iowa State’s success under Matt Campbell: “I have incredible respect Coach Campbell and that staff there. I think that’s one of those deals where he took over a program that had been up and down, and he’s made it a consistent, sustainable winner, something that we talked about wanting to do here at the University of Arizona. And so I just have incredible amount of respect for him and the staff and how they’ve built it, and it’s been incredibly impressive to watch. And I’ve watched it over the whole tenure of him there. Coach Campbell and I have not connected before I got here, but we’ve been kind of trying to, and when we played Toledo in fall of ’23 the whole premium conversation with (Toledo coach Jason Candle) there, we talked about Coach Campbell. He’s a universally respected head football coach. He’s a really good guy, and he’s built a hell of a football program.”
On Iowa State’s use of tight ends: “I think the way they’re built gives them a chance. When people play a lot of times like that, it adds gaps, it messes with your fits. There’s a physicality that comes with it, which obviously they want to play that way. So I think the beauty of what they’ve done is that they continue to have a philosophy of how they want to play, and then they recruit to it, and the results have been, obviously, extremely positive. Those guys are good blockers and they’re complete tight ends, which is one of those positions I think everybody in college football consistently—I don’t know if struggles is right word—but is challenged trying to find those positions.”
On the Cyclones’ defense: “Defensively, I think they’re really good at attacking the football. They do a hell of a job that way, just what they do schematically, and then just like being hyper aware of the ball.”
On Iowa State QB Rocco Becht: “When guys have a chance to play a lot of football, you start to see those reps stack, those reps accrue, and there’s a kind of an acceleration or compounding of those reps as they play. And you can see him playing with just extreme confidence, because he’s effective in everything they ask him to do. think for any player, in our program or somewhere else, the idea of actually staying in one place and investing in yourself in the process of development so that you can be a good player. He’s a great example in that part of it.”
On recruiting during the bye: “The rules now are so different for the head coach in terms of the time when we’re allowed to get out on the road, recruiting, and so that makes it hard. As a assistant coach, that was something that I loved doing. I love going to the high schools. I love watching the players practice. I love meeting their teachers. I love watching them compete on Friday nights, going in the home with the family and all that stuff. But as a head coach, the windows are really limited now, to do with the way the calendar works with the NCAA, so that’s a much different experience for me.”
On the first injury (availability) report coming on Wednesday: “I think it’s great. I think it puts everybody on the same page. I think there’s some consistency in college football with what the availability report is going to be. I think we’ve been moving that way. I know that’s something that the media has been asking for for years. think it takes a lot of pressure off of you guys, and us, because I just feel like whenever there is an injury, it just becomes too much in the narrative when really (you’re) just trying to get your team ready to play with who was available for that game. So now we have a streamlined process of this is the availability report, and these are guys that you think are going to go, and these guys are doubtful.”
On if he would have preferred not to have a bye so early: “I think the beautiful thing about scheduling is that you don’t really get to have a say in scheduling, so you just have to deal with whatever it is. I think the good news is, is it we played some good football leading up to it. It did give us a chance to do a little bit of self scout and dive back into some fundamental stuff and work on some situational football. And also get ready for the upcoming opponent, which is obviously one of the best teams in our conference. It’s on the road in a tough environment, there’s so many things that come with this game. It’s a really important week of work for us, because we know that they’ll be ready to go.”
On fixing special teams during the bye: “I think we had a great week in the kicking game, and it had to be a huge focus for us. I felt like some of those things, when you look at it, the physical area, dropping a punt, missing a kick, like those things that I think are a little bit easier to fix, just with some reps and some consistency. But I think for us as a overall group, I think that just the investment for coach Naivar and the special teams and how much time and effort we’ve been putting into all four phases there has been really valuable for us.”
On injured players during the bye: “I think that part was good for a handful of those guys that have been coming back from injury or got injured in training camp, and just helping them get more reps, more full speed reps.”
On LB Chase Kennedy’s improvement: “Chase is one of those guys who always has really good energy, and so that part of it’s been fun to see him continue his developmental process and his maturing process since he got here a year ago to where you are seeing him consistently embrace his role and attack it.”
On Kennedy’s role vs. Iowa State: “We’re gonna have to have 11 playing good defense, not just Chase. We’re going to need massive population of the football, we have to have great eye discipline. We’re going to have to be really, really sound tacklers. The best thing Chase can do is play to the absolute standard of red line every single play in this game, doing his job.”
On playing at Iowa State: “I’ve said this ad nauseum here, every stadium on the road in this conference is a monster. Every road game that we play is sold out, everywhere the crowd is all over your ass the moment you get off the bus. It’s just part of playing in this conference. We expect that, we know it’s going to be a rowdy crowd. It’s a 6 o’clock game. We know how passionate they are about their football there, and they’ve got a really good football team. Really, for us, how much do we lock into handling every piece of our process with the right mindset, with the right discipline as we lead up to getting ready for game time?”
On when during training camp he thought the defense could be good: “I think there was lots of moments. I remember we had a night practice in the indoor (facility) and and the defense was just on fire. And just like the emotion of that night. Earlier in that practice we had just like this incredibly physical 9-on-7 drill. When I was watching it, like this team, this group of guys is excited. But the good news is, over time, the offense at times did the same thing with the defense, right? Having done this a long time, if it’s too one sided, you probably have, probably got a problem. You need to trade punches in the practice environment. But I did see that during training camp from our defense.”
On Arizona’s tight ends since Tyler Powell’s injury: “I think they’ve done a great job. I think Sam Olson has been one of those guys that’s just been consistent. He’s made plays for us at the last place and then this place, and I’m excited to see him to continue on this journey. It’s great having Keyan (Burnett) back, and I think he’s done a really good job getting back in the mix. He was nicked up a little bit early in the season, but it’s good to see him starting to get his mojo back. And then Cam (Barmore) has been a really, really pleasant surprise. I feel like Cam has made a significant increase, or showd some real development in the physicality of playing the position, which is just so important.”
Category: General Sports
