DW
monday, august ,
b section
Kevin Zimmerman Sports Editor 520•626•2956 sports@wildcat.arizona.edu
Arizona running back Greg Nwoko gets tripped up by a defender in Saturday’s evening scrimmage at Arizona Stadium. Nwoko ended the evening with 54 rush yards on three carries.
SPORTS
Alan Walsh/ Arizona Daily Wildcat
Look inside for the Arizona volleyball Red/ Blue scrimmage ›› B2
UA women’s soccer kicks off its 2009 season against UC Irvine. Check out online content at dailywildcat.com for recap and photos.
ZIM WHIM
Offense drops ball during scrimmage
A letter from the editor You may not like sports. You in the classroom to become the best might think it’s a testosterone-rid- he can be. dled obsession, stereotypically for Those similar qualities bind our those too dumb to grasp fine art or university. quadratic equations. I hope to make everyLet me try to win you one feel the emotion of over by pointing out a buzzer-beating loss or something people often a last-second win, and of overlook. course, give you the sports Athletics aren’t just for news you desire. so-called fans. But I also want you to My goals for this sesee people being, well, mester include satisfying people. that Arizona Cardinals I want you to pick up Kevin superfan who began takthe paper and read about Zimmerman ing antidepressants after someone doing what they his team lost the Super love through life’s pressures Bowl, but also his girlfriend, who that you and I feel every single day. had a hard time giving a hoot about That being said, my vision is your the loss and failed to understand vision. her partner’s plight. In a new era of journalism, The point is that sports uncover reader interaction is imperative to human nature. our success. The physical pain, the mental inWe want to hear your opinions stability, and the power of love and on who should really be the starthard work are not solely rooted in ing quarterback and why you think athletics, but in every single thing a certain team is struggling — even humans do. writing us to announce your disgust Artists, mathematicians and writ- for Mike Stoops‘ visor is welcome. ers love UA sports, because they If you like something we do, write maintain a sense of community or e-mail us. If you dislike somethrough the epitome of being a hu- thing, do the same. Criticisms make man being. us better. Athletes’ passions — ones that The Daily Wildcat is not our paper, resemble students’ passions — are nor is it the paper of the athletes. out in the open. Just as a football It is your paper. player will spend countless hours in the weight room so he can drag -Kevin Zimmerman is a journalism the pile that extra yard, an aspiring junior. He can be reached at sports@ physicist will put in countless hours email.arizona.edu.
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Defense outshines sputtering offense as fall camp wraps up By Brian Kimball ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT With all eyes on the battle for the starting quarterback spot, it was a punishing running game and a stout defense that stole the show for the UA football team Saturday night at Arizona Stadium. During the last scrimmage of fall camp, sophomore Matt Scott started the night at quarterback but could only guide the team to one first down on his first two drives. Redshirt sophomore Nick Foles took his turn leading the offense and produced the scrimmage’s first points. Wide receiver William “Bug” Wright hauled in a 13-yard pass for a score to cap a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive and gave the crowd of roughly 5,000 something to cheer about. Following that drive, however, the UA defense showed it might be the strength of the team. “I think we’re defending well,” said UA head coach Mike Stoops . “You can see our skill and we understand the pass concepts pretty well, but we still have to be a better and more physical run defense.” Just ask starting strong safety Robert Golden. The sophomore was on the receiving end of a crushing hit from redshirt freshmen running back Greg Nwoko , who has been catching the attention of players and coaches throughout the fall. Nwoko, third
on the depth chart at his position, caller separated himself from the broke free down the left sideline and competition on Saturday night. bounced off Golden when Golden In fact, the quarterback situation tried to make the tackle high. Cor- might have gotten even murkier as nerback Trevin Wade wouldn’t make the same mistake and he went low on Nwoko, forcing the bruising 6-foot-2, 220-pound tailback out of bounds after a 36-yard gain. Quarterback Stats “I love what our backs are Matt Scott — 9-of-19 for 85 yards doing,” Stoops said. “I think Nick Foles — 11-of-16 for 104 yards and 1 TD Greg Nwoko continues to Bryson Beirne — 2-of-3 for 7 yards shine and show what a physiRushing Stats cal runner he can be, we just Greg Nwoko — 3 carries for 54 yards need to keep giving him some Nic Grigsby — 6 carries for 24 yards reps. Nick Booth — 5 carries for 21 yards Matt Scott — 5 carries for 20 yards “I feel really good about our Keola Antolin — 5 carries for 17 yards running back position and the Defensive Stats way we’re running the footC.J. Parish — 6 total tackles, 4 solo ball.” Xavier Kelley — 5 total tackles, 3 solo In all, Nwoko had 54 yards R.J. Young — 5 total tackles, 1 solo Trevin Wade — 4 total tackles, 2 solo on three rushing attempts to Cam Nelson — 4 total tackles, 2 solo lead the UA ground game of Recieving Stats 151 yards