Everyone Working Hard During Bye Week

Even though it was still a little cool outside, it was an extremely nice day to be out on the practice field working with the Wildcat Football team!

It seems like the team is really getting a lot of work done during this bye week, and preparing for the Washington State Cougars.

Hopefully some of our banged up players are getting healthy, as we will need everyone on the team for this final stretch run.

After last nights "frigid" practice, the managers decided they should wear sweatpants too with their sweatshirts. When that sun goes down, it really starts to get cold!

We are about to get a nice weekend off from practice, which will be very nice!

Jordan Gobel gets ready to run special teams period with Mike Reed:John Landwehr assist Coach Bedenbaugh with the Offensive Line drills:

Billy Worthington uses the ball stick to snap the ball so the linemen know when to fire off the ball:

Billy Worthington adjust pop up dummies as the defensive line works through them:


During special teams period, the Quarterbacks work drills and throw into 3 different nets that the managers set up for them:

Ryan Ewalt, Jordan Bates and Jeff Gallego shag balls as Quarterbacks throw into the net:

Jordan Bates works getting the ball out of the net as Quarterbacks fire balls into the net during special teams period:

Michael Barnett (catching), and Mike Baranowski (shooting) work with players during special teams with the Jugs machine:

Mike and Michael fires passes to Terrance Miller from the Jugs machine during special teams:

Break Out the Sweats!!!!

Break out the sweatshirts, it is in the 50's today in Tucson!!!!! It might as well be snowing for us, we are not use to this kind of temperature in October. First real cold day of the season.

The team was really flying around out at practice today, I think the players may be feeling the cold temperature and wanting to run around to stay warm.

We were back to normal schedule today and back at our home practice fields at Jimenez Practice Facility.

McKale is really starting to pick up with both basketball teams practicing, volleyball in their stretch run, and baseball and softball are going through their fall seasons. Zac Cook is staying busy with the laundry during this time, as are all of us. Pretty much all of our sports are going strong right now so things are busier than normal.

Below are some pictures from practice earlier today.


Willie Salzman retrieving balls from the WR's and feeding them into the managers snapping:

Willie Salzman snapping the ball to Matt Scott:

Mike Reed taking a pitch from Coach Hammerschmidt during drills:
Mike Reed working with Coach Hammerschmidt and the DE's during individual period:

Managers snapping balls to the QB's:

Robert Lloyd charting the QB's and Receivers during one on one drill:

Ben Hulka with Coach Kish and working with the linebackers:

Jeff Gallego snaps the ball to Matt Scott during one on ones:

Robert Lloyd getting the heavy pop up dummy off of the field:

Michael Barnett getting the heavy pop up dummy off the field:

Jack Banker retrieves the balls from the WR's and then feeds them into the managers that are snapping:

Getting Ready for the Final Run

After a day off Monday, the Wildcats got back to work Tuesday night at Salpointe High School Stadium. Besides giving the players a few days of rest, Coach Stoops and Coach Harper decided to give the fields at Jiminez Practice Facility a couple of days off too. So we went over to Salpointe and had a very spirited workout.

The move of practice over to Salpointe made it a little tougher than normal for the managers, as we did not have a 24 foot truck to load everything in to. We had to make a few trips with a cargo van and pick up truck to get everything over. Then, to add to the load, stretch started at 7pm, and Salpointe team got off of the field just minutes before our stretch.

The good news is that we have 15 of the best managers in all of NCAA football and they were able to pull it off with no problems! Just like our players are improving each week, so are the managers! They are working very hard this season, and it shows.

Enjoy some pictures from last night below.


This past weeks Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Week (and All Around GREAT guy) against UCLA, Cam Nelson:

Zack Risdon tossing the balls to the DB's as they work through the chutes:

Zack Risdon catching balls from the DB's:
Mike Reed catches up from the WR's after catching balls from the QB's:

Mike Harlow throwing balls to the DB's as they come out of the chutes:

Jordan Gobel and Billy Worthington getting ready for defensive line drills:

Managers snap the balls to the quarterbacks during drills at Salpointe:

Dave Roberts signs a young fan's t-shirt after practice Tuesday night:

Going Back to Where it All Started

We have been here at work all day, and here in a few minutes we are heading over to Salpointe High School Stadium for a nice crisp workout.

