Arizona Offense is Ready for a Challenging 2011 Campaign
Mike Stoops is entering his 8th season as the Arizona head coach after leading the Wildcats to their 3rd straight bowl appearance. After ending the 2010 season with five straight losses, the big story is Coach Stoops’ job security.
The Wildcats open up the 2011-12 season with a tough schedule, facing Stanford, Oregon, and USC consecutively. After losing core offensive and defensive lineman, the Wildcats have a lot of questions remaining.
On the offensive line, the Wildcats return no seniors and only one starter in Center Kyle Quinn, whose only start came in the Alamo Bowl. On the defensive side, the Wildcats lose their three man rotation at defensive end with Brooks Reed, Ricky Elmore and D’Aundre Reed all going to the NFL. To make things worse, the Wildcats are nursing several injuries on defense, with starting safety Adam Hall, starting linebacker Jake Fischer and second-string defensive tackle Willie Mobley all suffering from ACL injuries.
On the upside, the offense retains QB Nick Foles, who enters the season as one of the top NFL draft prospects. AU also returns most of their key receiving core, and also adds WR Dan Buckner, a 6’4 transfer out of Texas.
The Wildcats led the Pac-10 in passing last season with 307.7 yards per game and aim to make that number go even higher, looking to break the school record of 308.5, set in 2007.
A few newcomers to watch will be linebacker Rob Hankins, who has drawn a lot of comparison to Arizona great Tedy Bruschi and defensive end Lamar De Rego, who will take on the burden of replacing the lost pass rush of the three defensive ends now in the NFL. Other newcomers include linebacker David Lopez, who is currently listed as a starter, stepping in for LB Jake Fischer after he suffered an untimely ACL injury in the spring and the explosive freshman running back Jared Baker, who will be backing up senior RB Keola Antolin.
Read the in-depth preview for Arizona football
