Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch was available to talk to the media for his weekly Monday press conference where he discussed the Wildcats' progress during their bye week along with their preparation heading into Saturday's contest against No. 11 Oregon State on Saturday.
‘Pretty close to everybody being able to play’
With the bye week this past week, the UA was able to have players rest throughout the week, which helped the overall trajectory for the players’ health heading into this Saturday night against Oregon State. However, Fisch noted that right guard Raymond Pulido, who only played one quarter (at Stanford) this season, will be unlikely to play this Saturday due to injury, but will have an opportunity to red shirt as a freshman.
“I think we’ll see where [Pulido] lies here over the next couple of days where he is health-wise,” Fisch said. “But other than that, my goal is to be able to have everyone dressed and ready to play come Saturday night.”
Bye week helped scouting progress against Oregon State
Arizona’s bye week meant more watching and learning rather than playing. Although having a week off from action, the Wildcats taking the time to study in the film room was a blessing in disguise as they were able to analyze the Beavers further in preparation for Saturday’s contest.
“Regarding the game planning, it enabled us to get ahead, I was able to get ahead,” Fisch said Monday. “I probably spent a Thursday and Friday during the day a lot on game planning. … You don’t really have to worry about getting another game of information, so it does give us a little bit of that advantage to kind of get ahead a little bit and really try to put the best possible plan together we can.”
Fisch wants to emulate OSU head coach Jonathan Smith’s progress as head coach
Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith, whose team has won 16 out of its last 20 games, hasn’t always had it easy as the Beavers leader. Starting off his first three seasons with a 9-22 record, he has rebuilt the program into a winning organization, with a 10-3 year just last season. Fisch, who has also rebuilt a program, going from 1-11 to 5-7, and now a winning record as of late, thinks that him and Smith are similar in their coaching styles as well as believes that he can take his team to similar heights.
“I would say that if you look at just the way his [Smith’s] team has evolved and the type of football they play the brand of football they play, I think we have similarities in that regard,” Fisch said. “We believe in a lot of the same things, a lot of the same principles, we believe in how you recruit a certain group of players and try to help those players move on as part of your program into the next level. … Hopefully, we’ll be able to take those same leaps as [OSU] and be sitting at 11th in the country one day as well.”
Fisch said OSU is ‘schematically’ different than previous teams the UA has recently faced
After playing three dominant ranked teams in Washington, USC and Washington State the last three weeks, playing another one this week, Arizona will prepare differently with Fisch saying that they are different than the other teams that it has faced with different schemes and sets.
“They’re a much more under-center team,” Fisch said. “They’re not a spread team, they are willing to play with a fullback which we haven’t seen really since UTEP. … What they do and how they use [they’re quarterback and skill players] and what they do in their running game is very different and unique and comparison to what USC or in comparison with Washington State does, where they usually keep their edges open with not a tight end and not a fullback, these guys usually play with a tight end and with a fullback defensively.”
Fisch is excited about “Gronk” being an honorary captain
When asked about ex-Wildcat and NFL legend Rob Gronkowski recently being announced as the host of the LA Bowl, Fisch didn’t comment but noted that he is excited that Gronkowski will be coming back to his old stomping grounds as an honorary captain for the annual homecoming game on Nov. 4 against UCLA.
“That’s exciting,” Fisch said. “... Gronk has continued to support our program since I’ve been here and I’m very grateful for that.”
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