2013 Outlook - Arizona

After a very successful stint at West Virginia, and then a much less successful run at Michigan, Rich Rodriguez takes over for Mike Stoops in the desert.  The team really struggled last year, and it is hard for me to imaging that it won't happen again, as they have to adopt a very different system.



During his years at Arizona, QB Matt Scott has been injury prone, and inconsistent.  Ultimately he lost his job to Nick Foles.  Now Foles has moved onto the NFL and the mobile SR, Scott is again given the reins of this program.  He fits Rich Rod's offense, but if it can't stay healthy, it won't matter.  One of the biggest beneficiaries of Rodriguez's arrival is going to be SO RB Ka'Deem Carey.  Rodriquez focuses heavily on the run, and Carey has the talent to top 1000 yards in this system.  The guy who will most negatively be impacted by this same change however will be the team's top WR, SR Dan Buckner.  Buckner has idea size for a wide out, and he uses his body well.  I still see him projecting as a mid round selection in the next draft, but I don't expect significant production from him this year.  The o-line is a nice blend of vets and youngsters.  I expect these guys to focus on their run blocking this year, and that should help them drive up their YPG average, and help both Casey and Scott succeed.

Defensively, the Wildcats are transitioning to a 3-3-5 this year.  I feel like although this may work out long term for the team, this year their could be a learning curve, and I am not sure they really have the personnel up front to make this work.  JR NT, Sione Tuihalamaka is a good player, but at 6'-2", 275 lbs, he is a bit undersized for the position.  The linebackers will be bolstered by the addition of Akron transfer, MLB Brian Wagner, who is an absolute tackling machine.  SO OLB Rob Hankins, who arrived in Tuscon last year with a lot of hype, has a long way to develop to earn his comparisons to former Wildcat Tedy Bruschi.  As much as I like Wagner, the real stregnth of this defense is their secondary.  I think JR CB Shaquille Richardson is an under rated player, who still has some room to develop, and SO S Tra'Mayne Bondurant is an emerging talent as well.  The success of this defense will rest in large part on the shoulders of the secondary which I think should have a bounce back year from last season's sub par finish.

Arizona will become a running team, and as Rich Rod gets his recruits into the program over the next few season's, we can expect a steady improvement.  His time at Michigan showed us however, his style of play is not universal, and I certainly don't expect for this year's Arizona Wildcats to put any pressure on the other conference members for the title.