Rich Rodriguez is heading into his second season at Arizona. Photo by Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats announced its post-spring football roster Thursday, showing nine departures, mostly walk-ons.

Also, scholarship sophomore Dame Ndiaye, who has bounced between defense and offense, announced on Twitter that he would not be returning to Arizona after this semester. Ndiaye, an intriguing raw prospect when he signed, began the spring at tight end but ended at defensive end.

Perhaps one surprise was the departure of redshirt freshman running back J.T. Washington from Indialantic, Fla.

He had good moments in scrimmages last fall, flashing quick cuts, but didn’t appear to be part of the rotation this spring. He flipped his commitment from West Virginia near the 2012 Signing Day.

The roster also shows the addition of two spring walk-ons: Freshman offensive lineman Alec Anderson from Millenium High School, and sophomore cornerback Joel Redmon from De La Salle High in Concord, Calif.

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Jowyn Ward now has to worry about protecting quarterbacks, not tackling them. Photo by Chris Morrison-US PRESSWIRE

An Arizona player wearing No. 55 came in for offense during the second quarter Saturday night. That was curious. There has not been a No. 55 on the roster.

Turns out, the new guy is an old guy.

No. 55 for the Wildcats is senior Jowyn Ward, a defensive tackle who has been practicing at offensive guard for all of about two weeks.

“I wish I would have moved him in the spring,” coach Rich Rodriguez said after a 56-0 victory over South Carolina State.

“I think he would have been in the mix. But at the time we were still looking for guys defensively. He’s clearly a second-team guard. He got a lot of reps today.”

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You can imagine how Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez — the man who says “the huddle is the biggest waste of time” in football — feels about players not moving fast enough at practice.

His whole philosophy is based on speed, pace, tempo, whether that’s running plays, attacking on defense … or simply getting back to the sideline during practice.

You don’t walk on and off the field. You don’t jog. You sprint from one drill to the next, from one play to the next, from one coach to the next.

Redshirt freshman outside linebacker Dame Ndiaye found out Monday in the first spring practice of the Rodriguez era.

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