It’s a new conference for Rich Rodriguez, and entirely new ways of doing things for Arizona. Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

I guess we should take Rich Rodriguez at his word.

The first-year Arizona Wildcats coach hasn’t been working up a sweat touting his team — either for this year or next. He’s slow-playing the expectations.

Just a coaching strategy? Maybe. Realistic? Yeah, we’re going with that option.

Rodriguez will hand out tepid compliments like this:

“What I think I have is a bunch of pretty good guys who work pretty hard. … I think the guys are hungry to prove themselves. I think we have some talent. I don’t think we are just going to show up and beat anybody on our schedule. But I do think the guys are hungry.”

Even such cautious statements like that, though, are often furthered tempered by comments about merely average intensity at practice, or how improvements still need to be made with conditioning, or how the team lacks depth.

No, I don’t think this will be a “shock-the-world” season for Arizona.

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Rick Neuheisel says a lack of experience in the Pac-12 could hurt the Arizona coaching staff in its first year. Photo by Jim Z. Rider-US PRESSWIRE

Rick Neuheisel is one of the voices of the Pac-12 this season, the lead studio analyst on the conference’s new television network.

He’s glib enough, outspoken enough and he certainly knows the territory well, having been the head coach at 25 percent of the Pac-12 schools — Colorado, Washington and UCLA.

I caught up with Neuheisel on the phone earlier this week, talking about some larger Pac-12 issues (you can read that part of the Q&A at LindysSports.com and also settling in for more Arizona-centric topics.

Here it is:

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Rob Hankins is out of the opener because of a concussion. Photo by Matt Kartozian-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez doesn’t want to have to answer questions about injuries in interview sessions Monday through Wednesday, so he offers an NFL-style injury report on Thursday.

The injury report for Saturday’s home game vs. Toledo (7:30 p.m., Arizona Stadium, ESPNU), highlights the depth problem at linebacker.

Sophomore Hank Hobson, who would be a starter if healthy, is questionable because of a shoulder injury. A trio of linebackers is out: Sophomore Rob Hankins (concussion), true freshman Dakota Conwell (foot) and senior Greg Nwoko (hip).

Hankins, who missed almost all of preseason practice, was a potential starter at middle linebacker. Conwell hasn’t had much of a chance to make an impression. Nwoko was moved from running back to help with depth … and promptly suffered the hip injury.

Linebacker was the team’s thinnest position, even before all the injuries. That’s why safety Marquis Flowers was moved to outside linebacker last season.

No player was listed under “probable” or “doubtful” on the injury report.

Other players considered out are backup center/guard Addison Bachman, potential starting defensive end Dan Pettinato, tight end Drew Robinson and backup offensive lineman Trent Spurgeon.

Out with season-long injuries are safety Adam Hall (ACL) and offensive tackle Jacob Arzouman (ACL).

Cayman Bundage

If you had pondered the question, “Which Arizona Wildcats freshman is going to make the biggest impact?” a month ago, you might have mentioned one of the linebackers.

Or one of several defensive backs, the kind of players who can always help on special teams, too.

Or Kyle Kelley, a high school pass-rushing demon on a team in high demand for a pass-rushing demon.

Or quarterback Javelle Allen.

Or a Griffey.

The one area in which Arizona seemingly needed no help from newcomers was the offensive line. The starters returned intact from last season, key backups were still around, and a trio of redshirt freshmen — Lene Maiava, Jacob Arzouman and Faitele Faafoi — was there to push the veterans.

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Photo from @SInow

The face of the NFL?

Former Arizona Wildcats tight end Rob Gronkowski — record-setter with the New England Patriots and burgeoning cross-over pop culture star — has landed on the cover of SI’s NFL preview issue.

We already knew he was appearing in a new Monday Night Football commercial, that he appeared on a Fox dating show this spring, he was a naked cover boy for ESPN The Magazine’s body issue, he co-hosted Access Hollywood Live, and that he even has a verb named after him.

And now this.

