Observations Arizona Football Training Camp

Arizona football is officially BACK in action and the long offseason is finally coming to an end as the Wildcats have opened up their 2025 training camp to get things geared up for the season with the team set to face Hawaii on Aug. 30 at home at 7:30 p.m. (MST) on TNT.

After an underwhelming 2024 season under Brent Brennan where Arizona went 4-8 after starting the year in the preseason AP Poll at No. 21 and ending the year losing 7 out of its last 8 games, the WIldcats made changes to the roster and their coaching staff.

Brennan revamped his coaching staff by hiring Seth Doege as the offensive coordinator and promoting Danny Gonzales to the defensive coordinating job. Plus, he was able to bring in defensive line coach Joe Salave’a, who is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation and a former Wildcat as well.

“When we go through a tough season like we did a year ago, you got to find a way to fix what was broken, fix what wasn’t working and put those pieces together,” Brennan said. “And part of those pieces are how we’re going to do things in terms of how we’re going to coach, what we’re going to do schematically and the other part is who are the players that are going to play those roles.”

The energy at practice was high, loud despite the team not even in full pads, or in shells at this point in time. The pace of play was a complete 180 from the previous season and matches the mindset and mentality that the coaching staff wasn’t to bring to the 2025 season.

Although there was no contact and players weren’t in shells, there were still takeaways to be made with what the media was able to see throughout the duration of the day.

Sep 7, 2024; Pullman, Washington, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders offensive lineman Ty Buchanan (75) comes set for a play against the Washington State Cougars in the second half at Gesa Field at Martin Stadium. Washington State Cougars won 37-16. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images | James Snook-Imagn Images

Three Observations

Offensive Line

The Wildcats offensive line was a complete mess during the 2024 season with injuries across the board. The issues led to 28 sacks of quarterback Noah Fifita and an inconsistent running game.

This offseason, coach Josh Oglesby went to work in the transfer portal and recruiting class giving the Wildcats a total of 20 offensive linemen in the roster. So far, the line is still figuring things out and mixing and matching the units. However, it looks like things are moving in the right direction.

Chase Kennedy

Last season, edge rusher Chase Kennedy was used on the outside and mainly as a blitzer. Now, Arizona has listed him as a linebacker and during spring saw time with the first and second units.

Now that there are more players on campus, Kennedy has moved around the field and is more of a Swiss Army Knife that can be used in coverage, blitzing off the edge, or chasing down the running back. Kennedy looks faster on the field and could be one of the most important pieces of the defense for the 2025 season.

Rhino Tapa’atoutai

Last season, Rhino Tapa'atoutai suffered a season ending injury in week six of the season. During spring practice, Brent Brennan made it clear that he wasn't going to participate during that period and would be working his way back for the start of the 2025 season.

Right now, the latest update is that he is still going through that process, which was stated back in spring ball.

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