The 2004 Arizona football season could depend as much on what happens this summer as what happens this fall.
The Wildcats closed out Spring Football April 17 with the annual Spring Game. The team will now focus on summer workouts.
"Our goals over the summer are to become a faster, stronger football team so we can execute with a more violent attitude," head coach Mike Stoops said.
Last season, Arizona had about 25 players ÷ about half the roster ÷ participating in voluntary workouts. The Wildcats then suffered one of the worst seasons in school history, going 2-10 and winning only one Pacific 10 Conference game for the second straight year.
"When you are last in the Pac-10, you have a lot of work to do, and hopefully we're headed in the right direction," Stoops said.
Stoops said the team needs to improve its overall speed and get more physical this summer.
All summer workouts are voluntary because of strict NCAA rules limiting the number of practices, but most players agree a majority of the team will stay in Tucson this summer and participate in weightlifting and on-field workouts.
"Finally, we are getting some maturity and some leadership that we desperately need," Stoops said. "Our guys know what's out there in front of them and what they need to do to improve, and hopefully we'll get that throughout the summer."
Another summer goal is to refresh the new offensive and defensive schemes that the players had to learn under the new coaching staff.
Stoops said his staff was able to put in about three-fourths of the team's offensive and defensive sets this spring. He said he was pleased with how the players adapted to the new schemes.
"The guys started to get more comfortable toward the end," Stoops said. "We obviously need to play and execute better at times, but putting a new system on both sides of the ball was difficult. We just have to build on the foundation that we built through the spring."
Another key in avoiding the Pac-10 cellar in 2004 will be avoiding injuries. Arizona escaped Spring Practice with no major injuries; however, the offensive line's development was hampered by the absence of several players.
Senior Brandon Phillips, along with sophomores Tanner Bell and John Abramo, was held out of spring drills because of various injuries sustained last year. Stoops said that inhibited the offensive line's ability to come together as a unit.
"It really hurt our continuity as an offensive line," Stoops said. "We need to be more physical and become more violent in moving people off the ball, and when we get our group back together we'll have a chance to be a strength."
Although the Wildcats return 19 of their 22 starters for the 2004 season, Stoops hasn't ruled out the possibility of the younger guys coming in and playing right away.
He highlighted cornerbacks, tight ends and the offensive line as areas where freshmen could step in and win jobs.
"I would imagine you'll see a handful of true freshmen help us in some capacity," Stoops said.
He said he expects some of those new freshmen to come in during the summer and start working with the team.
"We're looking forward to moving forward with this program," Stoops said. "They have to make a commitment from here until August if we want to have the type of football team that can go out and compete and win football games.
"If we don't have a great summer, we probably won't position ourselves for a great fall."