Jake Fischer left last season's spring game on a cart. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

New Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez says much of his first spring with the Wildcats will be about evaluation, and he’ll withhold judgment — and a depth chart — until the end of spring ball.

That won’t stop him from being eager to see, among others, linebacker Jake Fischer.

Fischer, who was one of five UA players who sat out last season because of a torn ACL, is a “full-go” for the spring, Rodriguez said Thursday.

“He’s worked so hard,” Rodriguez said.

“Without question, Jake Fischer is going to be one of our leaders defensively. I can see why the coaching staff missed him so much last year. He’s an athletic guy who is a tough guy. He’s a football player. I’m sure that was a huge loss.”

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Sophomore Daniel Jenkins, seen here in the spring game, is a good bet for the No. 2 running back spot. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Arizona wore shoulder pads on Saturday for the first time in fall camp — it will be full pads on Monday — and the Wildcats held their most spirited practice of the first three days.

And by spirited, we mean there were fights.

They happened late in practice during 11-on-11 drills, and the first one started with some late pushing and shoving between offense and defense, with new offensive right tackle Jack Baucus in that mix.

Often, these things are broken up quickly but the scuffle grew from there, eventually with most of the Wildcats coming off the sidelines and several ending in a pile.

No one got hurt, so coach Mike Stoops wasn’t complaining.

“That tells me they’re competing, and that’s important,” he said.

“I think our toughness as a team needs to improve all the way through. In tough situations (last season), we didn’t respond as well as we needed to against elite teams. And that is something we will be tested in very quickly this season.”

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Jack Baucus was the first-string tight end entering fall camp. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Sophomore Jack Baucus, the projected starting tight end for the Arizona Wildcats, has been moved to offensive tackle.

“We want to strengthen our offensive line,” coach Mike Stoops said. “He’s 270 and has struggled to keep his weight down. Long term, I think that’s the best.

“That’s not an uncommon move for big tight ends. That’s a pretty natural move. His athleticism becomes a great strength, and he’ll be 285, 290 by the time the season rolls around. … I feel Jack is going to be an excellent player there.”

Baucus was the second-string tight end last season behind departed A.J. Simmons, with four catches for 22 yards.

The tight end position isn’t expected to play a major role in Arizona’s four-wide spread passing game, with 6-foot-4 slot receiver Terrence Miller having become a dangerous over-the-middle threat for the Wildcats.

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Jack Baucus was the first-string tight end in the spring. Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

Here is the sixth part of our Arizona Wildcats football preview in collaboration with our Gannett partner, The Arizona Republic.

We write the words, and they have taken the cool photographs and put it all together in a slick presentation at azcentral.com.

Check back here and at azcentral.com every Friday as we roll out more of our preview every week, all the way into August.

This week: The tight ends.

(I included the multiple Taimi Tutogi with this group instead of the running backs. Why? Well, because Arizona doesn’t have many true tight ends and Tutogi’s inclusion makes this section a bit longer.)

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Jake Fischer

Three Arizona Wildcats made the Pac-10 All-Academic football team, announced Tuesday morning.

They are starting sophomore linebacker Jake Fischer, who has a 3.42 grade-point average in pre-Business; starting senior safety Anthony Wilcox, who has a 3.05 GPA in Religious Studies, and junior placekicker John Bonano, who has a 3.90 GPA in Pre-Physiology. Bonano is the team’s kickoff specialist.

Two Wildcats earned second-team honors — redshirt sophomore linebacker R.J. Young (3.41 GPA, Journalism) and sophomore safety Adam Hall (3.12, Psychology).

Four Arizona players earned honorable mention honors: redshirt freshman tight end Jack Baucus; junior quarterback Nick Foles; junior receiver David Roberts; senior tight end A.J. Simmons.