Arizona football: Jerrard Randall at wide receiver a show-stopping attraction at Wildcats practice

What if this move had happened a year ago?

After showing off incredible speed and athleticism early in the year, the idea of Jerrard Randall moving from quarterback to wide receiver became more and more of a reality, culminating with him seeing an entire drive at wideout against NAU in the team's third game of the year.

"I just got tired running routes," Randall joked after that game. "Receiver's a tough position to play. You don't get the ball a lot."

He played quarterback in the second half of that 77-13 throttling of the Lumberjacks as well, before giving way to Brandon Dawkins, and then Zach Werlinger. But it looked like we would see Randall at WR a lot moving into Pac-12 play.

Then the UCLA game happened. And the Anu Solomon concussion issues.

Randall was forced back into significant time at quarterback, starting the Stanford and ASU games, and coming on in relief to help win the Colorado and Utah games. Rich Rodriguez was unable to use his multi-talented weapon at wide receiver because of the uncertainty surrounding Solomon's health.

Well, now that the bowl season is upon us, Randall has one game left at Arizona, and it's time to get him as much playing time as possible, and that could and should come at wide receiver against the Lobos.

"He'll play in this game quarterback and receiver," Rodriguez said on Monday. "We'll move him around a little bit because he's a talented guy and it's important to him."

Even though practice has been closed so we don't get to see what happens when Randall lines up at receiver, everyone on the team takes some time to watch it.

"Practice stops when Jerrard's playing wide receiver," Cayleb Jones said Tuesday. "Everybody watches. Whether it's one-on-ones, or route running."

But that route running isn't very diverse.

"Coach Rod said today 'The only route he's running is a go ball'," Jones continued. "He's just one of the most explosive people, one of the most athletic people I've ever seen. It's just cool to see him bring that diversity to the group."

"He's really really fast. You gotta play a little off when you against him," freshman corner Sammy Morrison added. "You gotta respect his speed."

"You just know that he's going to try and run as fast as he can," continued Morrison. "If you can't match his speed, you're going to lose that battle, so you gotta be cautious of that."

And Jerrard's hands are also pretty good.

"One hand easy. He catches the ball pretty naturally," said Jones.

"Oh he can catch," added Morrison. "He can definitely catch."

When the New Mexico Bowl rolls around, Randall should be showcased in a way that he can truly flourish, especially with it being his last collegiate game. Why not have him run go routes, or just take off with the ball if he's playing quarterback? That'll showcase his athleticism, and give us one last positive memory of the LSU transfer and the physical gifts he brought to this team.

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