Nick Foles was 6-for-6 on the drive that got Arizona back in the game in the fourth quarter at Arizona State. Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

There was 12:25 left in the game. Arizona trailed Arizona State 27-17. The Wildcats, after an illegal block penalty on the kick return, were pushed back to their 6-yard-line, pushed to the brink.

Time was running out at Sun Devil Stadium. Arizona had scored only once in its past eight possessions. The last chance to feel something good about the season was slipping away.

“Maybe in some other games during the course of the season, if we were down 10 at his point in the game, I’m not sure we believed we could win the game,” said UA quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo. “We still believed we could win the game here.”

But it was now or ever.

A short drive, or a three-and-out, likely would set up ASU on a short field, potentially in position for a game-clinching score. The Cats had to hit the accelerator.

“Arizona State had a bead on us pretty good,” Scelfo said.

“We wanted to increase the tempo and kind of take them out of their comfort zone. Probably should have done it earlier, but that’s hindsight.”

What followed was a 94-yard drive in which Arizona played fast, quarterback Nick Foles was accurate and decisive, and receiver Gino Crump made one spectacular play.

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Now that Greg Byrne (left) has hired Rich Rodriguez, the new coach has to hire his assistant coaches. Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

Arizona Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez said he would like to hire a few assistant coaches quickly — meaning in the next couple of weeks after teams end their regular season.

“Then I will be more deliberate than I have been in my career in hiring the rest,” he said Tuesday at his introductory news conference.

“It might be up to a month before I complete the staff.”

As it typical in these situations, Rodriguez is expected to bring in assistants who worked for him previously, either at Michigan or West Virginia or both. Mountaineers’ defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel is presumed to be a target.

Rodriguez will be careful to not overload his staff with only guys he has hired before. He and those assistants have recruited some in Arizona, Texas and California — the recruiting bases for the Wildcats — but Rodriguez acknowledges the need for stronger and more immediate ties to those areas.

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Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo with Nick Foles in the spring. Photo by Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo sat down the media Monday as part of the team’s weekly news conference, talking about a variety of subjects.

Scelfo is in his second season Arizona, coming to Tucson from Louisiana Tech, where he got an up-close look in WAC play at Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore. That helps give some background to his comments about Moore below.

As for his quarterback, senior Nick Foles, Scelfo says that he is especially excelling this season in the intangible parts of the game. Foles has completed 71 of 93 passes (76.3 percent) for 810 yards and six touchdowns, with no interceptions, through two games.

“People really need to appreciate what they got right now, because they’re not going to have him much longer,” Scelfo said.

Here are some of the highlights from Scelfo’s sit-down with the local media:

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Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo with Nick Foles in the spring. Photo by Michael Chow/The Arizona Republic

Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo didn’t wait for the question to be finished.

“When spread-offense quarterbacks are done in college …” I began.

” … they don’t translate to the NFL,” Scelfo concluded.

That’s the long-term question about the Wildcats’ Nick Foles as he enters his senior season with wide-ranging projections about his pro prospects.

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Nick Foles, seen here in spring, should show more athleticism this season. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops says, perhaps exaggerating only slightly, that if his offense has to pass 60 times a game, it will.

For sure, quarterback Nick Foles is going to need a lot of energy.

And he has more of it than ever before.

One of the changes in Foles this season is that while he is still around 245 pounds, he is noticeably leaner, the result of dietary changes that came after he was tested for food allergies. He read about the subject and decided to get tested.

The discovery: He had to say adios to three staples of his diet: whey protein (which he would take after workouts), milk and eggs. Oh, is that all?

His body’s reaction to those foods causes slight swelling and general sluggishness.

“My biggest allergy was whey protein,” he said. “It wasn’t doing anything for me, and it was actually making me have a food-allergy reaction.

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Tom Savage's size and skill-set are similar to those of Nick Foles, according to UA coaches.
Photo by Jim O'Connor-US PRESSWIRE

One of the things that sold the Arizona Wildcats coaching staff on Rutgers transfer quarterback Tom Savage was an endorsement from his former coach, Greg Schiano.

