Arizona football: Jerrard Randall and Brandon Dawkins bring different styles to Wildcats' offense

Arizona could start splitting quarterback reps this week

When Anu Solomon was laying on the Arizona Stadium turf in the second quarter last weekend, that was pretty much the last straw on a rough four-game stretch the Arizona Wildcats have started the year with.

That forced Rich Rodriguez to bring in Jerrard Randall, which is much earlier than any other game Randall has appeared in so far.

"He does certain things better than other things, so you want to feature that," Rodriguez said on Monday. "What the challenge is for us is not having three different gameplans for three different quarterbacks, but being able to feature three different types of scenarios or aspects depending on who the quarterback is. We do that anyway, but this week it's gotta be a focal point."

Whenever Randall is brought up, his arm strength is always mentioned, but so is his inability to reign that arm strength in. He went just 4-16 through the air against UCLA, throwing over receiver's heads consistently, and of course, throwing Arizona's first interception of the season.

"He may have the strongest arm of any quarterback I've ever coached," RichRod explained. "We're just trying to get him settled down a little bit and not making all the throws so hard has been something we've worked with him on."

"He throws all the balls the same. He's ripped through a lot of receiver gloves," coach joked. "And he's made some progress in that, but we're still working on it."

"Jerrard throws the ball so hard," Cayleb Jones added. "Just gotta be ready. You've got a guy (in Anu) who's the most laid-back person you've ever met, and then you've got a guy who's on edge (in Jerrard). There's a difference for sure, but I'm used to it, and just gotta be ready."

"He's so competitive too," Jacob Alsadek tacked on. "He's always doing whatever it takes to win, and that's one of his best attributes I think. He's just a really competitive guy."

Throughout the week, Rodriguez has also said that it could be Brandon Dawkins that plays the majority of the game instead of Randall. Dawkins completed both of his pass attempts on Saturday, and has shown that he has the ability to bust open a big run if need be.

"He brings a little bit different perspective to the table (compared to Anu and Jerrard)," Cayleb Jones said.

"Brandon has not played a lot, but it's his second year in the season and I've got more confidence in him," continued Rodriguez. "Brandon has a nice feel for the game too, and he's athletic. You saw he can run a little bit."

"We try to make more judgments on practice, but the game speed is certainly different," RichRod said about Dawkins' performance in games to this point. "When he's gone in there in a game, even though it's been at the end, he's kept his composure pretty well. If it's his time, he's gotta just go in there and do it."

Both Randall and Dawkins are different from Solomon. Randall is clearly a faster runner, but so is Dawkins, and Brandon is probably a better passer overall compared to Jerrard.

"Jerrard's faster and Brandon's taller," coach said of their differences. "They're more similar than different, but the biggest thing they lack is experience in live situations, so if it's their turn to go, they've got to be ready to go. And you won't know that until you put 'em in there."

"Brandon brings a lot of energy and Jerrard's more of a quiet type," Cayleb added.

When they do get in there, will it make it harder on the rest of the offense? Well, no, it actually probably makes it a lot easier on everyone else as far as the depth of the playbook is concerned.

"You're not gonna add plays and compound the situation by trying to confuse someone else," said Rodriguez. "Really, the gameplan is somewhat shortened, so it's easier for the other guys."

"We all get taught the same stuff," Cayleb Jones added. "The next person's just gotta step up and play."

Arizona's Tuesday practice usually has about 20 minutes of observation time, followed by availability of all offensive players. But there was no observation allowed, and the quarterbacks were off limits. Combine that with the fact that Solomon wasn't even there, and I think there's a strong chance that we will see both Randall and Dawkins, possibly at the same time in certain situations, on Saturday against Stanford.

I would imagine both will have an extremely short leash, and almost become interchangeable depending on how the game plays out for the Wildcats. And who knows, maybe this offense discovers some other sort of dimension because of this.

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