When the average college football fan or even Arizona fan talks about the Wildcats' linebacker group two names come out of their mouths first. Colin Schooler and Tony Fields II have been impressive through their first two seasons at UA with Schooler becoming one of the most productive linebackers in the Pac-12 during that time.

The duo has separated itself as the standouts of the linebacker unit down in Tucson.

There is another member of the linebacker unit who has not received as much attention and he's hoping to change that this season. Like Schooler and Fields, Anthony Pandy is a UA junior linebacker yet he hasn't quite built the profile of his classmates and close friends.

It's not as though Pandy has been completely invisible. Close watchers of UA's defense understand what he has meant to the linebacker group. He's played in 22 games over the first couple seasons of his career and has stepped in when the group needs to give either one of the starters a rest.

He collected 25 tackles last season with three of them going for a loss.

Still, Pandy was not satisfied after last season ended and made it a point to put in the work to change the amount of time he's able to be on the field. He attacked the offseason with a different mindset and when the Wildcats' released their depth chart earlier this week there he was, but this time he wasn't listed as backup to Fields. Rather, he was listed as a co-starter putting the offseason work into print for everyone to see.

"I was tired of just being on the bench," he said. "I'm trying to play. I'm trying to make plays for my team, for my defense to show everybody what I can do. Make my family happy."

The UA coaching staff and players have seen the growth in development from Pandy this offseason and it's clear what his mission is.

"Anthony has done a good job of working on his game from last year," linebacker coach John Rushing said. "He didn't play a lot and I think he wants to get on the football field. So, he's taken it upon himself to do the extra to get better."

What the progress Pandy has made this offseason has done is given Rushing three starters for two positions. That means the defensive staff will have to get a little creative about how it uses the trio of junior linebackers. To prepare for that Rushing has made the linebacker group learn both the middle and outside linebacker duties so that the unit can be interchangeable throughout the course of a game.

Being prepared for any situation while also making sure the players stay fresh throughout the season has been made possible by forcing the group to understand both jobs but also what is going on around them as well.

"Me, Tony and Colin have all played Mike and Will a lot this fall camp and coming into this first game," Pandy said. "Coach Rush does a good job rotating everybody like Day Day [Coleman] and Derrion Clark. We all know the positions. He teaches us Spur also in case we need to run at Spur. He teaches us everything. ... We know what everyone is doing."

While that mentality is going to give Arizona the flexibility to try different things on the defensive side it will also give Pandy the opportunity to be on the field more than has through his first two seasons.

It's the reward for the work he has put in over the last several months.

"I feel like I've matured, so I took more steps to make sure that I have a healthier diet," he said. "Made sure that I got bigger and faster and stronger by taking advantage of what coach B [Brian Johnson] had for us this summer and got in a lot of extra work."

Pandy has followed the lead of his two counterparts and that has pulled him closer to Schooler and Fields heading into the season. The bond the trio has created is something that can carry over to the field and that is the expectation for the junior linebacker.

"I just feel like me, Tony and Colin have a lot to offer for this defense," he said. "We have a lot of packages with different personnel groups, and we have a lot to offer for the defense."

Just because he has become close with Schooler and Fields over the last couple years doesn't mean there was a lack of competition. All three want to contribute as much as they can, but that competition brought out the best in the group according to Pandy.

"Coach Rush kept it real from the jump," Pandy said. "At the beginning of fall camp he told us that the best are going to play always and we need competition in the room if we're going to better ourselves. So, I feel like we took that step to better ourselves and we're all probably the best we've been so far."

Pandy will make his junior season debut this Saturday with the rest of the Wildcats as they travel to Hawaii for a 7:30 p.m. MST meeting with the Warriors in Honolulu. Click here to listen to our full interview with the UA linebacker to hear more of what Pandy had to say about his offseason, his bond with Schooler and Fields plus his thoughts on Hawaii.

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