This season wouldn’t have been possible without the play and leadership of Matt Scott. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Soon after Arizona hired Rich Rodriguez, the seniors-to-be filed into his new office, one-by-one, to hear the same message.

Center Kyle Quinn remembers Rodriguez saying something like this:

“This is your team. It’s the seniors’ team. I may not have recruited you guys, and this is your last year, but I want you guys to have the best senior year possible. You’re my guys.”

This is always the worry with a coaching change — the tenuous relationship between the new coach and the old players. The guy with the long-term plan doesn’t always have use for the short-timers. The short-timers tune out the guy with the long-term plan.

“We really bought into his philosophy and his mindset,” Quinn said.

“We were eager to change,” said senior defensive lineman Chris Merrill. “We knew we had to buy in for change to be implemented.”

“It started with us,” added senior fullback/defensive end Taimi Tutogi. “We talked to the guys and said, ‘Look at this guy’s record; he’s done a lot of good things at previous schools.’ The guys followed their leaders.”

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Kyle Dugandzic

Arizona senior punter Kyle Dugandzic, who was a bright spot Saturday night amid woes elsewhere on special teams, earned Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors Monday.

He punted five times for an average of 46.8 yards, with four landed inside the 20, against Oregon State.

Dugandzic said he was somewhat surprised by the honor, adding, “I take it with a grain of salt because it came in a loss.”

One of his punts was a 70-yarder that rolled to a stop at the Oregon State 5. He hit that punt rugby-style, taking a few steps to his right before booting the ball on a line.

The rugby punts are something Dugandzic didn’t do last season, but first-year coach Rich Rodriguez has called for those as a change-up to the traditional punts.

“Either way is fine,” Dugandzic said. “I prefer to just do a normal punt, because that way I can get it up in the air and have a fair catch. But if asks me to rugby kick, I’ll do that also.”

Dugandzic is averaging 44.89 yards per attempt, which ranks third in the Pac-12 and 18th in the NCAA.

Elsewhere on special teams, Arizona ranks 81th nationally in punt returns (6.33 yards per attempt), 70th in punt return defense (allowing 7.83 yards per return) and 113th in kick returns (15.91 yards per attempt).

Kicker John Bonano has missed field goals from 24, 25, 25, 31 and 41 yards.

Alex Zendejas will get one more chance to get everything straightened out. Photo by Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats coach Mike Stoops said Monday that senior place-kicker Alex Zendejas is going to get his job back — at least for this week’s game against Oregon.

And Zendejas talked after Monday’s practice, talking about how he is “grateful and blessed” to be given a second chance.

“That’s all you can ask for sometimes — just another chance to get out there,” Zendejas said.

“I’ve continued to work just to get another chance. I’ve continued to prepare like I was going to play. I haven’t taken a day off.”

As far as redemption stories goes, this could be a doozy.

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Ka'Deem Carey will wear No. 25 at Arizona, just like he did at CDO. Photo by Deirdre Hamill/The Arizona Republic

Arizona football newcomers report to camp Tuesday morning, so get ready to see a bunch of pictures of some guys you have never seen before trying on helmets.

Coach Mike Stoops typically keeps his newcomers off limits through the first week or so of camp, so don’t expect any riveting interviews Tuesday — just those photos of newbies trying on their equipment.

That doesn’t stop us from looking ahead.

This most recent recruiting class received barely modest reviews — ranked eighth in the Pac-12 by Rivals.com, and last in the league by Scout.com (OK, so that’s a lousy review) — but there is ample opportunity for newcomers to make an immediate impact.

Later, we will have to do a list of “Top redshirts to watch” — such as WR Dan Buckner and left tackle Mickey Baucus — but for now, here are six first-year players to watch.

Arizona will hold its first practice Thursday morning.

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Alex Zendejas will have to be show more consistency in fall camp. Photo by David Kadlubowski, The Arizona Republic

Here is the 10th 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: Special teams.

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Junior college transfer Kyle Dugandzic punts during Arizona's scirmmage on April 2.
Photo by David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic

We caught up recently with Arizona Wildcats defensive ends/special teams coach Jeff Hammeschmidt after a recent practice to see how spring practice is going from his perspective.

Some of the good news is that Hammerschmidt has an emerging senior end in C.J. Parish to help replace Brooks Reed, Ricky Elmore and D’Aundre Reed.

But defensive end is one of the least experienced positions on the team, and Hammer is also trying to improve the kicking game. (We’re hoping to have an update on kicker Alex Zendejas later in the week.)

Until then, here are five questions for Hammer from me and Brad Allis of WildcatSportsReport.com — and one of the bloggers with the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network:

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