That might come as a surprise because Schiano made headlines when he granted Savage only a partial release from his scholarship, originally barring the quarterback from contacting certain schools, including Florida and Miami.

Schiano later lifted the restrictions after further discussions with Savage, telling the Newark Star-Ledger that “the quality young man that he is” played a role in changing his mind.

“I talked to Coach Schiano at Rutgers, and he had nothing but great things to say about him,” Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo said after the university announced Thursday that Savage had signed a financial aid agreement with UA.

“That speaks volumes when the coach speaks good things about you.”

That gave the Arizona coaches an insight to Savage’s character. What Scelfo sees on film is a 6-5 quarterback who is similar to Wildcats senior Nick Foles, a former transfer from Michigan State.

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Scelfo

Note: This wraps up our conversation last week with Arizona quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo. See links at bottom of post for more on the Wildcats quarterbacks.

Arizona’s 2012 quarterback plans are up in the air.

The Wildcats could have senior Matt Scott — if all goes well and he is able to redshirt behind Nick Foles this season.

And the Wildcats could have Rutgers transfer quarterback Tom Savage, who, as of Wednesday, is on a recruiting visit to Arizona.

Or they could have neither.

In the meantime, true freshman quarterback Daxx Garman, who enrolled at the semester break, can prepare for the future without the urgency of getting ready to play right away.

How can Arizona help him before spring practice begins?

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Nick Foles is rated the fifth-best senior quarterback prospect by NFLDraftScout.com.
Photo by Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE.

The buzzword for Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles last spring was “footwork.” This spring, let’s try “recognition.”

“What we have to do is quicken his recognition skills,” said quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo. “We really have to spend a lot of time on anticipation, on some throws, recognizing coverages, routes, guys that he’s throwing to …”

With that improved footwork — still needs to get better, said Scelfo, always coaching — Foles is coming off a junior season in which he finished 34th nationally in passing efficiency with a rating of 140.86. That was the fifth-best mark in school history.

He missed two games because of a dislocated kneecap and played a couple of games after that with less than complete mobility.

Scelfo, in his second season with the Wildcats, expects to see a smoother, more consistent effort from Foles.

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Will Matt Scott be doing things like this in 2011?
Photo by Kelvin Kuo-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops would like to redshirt senior quarterback Matt Scott in 2011. That works for Scott, who says he would like to sit out next season and become the starter in 2012.

It’s just not that easy.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” said quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo. “If I had the crystal ball, I could answer the question for you.”

Blair Willis of the Arizona sports information office said he got a couple of questions from media the other night, asking if he could confirm that Scott will redshirt in 2011. Yeah, well, it’s kind of impossible to say. Check back at the end of next season.

Arizona and Scott can try for a redshirt, but Scott can’t prepare that way. It’s just a plan — a tentative plan that could blow up at any time along the way if returning starter Nick Foles suffers a long-term injury.

Put it this way: Scott isn’t going to just sit around and work on the scout team.

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Nick Foles (left) is completing 75 percent of his passes, but third-stringer Byrson Beirne hasn't missed at all. Photo by Mark Evans, TucsonCitizen.com

The Arizona Wildcats are completing 74.13 percent of their passes this season. That’s not just good for a program that has been historically starved at quarterback. It’s good for anybody, anywhere, anytime.

In fact, if Nick Foles and Matt Scott — and maybe even third-stringer Bryson Beirne and anyone else throwing a pass off a trick play — can push that percentage a little higher, it would challenge an NCAA record.

That belongs to the 2008 Colt McCoy-led Texas team that completed 76.7 percent of its passes (343 of 447). Arizona’s current percentage would be the second-best figure ever.

Can we get an assistant coach of the year award for first-year quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo?

“I think Frank Scelfo has done a great job coaching these two guys,” Arizona head coach Mike Stoops said, referring to Foles and Scott. “Anytime you can complete over 75 percent of your throws … that’s not an accident.”

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