The Arizona football team has not backed down from contact throughout preseason camp, an approach welcomed by the coaches.

The thought process is that maybe it will make the Wildcats more physical this season.

“We have been smart trying to get what we could and still have a physical presence, but keeping our players healthy,” UA coach Mike Stoops said.

“You have to be careful of your players and try not to beat them up too much.

“We don’t have the depth a lot of teams have. You want your best 11 to be ready by (the season opener) Aug. 30. As of right now we will be 100 percent healthy for the first game.”

• Arizona receiver Mike Thomas, offensive tackle Eben Britton and linebacker Ronnie Palmer were back on the field for drill work after being limited for various injuries last week.

• The Wildcats were sluggish Monday morning in their first workout since returning from their trip to Fort Huachuca.

“It is kind of par for the course. We didn’t practice nearly well enough this morning,” Stoops said.

“We just didn’t have the same amount of excitement and enthusiasm we have had.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Football, High School, John Moredich, page-c02, Sports-Football, Sports-Football-High School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.