Arizona Football Position Breakdown: The Wide Receivers

The next position we begin to look at for the Arizona Football team is our wide receivers. We will do our best in breaking it down ahead of the 2017 season.

Let’s start off by saying this is a group that wasn’t overly involved for the Arizona Football team last season. The Wildcats had troubles in passing the football with consistency, so there are certainly a lot of questions heading into Spring.

The group loses a few valuable pieces that honestly equated to most of their production at the position last season. Gone are seniors Trey Griffey, Nate Phillips and Samajie Grant (receiver turned running back). But lo and behold, Arizona just hired a new WR coach from UTEP, Theron Aych, who may help push and develop this group even more.

Returning are Shun Brown, Cam Denson, Shawn Poindexter, Tyrell (TJ) Johnson, Tony Ellison and Cedric Peterson. In his first press conference, Coach Aych mentioned he is relying on the Junior Brown as a leader, aptly naming him his “Bell Cow.” A Texas term, I believe.

The Wildcats will also finally be able to use Zach Benjamin, the redshirt senior out of the University of Southern Florida who didn’t play last year due to transfer rules. Devaughn Cooper, the redshirt freshman from Southern California will also be available. Cooper played for LA City powerhouse Narbonne High School, and was a great receiver in high school, and has great potential here at Arizona.

Additionally, the Wildcats signed high schoolers Drew Dixon (Sabino HS- Tucson, AZ) and Brian Casteel (Charter Oak HS- Covina, CA). Both of which should provide immediate depth, talent and overall size to the position.

On paper, this appears to be a solid group. However, last year, the Wildcats struggled to throw the football with much consistency, eclipsing the 200-yard passing mark in a game just four times (BYU, Grambling State, Hawaii, and Utah).

Granted, when you have a strong running game, you don’t quite need to pass as much. However, you become much more one dimensional as an offense. So balance is always the key for an offense.

Last season, the Wildcats threw for just over 2,000 yards, their lowest total in head coach Rich Rodriguez’s tenure at Arizona. It was also their lowest total since 2013 when BJ Denker threw for just over 2,500 yards that season. Keep in mind, that Denker also had an all-American running back in Ka’Deem Carey in the backfield that year too.

Worth noting, the Wildcats have had over 3,000 yards passing in three of Rodriguez’s five seasons at Arizona. So this is an area that definitely needs to improve heading into 2017.

As we noted, Arizona has the talent to do so, but a lot will hinge on the success of the quarterbacks, and more importantly who steps up at receiver to make their job easier.

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A lot will be depended upon from the veteran, upperclassmen like; Brown, Denson, Poindexter and Benjamin. As we had said, Arizona has improved size at the position, and it’ll be refreshing to have three guys over the height of 6-foot-3-inches, possibly creating mismatches for opposing defenses.

Arizona continues spring with the addition of newly hired receivers coach Aych, after he coached just one season at UTEP. He will need to rise to the challenge coming in and acclimate quickly to get the most of this group.

After writing about his move to Tucson, it seems Aych is well-liked and respected, and may perhaps be the best man for this job to get it done!

After all, even though Arizona beat rival ASU with no passes in the second half and only three in the first, that isn’t a long-term strategy that works.

If the limited action in spring practice so far is any indication, the Wildcats may be more than alright heading into 2017.

DeVaughn Cooper

TJ Johnson

Shawn Poindexter

Here are Coach Rodriguez and WR Coach Aych talking about the future and towards the end both Shun Brown (you know, the bell cow) and Zach Benjamin also give their thoughts.

Must Read: Arizona Football Position Breakdown: The Quarterbacks

At Zona Zealots, we’re particularly excited about this group and expect 2017 to be a better year for our receivers and quarterbacks. Bear Down, Arizona!