Arizona Football: The life of a true freshman ain’t easy, especially for a Quarterback

The wait to put on an Arizona Football uniform for commits can be excruciating. Getting to Tucson, suiting up and waiting for your name to be called can be even more painful.

It’s all so confusing. High School football players are recruited hard in their sophomore and their junior year leading up to signing day. They’re hyped, they help the University recruit also, and once they commit, they cannot wait to get to college to play Arizona Football.

Then reality sets in, they bust their tush on the field, feel they are doing everything right, but they find themselves listed on the depth chart as the second or third string, or even not at all.

Coach Rich Rodriguez has mentioned that he doesn’t like depth charts and that it’s just a suggestion. He also waits until just before a game before he announces who is starting.

In Arizona’s first game of the season against BYU, Rodriguez listed co-starters and used the word ‘or’ as in, Quarterback – Anu Solomon or Brandon Dawkins, Running Back – Nick Wilson or Orlando Bradford. Refreshing, why not?

Coach Rod loves the element of surprise, and he proved that so far in this season. For example, we didn’t hear too much about true freshman J.J. Taylor preseason, but Rodriguez didn’t hesitate to throw him in a game.

Taylor seriously injured his ankle in the game against Washington and is probably out for the season, and things can change so quickly. He’ll be back, but because he is injured, now a redshirt freshman, Branden Leon will get a chance to play.

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There are other freshmen that experts thought would be playing by now, and they still have yet to see the field. They are asked to suit up, or to suit up without pads, maybe even to walk down the Wildcat Walk, and that’s big. It may not seem like it, but some players don’t get that opportunity, so it is definitely a privilege.

It also says that the coaches think you are special, and the team may need you to play.

Maybe the true freshmen were told they would play year one or maybe they weren’t, but the media starts speculating on whether or not the coaching staff will redshirt them. It’s all part of the game of college football, speculation. It’s also a way to get more views for your posts.

It can hurt if you’re a player and the coaches are telling you one thing but the media, who folks assume they know all, report something different.

As media, in our opinion, we have to take into consideration the age of these young athletes and how we say things. It’s one thing to forget to cite a quote from another article, and it’s another thing to assume and report Coach Rodriguez is feeling a certain way about a player without asking and getting a quote.

Plenty of true freshmen now standing on the sidelines were expecting to play in their freshman year. What’s interesting is, if you look at the roster, you will see that there are about 55+ Arizona Football players listed as a redshirt (freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior). That’s like two-thirds of the team!

Thus, it is more common to redshirt than not, strictly for developmental reasons. Build your body, master the playbook, learn from others ahead of you, not a bad way to go.

On the flip side, it can feel dejecting as an athlete if you had high expectations. Must be very hard for coaches to motivate these freshmen to practice hard, but also temper their expectations.

Maybe redshirting is not something to be bummed about because the coaches are saving them. They want to make sure that when they do play, their career is stable and not short-lived.

Also, if the season is projected to not be so great, and next season the coaches have a top 15 class coming in, maybe it’s not so bad to be redshirted so you can play when there is a better chance of putting more trophies on the bookcase.

Honestly, my Wildcat is in her Junior year in Arizona, and she keeps reminding me, “Mom! It’s almost over! I only have like a year and a half left and then it’s over!” She is having such an enjoyable college experience she doesn’t want it to end.

Personally, I cannot afford for her to go to college for five years even though she has a partial academic scholarship. But, if she were on a full ride, boy I would love for her to be able to stretch her time another year. That’s a concept which could be difficult to grasp when you are an athlete, and you’ve been dreaming about playing for at least two years.

It’s understandable. These are fierce competitors who work very hard at their craft. We should all be shocked if they weren’t itching to play.

Quarterback Khalil Tate is one of those players. We haven’t spoken to him, but we assume he is waiting as patiently as he can on the bench. He knows he can contribute to the team’s success and tear up the field himself.

He suits up with pads and walks the Wildcat walk. Then he sits next to Brandon and wears the headphones so he can be ready to go if his name is called.

Tate celebrated his friend and teammate DeVaughn Cooper from Narbonne High School in Los Angeles, a former opponent, complete his first catch against Hawaii. In the same game, he cheered on the former Centennial High School star, and buddy J.J. Taylor, as he ran all over the Rainbow Warriors defense, spinning up a storm. He used to play against J.J. in high school, and they have great respect for each other.

You can tell just how much respect they have for each other in this post game interview with Taylor after Corona Centennial won. His team had just beat Serra convincingly, but as J.J. points out, it was probably because Khalil did not play in the game:

Knowing Khalil from past interviews and watching him all last season, this could be eating at him, he is such a tremendous competitor and wants to help his team. But he is also a complete team player, so he could have resolved his feelings and is just working his tail off waiting for his name to be called.

We don’t know, but what we do know is that his High School coaches miss him dearly, and when you mention his name, their eyes light up.

We went to Serra to interview Arizona recruit Merlin Robertson and got a bonus, when coaches asked if they could send a message to Khalil, one after another. The last two gentlemen are his former head coach Scott Altenberg and his principal Jeff Guzman.

I spent all last season watching this phenomenal high school quarterback run for five touchdowns over 50+ yards in one game, running for 90+ yards in another game, and jumping over defenders into the end zone, if he didn’t carry them in with him. If I cannot wait to see him play, you have to think Arizona Wildcats coaches are dying to see him play in their uniform as well.

I have come to believe that timing is everything, and right now Brandon Dawkins is playing at an extremely high level, after all, Brandon had to wait for his chance. These two remind me of each other, both extremely confident, both dual-threat quarterbacks, both leaping over defenders, both love the game and both true Hard Edge Wildcats.

As they say, ‘It’s all good,’ everyone will get their chance to play.

Maybe we all just leave these teenage athletes alone, shall we? Let them grow and mature with their coaches who recruited them. Why don’t we just sit back and enjoy, focus on strategy instead of contemplating if someone is going to transfer, or the if the head coach is going to leave, it does tend to get old.

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BearDown Arizona! BearDown true Freshman, your time will come, and it will be glorious, patience is a virtue as they say. It will all be worth it!