Arizona football: How can the Wildcats' defensive line improve?

Seriously, how do you get better when you're a defensive lineman?

It seems like we've told the same story for the past several seasons for the Arizona Wildcats.

Where's the pressure from the defensive line?

Through four games, eight different Arizona players have recorded sacks. Which seems good, but they all have one each, and only half of those have actually been recorded by a defensive lineman.

One of the big problems Arizona had against both UTSA and UCLA was the lack of pressure on the quarterback, giving both Blake Bogenschutz and Josh Rosen plenty of time to pick apart the Wildcat secondary.

But how do you get better at generating pressure during the season?

"Get off blocks more and have more of a sense of urgency," Rich Rodriguez said on Monday.

Seems simple enough, but how do you actually go about doing that in practice?

"Our scout offense, and those guys work hard, I'm not displeased with them, but we've got to do a good job on scout offense. Not only blocking 'em and holding 'em, but we've got to run a little bit...thud us up in practice. So hopefully, I got the scout team offense ready to go because we've got to give them a good look. Our scout team running backs do a pretty good job, and our scout team O-linemen. But this week, they've got to do a great job."

So we went straight to the source of the scout team offensive line, and talked to Cody Creason about their role in trying to make Arizona's defensive line more formidable on Saturdays.

Obviously, the first thing they have to do is try to emulate Stanford the best they can, both with size and technique.

"We just gotta replicate that in practice and give the defense good looks so they know what's coming during the game," Creason explained. "(The Cardinal) get really low in their stance and they come off hard, so you gotta do that more. Shorten up the splits, little things like that."

"We watch a lot of Stanford film, and we just try to replicate them the best we can do," continued Creason. "Watch them move, watch their plays, watch their technique and just replicate it the best we can."

During the season, the top defensive linemen on Arizona tend to go up against the scout team more often than not, so they're not getting reps against the best talent on the team like Jacob Alsadek or Lene Maiava or Freddie Tagaloa anymore like they would in camp. But that doesn't mean the scout team offensive line just gets walked over.

"That's what motivates me during the week," Creason said. "We have to make them look better and give them a good look, because they won't be prepared during a game."

"(It's challenging) going five periods straight," he continued. "Going up against the one defense is hard too because they're really good."

So what has Creason seen the defensive line get better at through the first third of the schedule?

"A lot," he said. "They're more physical. A lot better at reading the blocks, whether we're going right or left. They're a lot better at stunting the O-linemen."

Creason's a true freshman out of Folsom HS in California. While he may not be in the offensive line rotation this year and will likely end up redshirting, he's still enjoying his time at Arizona.

"It's been good," he said of his college career so far. "It's been eye-opening. The players are a lot bigger and better, but I'm learning. I'm trying to adjust and get better every day."

"You just kinda learn on that first day of practice that everyone in college is bigger, and you just prepare yourself mentally for practice and you go out and do the best you can."

"It's a grind man. Makes you better, a lot better."

Maybe we'll see Creason contribute in games some day, but for now, let's just hope he and the rest of the scout team are giving the defensive line realistic looks throughout the week, which will make them better on Saturdays.

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