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AIPROPX ReportYahoo Sports · 1h ago
What Brent Brennan, Arizona football players said at start of training camp
One month out from the start of the 2026 season, Arizona officially began preparations for this fall with the start of training camp. For roughly two hours Wednesday morning the Wildcats worked out on a trio of fields, spending most of the time outdoors in the upper-90s heat, in the first of 18 practices over the next three-plus weeks.
“It was hot, which we love,” UA coach Brent Brennan said. “I hope I hope it gets hotter. Turn up the heat so we can get get used to battling that and really making an advantage for us. It’s awesome to be back out there. We’ve got a great group of young men here that are excited about attacking our process, getting ready for the season that is coming.”
Below is what Brennan, quarterback Noah Fifita— who got engaged over the weekend—and defensive lineman Tre Smith said about the start of training camp:
Brennan on having a lot of team periods in the opening practice: “We do feel like we’re further along because we have the same coordinators for the second year, and so there’s some carryover in terms of what we do schematically. And then I also think there’s a lot of new players that we need to just get playing. Like, we need to play football, and so we need to see them. Do they know what to do? How comfortable are they in the scheme? Do they have an understanding of Redline?
“I think when you get started, there’s so much to try and figure out, especially in this this era where you’re bringing in so many new players. Some of them you have for spring practice, the bulk of them, but then there’s also a new chunk that joins you in the beginning of June, that you haven’t been on the field field with yet. So it’s exciting to to get out there for the first day.”
On giving the backup QBs lots of reps: “I think as we continue to go, I think that that group of quarterbacks behind Noah, there’s going to be movement there. Every single day the competition, just like every other position, and I said this yesterday, every other position, we really want to pressurize the practice environment. We want there to be a lot of intensity in those reps, and for those to feel each other kind of breathing down each other’s necks, kind of forcing everybody to be really intentional about their process, about how they learn, how they’re performing, knowing that someone is coming for that opportunity every single day. It’s awesome because you have Noah, who’s such a great leader. He’s a great teacher. He’s patient with all of them. He tries to help and teach and coach those younger players, but those younger players all know that the competition is real.”
On young players establishing themselves early: “I think for for those young players, they have to demonstrate the just baseline to know what to do. That will play out more and more as as we get going. Are they making the most of the opportunities they get? I tell players that all the time, like especially when you’re a young player, the fastest way to get on the field is to know what to do, and it’s amazing how many times they struggle with that or they don’t really understand exactly what that is until someone else is playing in front of them.”
On if he still gets butterflies on the 1 st day of camp: “Absolutely. I think for me it’s more of excitement. It’s excitement about the journey that lies ahead, and just it’s fun building a football team, and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last eight months. And now we get to this part where we actually get to really, really focus on football, knowing that the opportunity to play is on the backside of training camp.
“I was thinking about this morning. I was trying to count in my head how many years I’ve been going to training camp this time of year, and it’s been a long time. I stopped counting because the number was getting too high, and I was feeling some kind of way about that. I feel like it’s exciting every time, because every team is different. Every team is different. Every season is different, and we’re excited about this team.”
On it not looking like a 1 st practice in terms of organization: “I think it is a little bit different because you also do get a little bit more time with the players in the offseason than you used to. And then it also depends on what the leadership of your team is. So when your best players and your leaders are driving the tempo of practice, they’re driving the drill to drill, they’re driving kind of the hustle and the effort and the Redline, everybody has no choice but to get on board.”
On center Zach Henning: “We’re excited about Zach. First of all, he’s an awesome, awesome human being. Just a great fit culturally. With the portal, you don’t always know that. You can’t guarantee that, because the recruiting process is, we talked about before, it’s like speed dating. You really don’t know as much as you would like to know about a player that you’re taking. But just his maturity, he’s tough. He’s incredibly intelligent. He’s really found like a great group of guys to hang out with. That O-line group has really brought him in, because you have other good guys that are leaders on that on that O-line. Doost and Tristan and and Rhino, like those guys have really brought him in, and Zach kind of fit right into that. And then what we liked about was it his tape was impressive. He started multiple games for (Washington) last year and really did a good job.”
On having big tight ends: “We’re always going to be a big tight end team. We like to play in 11, we really like to play in 12, and I think that group is going to be a lot of fun.”
On Tre Smith entering his 6 th college season: “Tre’s such a thoughtful, thoughtful guy. It’s been really fun to be a part of this process, and I’ve been with him for all of it. I think that’s a unique thing at two different stops. The football with him is kind of the easy part because he plays so hard and he’s talented and he’s twitchy and he’s long. That’s the easy part. But to me, what’s most impressive about Tre i...
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