If Arizona’s season begin today, is confident the offense would be ready to roll, both its scheme and personnel. But thankfully, the Wildcats still have 11 days before their opener against New Mexico to fine tune their plays and get everyone healthy. “I think the biggest thing is, we’re just trying to get our entire concepts in,” the UA’s offensive coordinator said.
“Offense is a little bit different than defense when it comes to this time of the year, because we’re trying to get all our offense in for the entire year. And then obviously when you get start getting ready for opponents you’re very specific, and you narrow down exactly what you’re going to work on. Right now, we’re just getting finished with that and about to make the transition to our first opponent.
So (the playbook) should be getting smaller, and the performance should be going up.” Monday was the first of four consecutive morning practices for the Wildcats as they transition from training camp to season mode. Babers said this week will help figure out “who’s going to be with us” in terms of being starters, backups and the “1.
5 guys who are in between.” Babers’ advice for guys fighting for a job: “Don’t make it close. Don’t let it come down to a vote of a coach, because if we vote, we may not vote your way.
So don’t make it close.” The most important spot on the offense has been locked up for a while by quarterback , which Babers said provides a huge benefit from a preparation standpoint as does the return of four starters on the offensive line. Whether all four will be healthy enough to play in the opener remains to be seen.
“It comes down to the conditioning,” he said. “A guy can look physically healthy, but not conditioned enough to go on an 8-, 10, 12-play drive without mentally breaking down on eight or nine and doing something that kills the drive because you’re just tired. If they’ve been a starter, if they’ve been a consistent performer in this program, then you want to get them on the field as fast as you can, because you can predict what they’re going to do on the football field.
“A lot of people have gotten reps (on the offensive line), and there’s been some upsides. For me, I haven’t had the opportunity to see them all intact, working together, so I’m not sleeping really good.” Arizona has the luxury of being able to watch its season-opening opponent play on TV this Saturday, as New Mexico hosts FCS powerhouse Montana State at 1 p.
m. PT on Fox Sports 1. Babers, however, feels the Lobos have the advantage.
‘They’re getting an opportunity to play a full football game, and your most growth is between the first and second football game,” he said. “Every year. So they’re going to get an opportunity to see themselves play.
They’ll be able to critique it. The kids learn more from watching themselves than from watching others, and they will have immense growth from whatever we see in that tape to what shows up in Arizona Stadium.”.
