Arizona will look to carry over the momentum from last Saturday's win over UCLA into this weekend as they welcome Washington State to Tucson, a familiar team for Jayden de Laura who he played for the past couple of years. Tensions will likely be high on the field as de Laura faces some of his former teammates, but the theme all week has been trying to stay focused as the Wildcats can reach a bowl game with wins these next two weeks and that starts with the Cougars on Saturday. Here is what Jedd Fisch had to say to the media on Thursday.

Opening Statement

"A good week of preparation so far. It should be a beautiful day here Saturday at 12:00. I'm hopeful that we can get a great crowd out there, Saturday, 12 p.m., Pac-12 game, Arizona Stadium. Kids can come out. It's not going to be late. Have a chance to be able to get all our students out there and then have a great Saturday night afterwards. Have a chance to be able to maybe have two weeks in a row of incredible crowds. That would be pretty awesome if we could do that. I think our players would appreciate it. I know our coaches would appreciate it and hopefully our entire fan base will appreciate being out there. I think we also have a chance to be able to fill the student section again and if we can get the ZonaZoo packed up and rowdy ready to go, that would be a lot of fun as well so I'm hopeful that we have a great crowd on Saturday. Very tough opponent, very good team, 6-4. They play great defense. One of the best defenses, if not the best defense in the Pac-12. They keep teams to low scores. You can see that in almost all of their games. Teams are under about 21 points, 24 points a game. We know we got our work cut out for ourselves. They have a great scheme, they're very disciplined and we'll be challenged. We'll be challenged on their offensive side of it. They run a very fast-paced offense, spread the field, wide splits and challenge you in both the run and the pass so excited about this game for our team, our players. I know our players are excited about this game and it's a big challenge. We have not won two games in a row here since October 5, 2019, so we have to do everything we can to get that done."

On the impact of WSU LB Daiyan Henley

"I think they have all sorts of players that are impactful in what they do and how they challenge you in all phases. I think that we have to be prepared for all of their players, no one player in particular but we certainly recognize the talent that he has and what he can do."

On what Michael Wiley brings to the Wildcats offense

"I think Michael has the skillset to be able to be a very versatile running back. His ability to pass catch, pass protect and run downfield, to be all three things: To be a great runner, to be a pass blocker, to be a great pass receiver allows you to kind of be a triple threat in a lot of ways. What he is able to do, I think last week if I remember correctly he had 21 carries for 97 yards and then an additional six catches. That's a pretty good workload and what he can do is he gives you the chance to be able to do whatever you want with him in the game. You can use him in any capacity. We have lined him up as a wide receiver so to speak in empty formations, we've brought him back in and gave him tight handoffs and everything in-between. Love having Mike with us. I think usually we've given him a game ball based on his production usually on the games that we have won or he has been named the Wildcat of the Week based upon let's call it all that he has done on and off the field. Mike's a really good player."

On how de Laura has handled practice this week

"I think Jayden has handled himself extremely well all week long. I think that he is excited about playing another Saturday. It's an opportunity for him to put back-to-back games together and that was one of the things that we talked to him about. His Washington and USC back-to-back was very productive. He had two very good games in a row. There was a bye week in-between those two and now there is an opportunity for him to go back-to-back with no bye week and have two of his best games in a row regardless of opponent. That has been our focus. It's been our focus with him all week long. It's been our focus with him in terms of our preparation whether it be in the training room, the meeting room or the practice field."

On facing JDL with WSU last season

"I thought he was special throughout the whole game. That was not a great environment at that moment with the weather that night. It was cold, it was blustery, it was foggy, there was some snow coming down and he was on fire really. You could tell that the weather didn't affect him. He had four touchdowns in the game. He made a couple of plays with his feet on our sideline where he scrambled up to the left which was about a 21 yard gain I believe. He had great control. He threw a beautiful inside fade to his slot receiver two different times and what I loved most about watching him play was the confidence that he played with in that game and the confidence he plays with now, but at the time I didn't know he was going to be our quarterback. He just plays with moxy, he plays with confidence and he played with it there on that Friday night, the second to last game of the season and then he has been playing with it here."

On the key to being able to stop the Cougars offense

"What they've been able to do is they've been able to make you spread out defensively and then they've had a very good box count to be able to run the ball and run the ball against zone coverages. Teams have been removing safeties and playing with two-high safety, cover two and cover four which has now allowed them to be able to get positive yards down hill. What we have to do to defend a team like that is you have to give them different looks on defense. You can't just say we're going to force them to run it because they've shown that they can do that successfully, a lot of times you want say, 'Alright, we'll take away their best thing and make them play left-handed so to speak' is what coach Belichick would always say. You know make a team play left-handed, but these guys have shown they can run the ball just as well as they can throw it right now these last few weeks, so you've got to be able to do both. You've got to be able to force their hand a little bit and just know that if you give them a certain look, you have to expect a certain offensive play call."

On the recovery for Jerry Roberts after breaking his leg against WSU last season

"It was the first play of the game I think it was that he broke his leg, which you're talking about November breaking your leg and yet still made it back for spring ball. I think that what he did in regards to his road to recovery helped our younger players understand what you have to do if you're hurt. He stayed here during Christmas break and worked the whole Christmas break on his lower body to try to get his leg strong enough that he can participate in some of the winter workouts. During winter workouts, he focused and concentrated on his ability to get stronger and get more confident on that leg so he can participate in spring ball. We have all these freshman that were coming in last year in January. I think it was maybe like 14 freshman plus we also had our transfers coming in. When they see the guy that was our starting linebacker get hurt and then fight to get back and then so far has been able to take almost every snap on defense that we've asked him to take, it really shows someone determined and somebody dedicated to wanting to be an Arizona Wildcat football player."

On how the loss of Jordan Morgan will impact the offensive line

"There's no question that when you look at a guy like Jordan Morgan and the production that Jordan has had as a starting left tackle and his size, his speed, his athleticism, his ability, they're not easy just to replace. Sam [Langi] has done a great job stepping in. He has played I think close to 330 snaps this season at four of the five different positions on the offensive line. When you can do that, there is certainly a confidence rather than throwing somebody in there that hasn't had that type of experience. Sam has done really well preparing, Sam is an older player. He is not a younger player, so when it comes to going in to replace an older player, he has confidence and he went against a top-10 team last week and had to play I believe it was 66 snaps in the game. I have confidence in Sam 100 percent and I also know our whole offensive line will step up to provide support."

On an update for Paris Shand's availability

"Paris is still day-to-day right now, still waiting to get a final idea if he can participate or not in the game."

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