The Arizona football team has settled into spring workouts with yesterday's fifth workout of the season.

Two Wildcat defenders expounded on the turnaround the program has made from a year ago.

"Guys are flying around and making plays, people are in condition, and the guys are happy to be out here because we see we're getting better," senior safety Darrell Brooks said.

"We're having a lot of fun. Coach is strict and strenuous, but guys aren't breaking down," he said.

Brooks has not played in full pads yet this spring due to a shoulder injury that he said is not serious.

"We're just trying to be cautious," he said.

Though he is sidelined, Brooks is contributing to the team in other ways, he said.

As last season's leading tackler, he is passing some of his experience on to the younger corps of Arizona defensemen.

"We're just trying to make it an easier transition for them," he said. "They've never had to spend that much time with playbooks (or) watching game film."

One such younger defender is redshirt freshman linebacker Ronnie Palmer, who said the work he's put in on and off the field this season has been hard, but well worth it.

"Every day I'm watching film for practice," he said.

Palmer watched from the sidelines in 2004 coming out of Spring High School in Spring, Texas. Armed with that year of practice under his belt, he said he is ready to contribute in 2005.

"For me, I felt it was the best thing," he said of the redshirt. "It gave me a good year to understand the sequences."

Palmer moved from cornerback to linebacker, and he said the extra year helped make that transition a smooth one.

Arizona returns to Jimenez Practice Facility tomorrow for the sixth of 15 spring workouts permitted by the NCAA.