Jenkins is in, no doubt about it

Chris Richards Arizona Daily Wildcat UA head coach Dick Tomey looks on as Wildcat linesmen go over plays in practice yesterday.

Jenkins or Smith?

A quarterback controversy brewing in Tucson? Not anymore in the eyes of UA head coach Dick Tomey.

"I don't think so," Tomey said. "Personally, we have 1 and 3/4 quarterbacks. We have one that is healthy and one that is 3/4 healthy."

With sophomore Keith Smith still not in perfect health - he took very few snaps at practice last night - it appears that redshirt freshman Ortege Jenkins will again be the man when the Wildcats meet up with Stanford on Saturday.

"O.J. will start the game," Tomey said. "I hope Keith by the end of the week is able to come in and play."

Okay, here come the 'what if's.'

What if Smith is healthy for Saturday's game, would he play?

"Maybe," Tomey said. "O.J. did a great job. I just think you have to reward performances."

Jenkins deserves more than a reward. He deserves a medal for the job he did in leading the Wildcats to a come-from-behind victory over San Diego State. Although it was not the toughest defense the Wildcats have faced, Jenkins still posted season highs in yards passing and touchdown passes en route to the highest amount of total offense yards so far this season.

More importantly than any statistic is the win was a huge confidence boost for Jenkins.

"A lot of confidence was built," said sophomore wide receiver Dennis Northcutt, who is also Jenkins' roommate. "I can see it at practice, how he talks on the field and at home. He feels like he can't do wrong, and that is so good for him."

What if both Smith and Jenkins were on the field at the same time?

"I don't know," Tomey said. "That would be fun to fool with."

Just think, Jenkins handing the ball off to Smith, who is in the tailback position. Then, on the next playing Jenkins racing down the sideline for a Smith bomb. It would at least provide a little excitement.

What if Tomey was to live by the rule that you never lose your starting spot because of an injury.

"You probably say in most cases that is the case," Tomey said. "But , I think it all has to do with how the position was being played prior to the injury as well."

First quarter blues

It is no secret that the Wildcats have had problems in the opening quarter of ballgames, so Tomey is open to anything to get his team off on the right foot.

"(I am ready to) Do whatever we need to do," Tomey said. "If we have to scrimmage before the game. I have done that. At Hawaii we had an inside drill before the game."

Nothing will be ruled out.

"I am not opposed to anything."

No regrets about McAlister

Despite the secondary getting lit up by SDSU in the first quarter, Tomey stands firm on his decision to bench junior cornerback Chris McAlister.

"Not having Chris in there hurt us," Tomey said. "But I was absolutely firm in the fact that we have certain rules about class attendance and we are not going to change that regardless of what it meant.

"That's more important than trying to win a football game."

This is not the first time Tomey has benched a player for missing a class or meeting. Running backs Trung Canidate and Kelvin Eafon were benched during the first quarter against the University of Alabama-Birmingham after being late to a team meeting.