‘Online football’: Inside the Arizona Wildcats’ unforeseen transition to virtual spring practice

The Arizona football team is trying to conduct business as usual in the most unusual of circumstances.

The Wildcats held four spring practices, from March 2-6, before going on spring break. During that time, the coronavirus pandemic slammed the United States like a blitzing linebacker. All NCAA sporting events were canceled for the remainder of the school year. Arizona’s final 11 practices were wiped out.

With social distancing being strongly encouraged and the UA campus all but shut down, Kevin Sumlin’s program had to quickly and radically adjust its operations to continue preparing for a season that everyone hopes will begin on time. So, like other businesses across the globe, Sumlin and his staff adopted a new form of virtual reality.

“You have online classes, and you’ve got online football,” Sumlin said. “That’s how we’re doing it.”

Using Zoom video conferencing, the UA staff has “met” regularly. They discussed recruiting for more than an hour Thursday morning. Later in the day, position groups held meetings via laptops, tablets and smartphones.

“Life is going on, and we’re working,” Sumlin said. “It’s just a different way of doing things.”

Sumlin repeatedly emphasized the importance of communication in a half-hour phone interview with the Star. He and his fellow coaches have made a point to remain in constant contact with the players to keep them engaged in football, to make sure they stay on track academically and to ease their anxieties.

“There is no such thing as too much communication right now,” Sumlin said.

Athletic programs throughout the nation are trying to make the best of an unprecedented situation. Arizona’s coaches are continuing with playbook installations — via video instruction. Sumlin feels fortunate that the Wildcats were able to practice four times before the stoppage. Three Pac-12 schools — Colorado, Washington and Washington State — had yet to start. Arizona has a new defensive staff. Those three programs have new head coaches.

“We’re all new to this,” Sumlin said. “Nobody has a blueprint.”

Although the UA might be better prepared than others to handle this situation — for reasons we’ll explain later — Sumlin acknowledged that online football has its limits. There’s no substitute for on-field training in the ultimate team sport.

Quarterback Grant Gunnell, who returned home to Texas on Thursday, won’t be able to work with a full assortment of receivers until the pandemic subsides. For now, his receiving corps consists of fellow Houstonians Boobie Curry and Michael Wiley.

“There’s only so much you can do on the phone,” Sumlin said. “With social distancing, I can’t be like, ‘Hey, go throw with your boys.’”

At least Gunnell appeared in eight games as a freshman last season, and four-fifths of the offensive staff returned from 2019. The defense is another story and a challenge all its own.

Installation interrupted

The good news: Arizona got four practices in under new defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, whom Sumlin hired Dec. 20. Additionally, Rhoads works directly with the inside linebackers, and Tony Fields II and Colin Schooler are entering their senior seasons with a combined 70 starts. They seemed to be further along than most when Week 1 of spring concluded.

“I would say I’m a little bit ahead just because we have Coach Rhoads in our room,” Fields said after the Wildcats’ final spring practice on March 6. “He’s teaching us what every other person is doing.”

The bad news: Four practices aren’t nearly enough — and it isn’t as if every key defender participated in all four. Some were hurt. Some missed the final two sessions to participate in a study trip abroad. Some haven’t enrolled yet.

Additionally, new secondary coach Greg Burns hadn’t been hired by that first week. Burns replaced Demetrice Martin, who left for Colorado just before the start of spring practice. Arizona announced Burns’ arrival on March 16. He hasn’t physically arrived yet, working remotely from Southern California (not that that makes him unique at the moment).

Speaking to reporters on March 5, Rhoads said the defense was “a long ways” from being ready for the spring game, which was scheduled for April 4 — and that was under the assumption that Arizona would practice 11 more times. Schooler put it this way: “We’re miles away from where we need to be by the season. But we look good for spring ball.”

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Sumlin described the state of the defense as “still figuring out what we’re trying to do.” He is bullish on the new hires, though, and Rhoads came to Tucson with a definitive plan. His biggest point of emphasis was improving the Wildcats’ tackling, which would have been a challenging task under normal conditions given the constraints of modern-day football.

“Every meeting we have,” Fields said, “Coach Rhoads stresses tackling.”

Players can study film on their own. They can work out on their own. They can’t tackle themselves.

In lieu of actual practices, the players will strive to be as mentally sharp as possible. Rhoads’ teaching style should help in that regard.

“He’s making sure we get most of the play done pre-snap,” Fields said. “So once the snap is done, we play football.”

Uncertain future

Arizona is far from the only program trying to integrate new coaches and schemes without the benefit of on-field practice time. The UA is one of eight schools in the Pac-12 to have hired a new head coach or coordinator since last season. Some, such as WSU, have almost entirely new staffs.

Arizona State and Stanford got in the most practices (seven) in the conference before the pandemic hit. No one completed spring ball. In that sense, every team faces the same trials. But they won’t all handle them the same.

“It’s how you communicate with your players during this time,” Sumlin said. “It could be a competitive advantage — how you meet, how you talk.”

Or how you plan. Sumlin said he and his staff have formulated six contingencies for “when the light goes green.” They’re based on potential restart dates ranging from mid-April to late June.

“We’ve lost spring ball,” Sumlin said. “Are we gonna go to an OTA schedule like the NFL? Or is it like the old-school days, where dudes just show up in August and we get them in shape?”

Sumlin and his top lieutenant, Dennis Polian, the program’s chief of staff and associate athletic director for football, have experience dealing with unusual, stressful circumstances.

Sumlin was the head coach at Houston in 2008 when the program had to temporarily relocate to Dallas because of Hurricane Ike. Polian worked at Tulane in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“We’ve been through hurricanes, natural disasters,” Sumlin said. “I think our experiences in these situations are going to help us.”

What’s different about this one is social distancing. Sumlin’s Houston squad had to move, but at least the Cougars could remain together. Sumlin could sense after a recent full-squad Zoom meeting that the Wildcats missed being around one another.

“That’s what a team is about,” he said.

Sumlin’s support staff has played a critical role in keeping the squad focused and organized during a tense time. Sumlin lauded the work of John Mosbach, an associate athletic director who heads up C.A.T.S. Academics. Brian DeSpain, Arizona’s director of football operations, also has stepped up during this unforeseen transition period.

Many questions remain unanswered, from when football will resume in 2020 to if it will at all. Sumlin is no different than anyone else in not knowing what the future holds. But he did offer up some reassuring words.

“We’re gonna make it,” he said.