The 2012 season preview starts out with Arizona.  The 2012 season brings one of change, as Rich Rodriguez replaces Mike Stoops, who was relieved of his duties at the beginning of October.

Offense: The Wildcats bring back only five starters from last years squad, which may be a good thing, as Rodriguez brings a change of scheme.  He is bringing his spread option offense to replace one which threw the ball a lot.  Nick Foles’ graduation leaves the starting role to senior Matt Scott, who is built to run the spread option.  Scott is a run-first quarterback, who has stepped in for Foles in previous years and led them to numerous victories.  Just as important as Scott, however, will be the play of running backs Ka’Deem Carey and Daniel Jenkins, who were the second and third leading rushers on the team.  Carey rushed for 425 yards and a team-high six scores.  He looks to be the feature back.

The receiving core had three players catch over 60 passes this year.  Unfortunately, all of them are gone.  Dan Buckner, who finished fourth in receiving yards with 606 and two scores, does return.  Rodriguez did bring in three wideout recruits, however.  The best of the bunch seems to be Trey Griffey, a 6’2 player from Florida.

Defense: Like the offense, the defense brings back very few starters, even less than their offensive counterparts (four).  However, that could be a blessing in disguise.  The defense was so poor that it finished 107th in the country in scoring defense (35.4), 119th in passing defense (299 ypg) and 110th in total defense (460.5.  Last year there were 120 teams playing at the FCS level.

Jeff Casteel brings his 3-3-5 defense from West Virginia, where he was an assistant under Rodriguez when he was there.  Safety Adam Hall, who some say is the team’s best defensive player, was lost for the year during spring football when he suffered a season-ending knee injury.  Junior Shaquille Richardson returns after a season that saw him lead the team in interceptions with four and finishing with 47 tackles in 10 games, all of which he started.  Unfortunately for the Wildcats, nothing really returns in the backfield. Tra’Mayne Bondurant, a sophomore linebacker/safety returns after a freshman season where he accumulated 45 tackles, one sack, one interception, six passes broken up and a forced fumble.

The linebacker group is so thin that Jake Fischer, who is returning from a knee injury, is the lone player with Pac-12 starting experience.  The other two ‘backers, sophomores Hank Hobson and Rob Hankins, combined for four starts last year, but will grow up really fast this year, being pushed into the starting lineup.  Juniors Sione Tuihalamaka and Justin Washington return with starting experience up front, starting a combined 29 games, but the depth around them is in question.

Recruiting: The Wildcats bring in 23 recruits, 10 each on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball and three “athletes.”  The top offensive recruit is also the most famous.  Trey Griffey, son on Ken Griffey Jr., comes in a receiver who played in the Under Armour All-American game after catching 72 passes for 970 yards and 11 touchdowns.  The defense brought in some very good recruits.  Linebacker Cody Ippolito racked up 109 tackles, two sacks and had five games of 11 tackles or more.  The most impressive recruit might be defensive end Kyle Kelley, who was named a PrepStar All-American.  He had 87 tackles and 22 sacks as a senior.  The most experienced recruit is linebacker Brian Wagner, who is a graduate transfer from Akron.  The fifth-year senior, who has already graduated but is using up his fifth year of eligibility, had 147 tackles last year, 130 tackles the year before and 132 in 2009.  Last year he ranked in the country’s top three in tackles per game with 13.4 and fourth in 2010 with 10.8

Schedule: Luckily for the Wildcats, eight of their 12 games are at home, including all three nonconference games. Arizona should be able to defeat Toledo and South Carolina State, but Oklahoma State will be a challenge.  They get USC and Washington at home, but two of their four away games are at Oregon and at Stanford. Utah and UCLA, two teams who will battle for second in the South Devision behind USC, are also away games.

Summary: