The first week of the college football season to some is little more than nationally televised team scrimmages with scores that would likely be seen in video games if the difficulty was turned down to practically non-existent. Yet there are some cases where upsets occur that shake up the entire college football world. The Arizona Wildcats did not suffer an upset on the scoreboard, but did suffer an upset that shook up their depth chart down the road in their search for their first ever Rose Bowl appearance.
All-American First Team linebacker Scooby Wright suffered an knee injury during Arizona’s 42-32 victory over the University of Texas San Antonio. It was evident that the injury was at least moderately severe as Wright was seen on the training table with a large ice bag wrapped around his left knee. Later on in the contest he was wandering the sidelines in street clothes with a crutch to help keep pressure off the injury and watching the game, relegated to a player-coach and spectator like the other thousands of members in the ‘Zona Zoo.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez seems to believe the injury is not focused on the ACL or MCL due to Wright’s recent battle with shin splits earlier this training camp, and with an MRI earlier this week it is known that it is a lateral meniscus tear. With that diagnosis it is believed that Wright will return by the end of September, but it is still a devastating blow to an already thin group at the inside linebacker position for the Wildcats after they lost Cody Ippolito to a torn ACL. It will likely be a rotation of replacements to fill in Wright’s void with Jake Matthews, DeAndre’ Miller among just some of the names who will be called upon to fill in the next two games against Nevada and Northern Arizona.
To put in perspective just what Wright means to Rich Rod’s squad, it is hard to replace a linebacker who placed ninth in the Heisman vote last season as well as taking home the Bronko Nagurski, Chuck Bednarik, Vince Lombardi and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year awards during an incredible 2014 season. The linebacker was mister everything for the team as he tallied 163 tackles, 29 for a loss with 14 sacks and six forced fumbles. And in the 3-3-5 set up that the Wildcats run heavily relies on the linebackers to be able to handle all the underneath routes and running lanes in the ground game to allow the corners to keep the pass happy offenses in the Pac-12 human so that Anu Solomon and the offense can put the team in position to win games.
It will be interesting to see if Wright will be able to put himself into game shape for the Pac-12 opener against UCLA in Tucson. The Bruins currently rank seventeen in the nation pending a reshuffling of the top 25 after many teams suffered surprising losses in the first week, including number 15 ASU. Josh Rosen and the Bruins offense looked as if they hadn’t lost out on many options with the graduation of Brett Hundley as the young signal caller had the greatest game in true Freshman history for UCLA at the quarterback position against a tough Virginia team. Not to mention NAU’s upset over Stephen F. Austin in their season opener clearly shows that the Lumberjacks could put the U of A on upset alert. The Wildcats will look to hold down the fort while waiting for Wright to get his knee in solid condition as the season rolls on, each game garnering more pressure than the last.