Many of our coaches have been out recruiting the past few days and most of them did not get back into town until late this afternoon, so we are going to practice this evening.

I hope to get some pictures from tonight's practice and put them up in the morning.

No Practice Today

Most all of our coaches are out on the road recruiting right now and will not be back until late tomorrow. So, there is no practice today.

We also gave the managers the day off as well. It was a very unusual quiet day in the equipment room today. Other than checking in some uniforms and coaches clothes, there was not much activity other than folding many towels.

Hopefully the bye week will allow some of our injured players some extra healing time?

5-2 Going in to Another Bye Week!!!!!

The Wildcats didn't play their best yesterday, but they were still able to pull off our fifth win of the season. Our quarterback, Nick Foles played with flu like symptoms and didn't have his best game, but the defense looked like themselves again and kept UCLA's offense from scoring a touchdown. Their only touchdown came on a play that was ruled a backwards incomplete pass and one of their players picked up the ball and ran it in for a score.

Once again, our managers did a fantastic job of preparing everything for our coaches and players! I have mentioned many times how important it is to put together a great student manager staff, and it appears we have assembled a top notch group! Not only do they do a fantastic job, but they seem to enjoy the work and one another. That makes such a huge difference. Tim and Benny do a GREAT job of working with the managers.

Other than the FIVE turnovers we committed yesterday, the day seemed to be perfect! The weather was awesome, we got to see a lot of people that stopped by to visit, and of course the outcome of the game.

We will practice Tuesday through Friday this next week preparing for the WSU Cougars, then we will get next weekend off. That is always nice!


Tony Perri and his crew brought over all their equipment in this trailer from Los Angeles:

Dan Vooletich, of Riddell, spent the weekend with us:

Former great quarterback at UofA, Jason Johnson, and ALL TIME GREAT GUY, stopped by the locker room to visit with us yesterday morning while we were setting up:

This is how the lockers look when the team arrives to the locker room from the hotel:

Ben Hulka and Jeff Gallego set up our recruit display:

Before each game, Tim and I talk to the recruits in the locker room before the team arrives. We always set up a display of the equipment so they can see exactly what we give our players.

First thing the managers did when they arrived at 9:30am yesterday was start putting jerseys onto the pads:

The managers start pulling jerseys on to shoulder pads first thing when they arrive at the stadium on gameday:

Billy Worthington unpacks a players bag in the overflow locker room:

Willie Salzman pulls a jersey on to shoulder pads:

Zack Risdon prepares a pair of shoulder pads before he pulls the jersey on to the pads:

Mike Reed carefully prepares the tape on the shoulder pads before he pulls the jersey on to the pads:

The managers are always sharing a few funny stories while they work in the locker room before the team arrives:

Ben Hulka pulls a jersey onto a pair of shoulder pads:

Ben Hulka is making sure all of the screws are tight on Greg Nwoko's helmet:

Mike Harlow pulls a jersey and tapes it to the shoulder pads, while enjoying a Jamba Juice:

Mike Harlow works on tightening screws on the helmets as part of our checklist duties:

Mike Harlow and Robert Lloyd seem to be enjoying their locker room work yesterday morning before the team arrived to the locker room:

Mike Harlow prepares to check and tighten all the screws on Travis Cobb's helmet:

Mike Reed works on shoulder pad tape, while Jordan Gobel makes sure Herman Hall's jersey is properly taped to his shoulder pads:

Jordan Gobel puts a nice shine on a helmet:

Jeff Gallego tightens up all the screws on Vuna's helmet:

Jeff Gallego pulls a jersey onto a pair of shoulder pads:

Ryan Ewalt makes sure this jersey gets properly taped to the shoulder pads:

Ryan Ewalt works hard to clean a pair of shoes as part of our pre game duties:

Jordan Bates cleaning and polishing up a pair of shoes before the team arrives from the hotel:

Michael Barnett preparing the two way shoulder pad tape before pulling the jersey on to the pads:

Michael Barnett cleaning a pair of shoes before the game:

Mike Baranowski taping a jersey to the shoulder pads:

Jack Banker unloading bags in the auxiliary "over flow" locker room area: