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Learning from past mistakes

Eric M. Jukelevics Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior quarterback Ortege Jenkins lines behind junior center Bruce Wiggins during Wednesday's Meet the Team. Jenkins and senior quarterback Keith Smith (12), will split the time at quarterback again this year.

A No. 3 preseason ranking in the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll and a No. 4 ranking in the Associated Press poll suggest the Arizona Wildcats are pretty good.

But to the players and coaches, the rankings don't mean anything until they get out on the field and play some actual games.

"Well, the rankings, like the USA Today poll are a reflection of the high regard people had for last year's team," UA head coach Dick Tomey said. "We just need to make sure that at the end of this season people feel even better about us."

Coming off a school-best 12-1 season and a No. 4 finish in the polls, the Wildcats have been tabbed the favorite to win the Pacific 10 Conference and to finish no lower than fifth in the country in every preseason poll.

The hype surrounding the team is comparable to what the 1994 squad faced after it finished 10-2 and beat Miami in the Fiesta Bowl.

But if that amounts to some sort of added pressure, none of the current Wildcats are showing any of its effects.

"There's a lot of hype," senior right tackle Manuia Savea said. "I went to visit family (in Samoa) and they were talking about us being the best in the country. I try to stay away from that stuff, though."

Senior wide receiver Brad Brennan agreed.

"We're trying not to look at the hype," he said. "We're just looking to prepare for the season."

Brennan said the current team learned its lesson from the 1994 team, which was No. 1 and on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

"We've looked at quite a few teams including us in the early 90's," he said. "We can't let that happen to us."

Junior quarterback Ortege Jenkins said he hasn't paid any attention to the polls and magazines all summer.

"I haven't really looked at it," he said. "It doesn't bother me, but when you're a freshman and you see us on the cover of a magazine you get excited.

"The younger guys, you have to calm them down."

Tomey said on media day on Aug. 6 that the team would see the hype melt away in the hot sun at Camp Cochise.

"I don't think they have any delusions of grandeur," he said. "Our younger players might, but they'll lose it pretty quickly (at Cochise)."

Freshman wide receiver Bobby Wade said the coaches had a simple philosophy that helped the newcomers ignore the pressure.

"It was that they got everybody ready to play, not knowing who was going to redshirt or who was not," he said. "If you're going to believe the hype, you're going to sit a year."

Wade said he did his best not to notice the preseason predictions.

"For me personally, I really didn't pay attention to all that cause it happens," he said. "And I don't know really how the other guys felt but they came in and tried to do their best. The guys who didn't pretty much had injuries. The coaches have got everybody ready to play. They know who can play and who can't."

Wade said he also had some experience dealing with hype at Desert Vista (Phoenix) High School last year, as his team was the favorite to win the 5A state title from day one.

"Yeah, but it's way different," he said. "The hype is going to be there and it can knock down teams or it can make them better. And hopefully our team right now, from what I'm seeing they're not even paying attention to that."

Jenkins said the football team can also learn from the 1997-98 UA basketball team, which he also played on as a reserve guard. After winning the national title in 1997, the 1998 team finished 27-4 in the regular season but lost in the Elite Eight to an unheralded Utah team.

"It was the same exact team, the same exact guys going for the title, but it wasn't the same chemistry," he said.

Jenkins said the only real pressure from the Wildcats' high ranking will come when they hit the field and other teams turn it up a notch, trying to knock them from their pedestal.

"You've got a big target on your chest and everyone's gunning for you," he said.

The first team to take a shot will be No. 3 Penn State tomorrow in State College, Penn.