Other Arizona Wildcats appearances on SI covers include:

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Rich Rodriguez wasn’t in the spotlight early in his career. Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

RELATED: When they played the game: The All-Pac-12 Coaches team

Ah, the good ol’ days. Rich Rodriguez remembers those. Becoming the head coach at Salem University at 24 years old. Taking over at Glenville State two years later, in 1990.

The small college days.

These days, as the first-year head coach at Arizona — and as a guy who has won Big East titles and breathed the air at Michigan — Rodriguez is accustomed to coaching luxury. Assistants to the assistants to the assistants. Yes sir, Coach. Whatever you need, Coach.

Back then, he was just a one-man band making his way in the backwaters of the coaching world.

“My wife lined off the field when I was at Glenville. She was eight months pregnant,” Rodriguez said.

“I made her stop because I was afraid it was going to screw up the child with those fumes from the paint. I said, ‘Honey, I don’t think that’s really good for ol’ junior there.’”

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Former Washington Husky Marques Tuiasosopo was a hard quarterback to bring down. Photo by Tom Hauck/ALLSPORT

RELATED: Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez appreciates coaching staff’s humble beginnings

Star football players rarely become coaches.

Why bother? Anybody that good at football would have had a long, lucrative career, so money isn’t the issue. And who wants to mess around with recruiting anyway?

Want to stay connected to the game? Move to an NFL front office. Become a pitchman. Give speeches. Better yet, get a TV job.

There are those, however, who hear the call. Heed the call. Some high-profile players-to-coaches have put on the coaching whistle with the same gusto as they put on the shoulder pads … and the Pac-12 is home to some of those.

We clicked on 120 coaching bios in the league — 12 head coaches and nine full-time assistants per team — to put together our All-Coaches Team, to find out which Pac-12 coaches played the game the best in college and the pros.

Here are the results:

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Adam Hall made 54 tackles as a sophomore. Photo by Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Injured safety Adam Hall, whose status with the Arizona Wildcats seemed uncertain a week ago, is once again “with the program.”

Hall, recovering from a torn ACL in the spring game, was rehabbing during Tuesday’s practice, wearing a yellow jersey signifying an injured player.

“You’re either with the program or you’re not,” coach Rich Rodriguez said, “and he’s with the program right now.”

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Rich Rodriguez was fired up after a fourth-quarter TD in his Michigan debut, but the Wolverines still lost to Utah. Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

We know fireworks will accompany the Arizona Wildcats’ entrance onto the field on Saturday night. After that, who knows?

“With the first game there are always so many things you’re unsure of,” first-year Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday.

He will make his UA debut this weekend against Toledo at Arizona Stadium, hoping for a better result than he had when the curtain went up at West Virginia in 2001 and at Michigan seven years later.

In Rodriguez’s first game as a Division I-A college head coach, his Mountaineers team gained just 316 yards, scored a mere 10 points and lost by more than three touchdowns at Boston College.

In Rodriguez’s first game as the head coach at Michigan in 2008, the Wolverines managed a scant 203 yards and lost, in the Big House, 25-23 to Utah. Headline the next day in the Detroit News: Will Rodriguez be a Michigan Man?

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Former All-Pac-10 linebacker Spencer Larsen won’t get a chance to play with the New England Patriots this season. Photo by Stew Milne-US PRESSWIRE

NFL teams had to cut their rosters from 90 to 75 by Monday afternoon, which brought a mix of news for former Arizona Wildcats on the bubble.

Deeper cuts — down to 53 players — have to be made by Friday night.

At various times in late summer or early in camp, there were 24 former Wildcats on NFL rosters. That number is down to 18, but at least one is more secure today: Placekicker Nick Folk has won his battle with Josh Brown, who was released by the New York Jets on Monday.

The news wasn’t good for linebacker-turned-fullback Spencer Larsen, signed in the offseason by the New England Patriots. The team placed Larsen on season-ending injured reserve.

Some of the longer-shots on the list, such as undrafted rookie free agents David Douglas (New York Giants) and Robert Golden (Pittsburgh), survived the first cuts. Golden, a safety, intercepted a pass in most recent preseason game. One of Golden’s competitors for a roster spot, Myron Rolle, was waived Monday.

Here is a look at who is where, with new links to recent stories:

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