When Miami faces UAB this week it will be the first game for a Power Five team this season. It has been a strange year and a strange offseason, but the ACC, SEC and Big 12 are pushing forward with fall sports this year despite the Pac-12 and Big Ten opting to postpone the football season until 2021.
Two of those conferences, ACC and Big 12, will open their seasons this week, so many of the programs in those conferences have released their game-week depth charts.
Arizona is not going to be playing football this fall, but we thought about what the Wildcats' depth chart would look like if the team was getting ready for a game.
There has been a lot of movement with the Arizona roster this offseason, but most of that has been on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, the Wildcats return numerous key pieces as the team makes the transition to a new full-time quarterback.
Here's our look at the projected depth chart for the Wildcats on that side of the ball.
Quarterback
1. Grant Gunnell (Soph.)
2. Rhett Rodriguez (RS Jr.)
There's no real mystery at the quarterback position. Gunnell gained some valuable experience last season as he split time with senior Khalil Tate. Gunnell mostly performed well during his time on the field. There were some mistakes at times, but he showed poise and comfortability guiding the offense under coordinator Noel Mazzone. This year there will be much more attention on Gunnell's skill set meaning a lot more passes and high-percentage throws for the sophomore who has done a good job already at limiting his mistakes. As much as coaches like competition, the job is and was going to be his even if the Wildcats had played this fall.
Rodriguez has been a stable force as Arizona's backup throughout his career. He nearly led the team to a road win in the lone start of his career and he continues to be a positive influence on the UA quarterback room. Now into his fourth season Rodriguez figures to have been the backup had the Wildcats played in the fall. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Kevin Doyle opted out of the season earlier in the summer and the only other scholarship quarterback on the roster right now is freshman Will Plummer. Experience would have ruled here had the Wildcats played this month.
Running back
1. Gary Brightwell
2. Bam Smith
It's certainly going to look different to see Arizona's running back group and not see JJ Taylor among those players. He's now off to the NFL, but a strong running back unit remains in Tucson with versatility and varying styles to the group. Brightwell is the natural pick to take over for Taylor as the team's No. 1 running back because of his experience and production. He didn't get to see the field at running back as a freshman but since then he has been a nice complimentary piece to Taylor at the position. When healthy he provides the Wildcats with some power at the position and he could be ready to finally breakthrough as a consistent piece of the backfield in his senior season.
We could have easily gone with some other players at the backup spot with veteran back Nathan Tilford and sophomore Michael Wiley both figuring to be a big part of the running attack this season. Smith proved to be the most consistent of the bunch behind Taylor and Brightwell last season and he might be the best all-around proven back on the roster this year with his ability to catch passes in addition to running the ball. Freshmen Frank Brown and Jalen John should see the field this year as well, but Smith is in the best position to back up Brightwell and would have been this fall.