(Apr. 7, 2001) -- Arizona spring football practice continued to draw attention during the team's third weekend of spring drills. The Wildcats closed out the Saturday, April 7, session with a scrimmage at Arizona Stadium.
Head coach John Mackovic and staff put the Wildcats through position
drills for the first hour of practice. The Wildcats then engaged in a
scrimmage for about 1:30 minutes.
The Arizona defense tallied 20 quarterback sacks on the day. Senior
defensive end Alex Luna led the way with six sacks. Senior defensive end
Austin Uku added 4.5 sacks, and senior defensive end Eli Wnek finished the
scrimmage with three sacks.
"Overall, I thought the defense went about today's scrimmage like a game,
while the offense just seemed to go at it like a practice," Mackovic said.
"The defensive line is playing better, but they did not recognize some of
the traps and draw plays. I was not pleased with the offense, especially
with our pass protection. Our offensive line is down in numbers, so some of
the guys are not fresh, but we should still be doing better."
Arizona's six candidates for the starting job at quarterback each saw duty
in today's scrimmage. Junior Jason Johnson completed 7-of-14 passes for 101
yards and a touchdown. Johnson hit senior wide receiver Brandon Marshall
for a 20-yard touchdown strike. Sophomore quarterback Cliff Watkins
completed 9-of-18 passes for 120 yards.
Sophomore Kyle Slager completed three passes for 34 yards, and junior Erik
Garcia was 3-of-4 on the day for 12 yards. Redshirt freshman John Rattay
saw limited action, completing 1-of-4 passes for three yards. Redshirt
freshman Steve Fleming saw action in one series and attempted one pass.
"I didn't see a lot of improvement in the quarterbacks since last weekend,
and I thought that we would have seen more," Mackovic said. "At this point,
Jason Johnson is showing the experience of being in a college football
program. He reads very well, he knows the signals, and he can call the
plays. Whether we could identify the No. 2 or No. 3 quarterback is in
question right now."
Senior wide receiver Brandon Marshall caught two passes for 40 yards and a
touchdown. Sophomore Lance Relford finished with three catches for 38
yards, and senior Malosi Leonard had three catches for 34 yards.
"We had some dropped passes today, and we need to correct that. Our
receiving corps should be a solid group for us," Mackovic said.
Redshirt freshman running back Tremaine Cox helped lead the way with eight
rushes for 31 yards, while junior Larry Croom added 22 yards on seven carries.
Junior kicker Sean Keel made three field goals from 30, 35 and 37 yards
after missing a point-after-attempt. Sophomore Bobby Gill converted on
field goals from 36 and 44 yards but missed from 48 and 50 yards.
Following Saturday's practice, Mackovic said that he and the assistant
coaches are "going to continue to continue to teach new things every day."
He also said that the coaching staff is "still trying to refine and put new
plays in at every practice," especially on the offensive side of the ball.
The Wildcats will return to the practice facility on Tuesday afternoon for
their 10th practice session. Arizona is allowed 15 spring practices under
NCAA guidelines and will conclude spring drills with the Spring Game on
April 21, at 1 p.m., in Arizona Stadium.
All spring practices are open to the public. Most are scheduled on the
practice facility at North Campbell Avenue and Enke Drive, across from
McKale Center, but the Spring Game and some other sessions will be held in
Arizona Stadium.
Arizona Football Scrimmage Stats
Saturday, April 7, 2001
Arizona Stadium
Offense
Passing Att-Comp-Int Yards TD
Jason Johnson 14-7-0 101 1
Cliff Watkins 18-9-0 120 0
Kyle Slager 3-3-0 34 0
Erik Garcia 4-3-0 12 0
John Rattay 4-1-0 3 0
Steve Fleming 1-0-0 0 0
Receiving No. Yards TD
Brandon Marshall 2 40 1
Lance Relford 3 38
Malosi Leonard 3 34
Andrae Thurman 2 30
Mike Detwiler 2 16
Larry Croom 1 15
Ricky Williams 1 15
Russell Dokken 2 14
Justin Levasseur 3 13
Rudy Montijo 1 8
Nick Fleury 1 8
Chris Harris 1 5
Tremaine Cox 1 4
Rushing Att. Yards
Tremaine Cox 8 31
Larry Croom 7 22
Cliff Watkins 1 10
Chris Harris 3 9
Erik Garcia 1 8
Jason Johnson 1 4
Lance Relford 1 1
Field Goals
Sean Keel
Made: 30, 35, 37
Bobby Gill
Made: 36, 44
Missed: 48, 50
Defense UT AT Total Sacks PBU
Pat Howard 5 0 5 1
Eli Wnek 4 0 4 3
Matt Molina 3 0 3 1
Justin Jochum 2 1 3
Ben DalMolin 0 3 3
Tony Wingate 3 0 3 1
Joe Siofele 2 0 2 1
Austin Uku 1 2 2 4.5
Zaharius Johnson 1 1 2
Danny Perry 1 1 2
Alex Luna 1 0 1 6
Jarvie Worcester 1 0 1
Brandon Nash 1 0 1
Ray Wells 1 0 1 3
David Laudermilk 1 0 1
David Hinton 1 0 1
Clay Hardt 0 1 1
Michael Jolivette 0 1 1 1
Fata Avegalio 0 1 1 1.5
Justin Stewart 0 1 1
Johnny Jackson 2
Ben Alualu 1
Scott McKee 1
