Arizona Football: Dawkins and Tate Impress in Open Practice

Arizona Football starting quarterback Anu Solomon rested, Brandon Dawkins, and Khalil Tate proved to fans they won’t be disappointed next season.

Ahh, a beautiful night in Tucson under the bright lights at Arizona Stadium, ZonaZealots made their debut sitting with the media on the opposite side from the fans in the bleachers, there were about seven of us.

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There is a rule when it comes to interviewing players, Freshman and studs without their shirts on (yes you Samajie) are off limits when it comes to interviews.

So that meant that Khalil Tate, Jamie Nunley, and Antonio Parks were all off limits, and it took every part of my being not to call out to Jamie when he walked by me, just to introduce myself in person. I am pretty sure that’s a no-no as well.

Post-practice interviews began with Coach Rich Rodriguez, who was feeling pretty positive about how the night went. He joked around with the media because we were huddled across from the fans alone in the stands, “Sitting in the stands over there by yourself, they don’t let you over there on the other side? You don’t mingle with us common folk?”

I wanted to know if Rodriguez felt the snaps from the centers were made well during the Open Practice, “They did, just the one towards the end I wasn’t sure if it was a high hard snap or what, we’ve had a few snaps left or right in the spring, but mostly they have been pretty good.” Whew! Cross that off the list, hopefully. It seemed just when the Cats needed a great play, a high snap changed the course of the series and sometimes even the game.

Whew! Cross that off the list of things to worry about for next season, hopefully. It seemed just when the Cats needed a great play, a high snap changed the course of the series and sometimes even the game.

Rich Rod always maintains that each season and for each game, the starting positions are up for grabs and it comes down to how they perform in practice.

Asked what it would take for a freshman to come in and start at quarterback, his answer was enlightening, “You gotta be really, really, sharp mentally and gotta be ready to learn very quickly,” he said, “It’s hard for any freshman no matter how intelligent they are. Khalil, it’s really important to him, so I think he’ll compete a little bit.”

If there were a good example of how a practice would go, this night would have been it. Sophomore Josh Pollack made all of his kicks under the bright lights, best he has done so far this spring according to his coach.

Quarterback Anu Solomon, Arizona’s starter for the last two years, didn’t make it to the Open Practice due to a tweaked hamstring which Rodriguez joked may have happened on the way to the cafeteria. Unfortunate for Solomon, but it did give fans and the media a chance to see Brandon Dawkins and Tate take reps against the first string defense.

“With our defense, what they are doing right now, they make reading the defense a bit harder,” said Dawkins, “They bring a lot of intensity in practice, the things that they are doing on defense are things I’ve never seen, it’s just different, a different feel to the defense.”

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Dawkins, a fan favorite since the ASU game when he almost brought back the Cats to beat their rival, looked calm, cool and collected during practice. He seemed in total control of his team from the beginning.

This quarterback is not afraid to run the ball he believes that Arizona needs to create a run game to be effective at Quarterback; he scored three touchdowns during the scrimmages. “That was one of the big reasons I decided to come to the University of Arizona with Rich Rod,” said Brandon, “I know he is an offensive mastermind, and everything he does, he uses the quarterbacks dual threat ability. It helps to run or pass almost on every play; we can hand it off, run it or throw it.”

He ran through about three or four scenarios, telling me what he would do in those situations; you can see he’s been doing his homework.

How was he feeling this season? Was it any different from last season? “Especially after the ASU game, they started taking me more seriously having that under my belt now, they are showing me a lot more love,” Hawkins continued, “I have always envisioned myself as being able to be the ‘one’ so I don’t see how it would be any different this season.”

Gabe Encinas of AZDesertSwarm captured our interview with Dawkins:

“It was good to see Brandon get a lot of reps.  He’s been runnin’; he’s been mixing with the one’s a little bit, doin’ a little bit in front of the crowd without the coaches telling him every move,” said Rodriguez, “He’s still got a lot to learn, but he’s made some progress this spring.”

The lights went off in Arizona Stadium to which Rodriguez yelled, “Tell them to hold on to those lights! Hold onto the lights a little bit! They want to shut us out!” I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle; Coach Rod is hilarious.

We wanted to know if Brandon has more chemistry with one wide receiver over others, “Just working with them all, I try to not work too much with just one, not everyone has the same skill set..with people like Samajie [Grant] and Nate [Phillips], they’re the quicker guys with crisp routes who are going to get open.”

But what if he wants to get the ball into the end zone? “A jump ball fade, that’s where Trey Griffey helps out, with the size and the jump ability, not to say that Nate or Samajie can’t, but having that height, it helps a bit more.”

Khalil Tate got his turn at the helm, also a natural runner he took off sevral times when his wide receivers weren’t open. Not having open receivers was a breath of fresh air and a common theme during practice. It was clear the new defensive coaching staff had made an imprint already on the team. You could clearly hear them coaching on the field from up in the stands.

Coach Rod felt the players practiced with lot’s of high energy, and the players were responding to the coaching. He was happy that former Arizona Wildcat Lance Briggs met with his seniors to give them beneficial advice about life after football, felt it was great to help them level set their expectations.

Coach Rodriguez held a few competitions on the field, a battle over the scrimmage line, a wide receiver competition, and a quarterback pass competition. Tate won the pass competition with a 72-yard pass, in second was a plain-clothed Jerrard Randal with a 67-yard pass, Dawkins came in third with a 64-yard pass, and last Anthony Medina with a 53 yard pass.

Rodriguez felt the guys were enthusiastic about this practice; there are seven more practices to go. He thought the play of the day was made by young Brevin Koch, a fan from the stands who caught a pass in spectacular fashion.

Open Practice Video Highlights:

Dawkin’s highlights from the ASU game:

Tate’s Practice:

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Beardown Arizona!