on 30 total carries. Kyle Day — 3 catches for 20 yards The Wildcats’ aerial attack Keola Antolin — 2 catches for 32 yards wasn’t close to being on that David Douglas — 2 catches for 27 yards Nick Booth — 2 catches for 15 yards level of production. Nic Grigsby — 2 catches for 10 yards Foles had the more efficient Terrell Turner — 2 catches for 9 yards Juron Criner — 1 catch for 40 yards night as he completed 11-ofWilliam “Bug” Wright — 1 catch for 13 yards and 1 TD 16 passes for 104 yards and one touchdown. He also had a 6-yard touchdown run. a result of the scrimmage. With Scott Scott finished the scrimmage 9-of- starting the night under center — 19 for 85 yards and added 20 more and getting more reps for the first on the ground on five carries team players in practice throughout Part of the poor showing was due fall camp — it appeared as if he has a to numerous dropped passes by the FOOTBALL, page B4 wide receiving corps, but no signal
Out of Africa
DECISION ’09
Quarterback race: Scott, Foles still neck-in-neck
Rugby player’s eyes opened on African tour By Tyler Kurbat ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT When surrounded by AK-47 machine guns, dead zebras and eastern Africa’s largest slum, Arizona rugby center Peter Tiberio realized that what he had always taken for granted could no longer be ignored. A 24-day trip to the heart of Kenya could not make this truth any more evident. “You don’t understand how bad other people have it on a daily basis,” Tiberio said. “Your worst day here in the states would be a dream come true for the people over there.” From April 15 through May 5, Tiberio was part of the United States Junior World Rugby Trophy team that participated in this year’s tournament in Nairobi, Kenya. His team took second in the tournament behind Romania, but the deeper story lies in the impact the visit would leave in the hearts of Tiberio and his teammates. “I had never been out of the country before so this was completely different than anything I had ever experienced,” Tiberio said. “When we first got there, we found out we would have our own private security guards that would follow behind us in a truck, who all had AK-47s. So right when I saw that, I thought this might be a little different than home.”
Scrimmage Breakdown
By Tim Kosch ARIZONA DAILY WILDCAT
Photo courtesy of Peter Tiberio
Arizona rugby player Peter Tiberio sits with kids during a rugby clinic in Nairobi, Kenya in April. Tiberio witnessed the extent of the country’s harsh environment.
Security was an issue in Kenya, U.S. head coach Salty Thompson said. Because the rich-poor gap was so large and there was always overspill from the ongoing war, electric fences and armed guards were the norm in Nairobi, no matter where the team traveled. Unlike many of the local inhabitants, Tiberio’s team was provided with food and rooms in one of the city’s few hotels for the duration of the tournament. These luxuries, however, could not cloak the culture shock outside the hotel’s walls. “I think when you go into east Africa and you’re face to face with pov-
erty and the huge population of Nairobi, many things hit you,”Thompson said. “The amount of people, for instance, that walk to work is amazing. They just don’t have transportation.” The participating rugby teams were only given the privileges of caravan travel because of aid from their respective embassies. “We were told not to go out at night, and actually, some guys did and ended up getting threatened a few times,” Tiberio said. “Local guys walking on the street told them if they didn’t get a car back (to the hoRUGBY, page B3
Just when it seemed like the answer was becoming clear, it was back to the drawing board for Arizona head football coach Mike Stoops and the rest of his offensive coaching staff. “We’ll evaluate (the quarterback competition) and see where we’re at,” Stoops said after Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage. “We’ve just got to really take a hard look at it and see exactly where we’re at.” The UA football team entered summer camp with sophomore Matt Scott and redshirt sophomore Nick Foles in a dead heat for the starting quarterback position. As recently as a week ago, it appeared that Scott had emerged as the favorite to replace last year’s starter, Willie Tuitama , at the game’s most vital position. Reports surfaced that Stoops would name the starting quarterback after Saturday’s scrimmage at Arizona Stadium. Yet when thrusted into the center of media members and television cameras, the head coach avoided
addressing the competition until asked, eventually citing poor overall performance in the passing game as the reason for not having chosen a starter. “Our drop-back game needs to improve, too many balls on the ground, I was just disappointed in our passing game,” he said. “We’ve got to get better at it.” A combination of the young receivers’ growing pains and minor injuries to junior tight end Rob Gronkowski and junior wide receiver Delashaun Dean — the team’s most dangerous receiving weapons — haven’t allowed the quarterback candidates to get in tune with the offense. The fact that neither quarterback has managed to overcome that challenge makes the decision even harder. “We need to get Robbie (Gronkowski) and (Dean) back, obviously they’re a big part of our offense,” Stoops said. “But we need to throw the football better. That’s probably the most disappointing part of it right now is really our drop-back game. That QUARTERBACK, page B3