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Pac-12 Media Days: Arizona Coach Rich Rodriguez extremely entertaining

By Shereen Rayan

Jul 14, 2016; Hollywood, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez during Pac-12 media day at Hollywood & Highland. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 14, 2016; Hollywood, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez during Pac-12 media day at Hollywood & Highland. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 1, 2014; Pasadena, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon (center) talks with head coach Rich Rodriguez (left) during the first quarter as running back Austin Hill (29) listens in against the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 1, 2014; Pasadena, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Anu Solomon (center) talks with head coach Rich Rodriguez (left) during the first quarter as running back Austin Hill (29) listens in against the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports /

Quarterbacks

Coach Rod is definitely leaving the door wide open when it comes to quarterbacks, seeing benefits to each of this QB’s, “We have in my opinion two returning starters. One that’s more established in Anu Solomon, really good player…He’s got a challenge with Brandon Dawkins.”

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Rich Rodriguez has a quarterback philosophy which may not be what you would expect, “I’m not typical where I think you’ve got to name a starter. We treat the quarterback position pretty much like the rest of them. Just compete and play the best guy at the time.”

He’s not the only coach to talk about QB Battles, on Thursday, USC Coach Clay Helton, Cal Coach Sonny Dykes, and Utah Coach Kyle Whittingham all spoke about their QB competitions. On Friday, Stanford head coach David Shaw confirmed he’s taking the same approach as Rich Rod. Too many quarterbacks is a good problem to have in the Pac-12. Clearly, each coach wants to keep the other coaches guessing.

We asked Nate Phillips about the QB situation as well. Phillips said he had a few catches with Tate, but mostly working with Anu Solomon and Brandon Dawkins. He sees a lot of potential and enjoys catching with all three quarterbacks.

All quarterbacks will be playing preseason, we predict, but Coach Rod will start with Anu if he wants to play it safe, then go from there, Brandon next, then Khalil will get a chance at some point. As we saw last season, four quarterbacks got a shot if only for one or two plays and depending on the team.

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