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Arizona's defensive transition was off to a good start in spring practice

Arizona brought in longtime college coach Paul Rhoads this offseason to serve as defensive coordinator and help revamp the team's defense coming off a second straight losing season.

So far there are positive views on both sides, from players and coaches, about the new addition. Rhoads is satisfied with where he is at and how the players are responding. The players are happy with the energy and coaching style he brings.

"They've been very coachable in the meeting room and on the field," Rhoads said back in March about his defensive players. "That stuff has been a lot of fun to be around."

Rhoads is focusing on going back to the fundamentals and he expressed that when he was hired back in December and again last month when he had an opportunity to speak with the media during Arizona's first week of spring practice. Setting a certain tone is something the Wildcats' coach has worked to do already just four months into his new job.

"If you don't play hard you got no chance, so I want to establish the importance of that, but there's a difference between playing hard and playing fast," he said. "When you're playing fast now you know what you're doing, you're accountable to what it is that is your responsibility, and that's what we want to get to. Right now we're just playing hard.

"We want to understand the importance of tackling. That's the most important thing a defensive player does and a defensive unit does, and we're starting to gain an appreciation for that. All these things are learned, and there's a lot of teaching taking place on the field and in the meeting room and in the hallway and in the cafeteria and everywhere you look."

The coronavirus COVID-19 has impacted college sports forcing all teams to go on hiatus for the time being. The outbreak directly impacted the Wildcats and Rhoads who had just one week of on-field work with his defensive group ahead of the postponement of spring practice.

The process of getting to know his players will take more time than originally planned, but even before the stoppage his focus was on the present and much less on anything his players accomplished or didn't accomplish last year when the unit finished among the bottom of college football in most major statistical categories.

"I've spent less time doing that than anything else," Rhoads said about watching film of last year's team to help him become more familiar with his group. "With a completely new staff ... there's a whole room that has to get on the same page. In my opinion, it would be a waste of time to go back. We're getting to understand what we got everyday. We're learning what they're capable of, both mentally and physically, and were learning a lot more that way than we'd ever learn on film."

Senior linebacker Colin Schooler, Tony Fields II and Anthony Pandy will all be important pieces for Rhoads' defense, and he seems to be already working comfortably with them by pushing and challenging each of these players.

With a fresh start on the defensive side, Schooler says Rhodes creates an energetic atmosphere through his coaching style that the team has been thriving off of already.

"He's a very hands-on coach," Schooler said last month. "He's got lots of years of experience and it shows, especially in the meeting room and out on the field. He coaches very differently with each player, and he really individualizes how he teaches them too.

"So, if I'm responding well to one way but somebody else isn't, he'll change it. Which is important."

Like Schooler, Fields has had to become familiar with four different linebacker coaches during his career with the Wildcats. The latest transition has been a seamless one.

"Coach Rhodes has been giving us so much knowledge and so many new techniques and drills that's helped us so much," Fields said. "Coach Rhoads is a phenomenal coach and I've bought in. Our team, our defense has bought into him and as long as everybody keeps on trusting the process we're gonna be a great team."

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