Arizona football notebook: Zac Siulepa’s Costco recruitment, Danny Gonzales’ vacation nightmare
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The long awaited, unofficial, RichRod Bowl is upon us and there is a lot of buzz from the people in Tucson. Fans remember the success former head coach Rich Rodriguez had at Arizona but also remember how sour of an ending he had.
After his firing, he was an offensive coordinator at Ole Miss and Louisiana Monroe, and eventually became the head coach at Jacksonville State. Rodriguez found success with the Gamecocks and earned another shot to coach in Morgantown.
He had previously coached at West Virginia from 2001-2007, before taking the Michigan job. During his first stint in Morgantown, a young Seth Doege was taking note as to just how much of an offensive innovator Rodriguez was.
“I just respect the way he plays football and the way he attacks football,” said Doege. “From a young dude in the profession you look up to somebody like that.”
Doege may bring the offensive innovation to Tucson, but defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales sure does bring a similar intensity to Arizona as Rodriguez did.
The standard never changes
Most would think that holding the Big 12’s second-best rushing attack to just 74 yards would make a coach happy. Yes, Gonzales was happy with his defense’s performance, until he wasn’t.
“I thought for 57 minutes they played really, really hard with 3:10 to go in the game when we took the field for that last drive,” he said. “It really pissed me off that the standard changed with three minutes to go in the game.”
Perhaps the Wildcats were satisfied with the game well in hand at that point, or maybe it was because the backups were in the game. However, allowing Cincinnati to drive down the field with ease to end the game was unacceptable to Gonzales.
Now, a similar challenge faces Arizona with West Virginia’s rushing attack being the third best in the country. Gonzales does not care who the Wildcats are facing, the standard never changes regardless of opponent so he expects another run stopping performance from his defense.
“We go into every game wanting to hold people under 100 yards,” said Gonzales. “They rush for almost 300 yards a game, and they’re really dang good.”
It’s not just the Mountaineer running backs that Arizona has to worry about. Michael Hawkins Jr. is a very capable and credible threat on the ground. What Hawkins Jr. brings to the field is very similar to another dual-threat quarterback that Rodriguez coached in Tucson.
“The city of Tucson is very familiar with Khalil Tate,” said Gonzales. “The twitch and the athleticism and what they do is very similar. He’s a dual threat that causes you a lot of issues, makes your fricking hair turn red.”
A faceless opponent mindset is something that is instilled across the program. The defense doesn’t care if it’s BYU, Cincinnati, or West Virginia lined up in front of them, they want to be physically dominant.
The same goes for the offense, but it also goes beyond a faceless opponent. It does not care who is on the field, they want to be explosive. Of course, you always want your top playmakers out there, but when the injury bug strikes like it did for the Arizona’s starting wide receivers, the reserves cannot flinch when their number is called.
“I’m confident in the guys that can play,” said Doege on the backup receivers. “Mizell’s put a lot on tape so far. He’s made some big-time plays. Phelps is playing at a high level, in my opinion. We played him both inside and out, so he’ll continue that role. I think we have a talented unit that somebody will step up and fill the void.”
Doege has not changed the playbook or offensive scheme just because Tre Spivey is out for the season and the status of Giovanni Richardson and Chris Hunter III is up in the air. He believes that the guys who step in place of those who may be out will have just as much success.
“I didn’t stay up here all night prepping, thinking like, oh, we can’t do this, we can’t do that,” said Doege. “I’m gonna let those guys go prove that they can do it. I have full faith and I believe in them. I’m letting those guys go play free, and understanding that our quarterback and our unit and our coaches believe in those guys.”
Prep in the Bahamas
At this point, it is not an odd thing to find out that Gonzales has started prepping for a future opponent. We know that this season’s BYU prep started soon after the Holiday Bowl ended, and he already has his eyes on a future matchup with Air Force.
However, it seems as though West Virginia interrupted his trip to the Bahamas this offseason. In a bizarre dream, the Mountaineers showed up during his vacation and since then have been on his mind for months.
“For some reason, I wasn’t allowed to coach in the game,” said Gonzales on his dream. “The crazy part is, and I don’t want to say which buddy it was, but a buddy was calling the defense. It wasn’t anybody on this staff, thank God. I saw the score, they put up almost 100 points. I’m like, well, freaking fire me! Luckily, I didn’t get to coach for whatever reason. It was nightmarish.”
Even though it may have been a dream, or nightmare, the explosiveness that West Virginia’s offense has is a real thing. If Rodriguez’s offense is executing at a high level, then a lot of points and a lot of yardage can be produced.
“They’re capable of doing that, which is the scary part,” said Gonzales. “They put a lot of points on everybody, and so I got nothing better to do. I’m sitting at the pool or at the beach, and just watching on my phone, seeing like what do they do that’s freaking got me dreaming about it?”
A big issue that might be present on Saturday is the interruption of Gonzales’ tactic to rotate the defensive line, as well as the defense as a whole. Arizona relies on fresh bodies to create a fast and violent defense.
“They don’t allow you to, so you have to take advantage of the rules when the ball goes out of bounds on their sideline, or if they sub, you have to be on top of it,” said Gonzales. “We try and sub even when people are going tempo occasionally. We won’t be able to with this group. It’s got to be very efficient, and so we practice some of that stuff today. Until you’re doing it with live bullets, it’s hard, the communication piece.”
Bearing Down (Under)
What are the odds that a former rugby player could find their way to Tucson, AZ to play American football. Well, that’s the case for defensive lineman Zac Siulepa, and it all came down to a random interaction in a Costco he had in Australia.
“Back in Australia in 2022, I was in Costco and an American came up to me and he said, ‘You would do pretty good playing American football.’ So I sent him my rugby highlights, and now I’m over here,” said Siulepa.
Fortunately for both Siulepa and Arizona, he was able to translate some of his rugby skills to the game of football.
“I think the only thing I take away from rugby in this game is my running,” he said. “I feel like playing rugby my whole life gave me a little bit of an advantage, being a little bit twitchy at my size, and I’d say the physicality that I brought over from rugby.”
The running aspect may not always be clear on the field, but just at first glance you can tell how physically gifted Siulepa is. It was one aspect that impressed Gonzales right away in recruiting him.
“They sent me some videos of him power cleaning, and overhead press and snatches, seeing a 6-foot-8, at that time he was 400-pounds, man snatch a power clean bar with 225 on it is one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen,” said Gonzales.
It seems like Siulepa is growing more and more comfortable both on and off the field. His time with the media this week showed how well he presents and carries himself, and that is something that Gonzales had yet to see out of him.
“How impressive is that young man? I mean, the interview was unbelievable because I’ve never heard him talk that much, so it was fun to stand here and listen to some of those things,” said Gonzales.
The switch from rugby to football may have been challenging, as well as the culture shock coming from Australia and going to Kansas then to Arizona. Siulepa has still loved every aspect of his journey.
“I love it in Tucson, coming from Kansas, it’s a very big culture shock and I’m loving every second of it,” said Siulepa. “I feel like I’m a completely new player. It just feels like there’s no more extra baggage on me, and it feels pretty good moving around and breathing everywhere.”
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