Notes and takeaways from the Arizona Wildcats鈥 media availability after practice Thursday as the team continued bye-week workouts:
* UA coach Rich Rodriguez said he鈥檚 鈥渉opeful鈥 that defensive tackle Parker Zellers (ankle) and 鈥淪tud鈥 DeAndre鈥 Miller (foot) will return for the Colorado game. Both were limited practice participants this week 鈥渂y design,鈥 Rodriguez said. Miller has yet to play this season. Zellers has missed the past two games but was available for emergency duty last week vs. Utah.
*聽Rodriguez talked extensively about recruiting today. All nine Arizona assistant coaches are hitting the trail this weekend. Destinations include Los Angeles (defensive coordinator Marcel Yates), Phoenix and Northern California (both defensive line coach Vince Amey).
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*聽Rodriguez thinks 70 percent of players nationwide will sign during the new early period (Dec. 20-22). That would alter the dynamic of college football recruiting in a major way.
*聽Rodriguez said the Wildcats will have a smaller class this year because last year's was so big. Arizona has 11 commits at the moment.
*聽The biggest priority the rest of the way in the 2018 signing class: offensive and defensive linemen.
*聽Arizona did land transfer Thiyo Lukusa, an offensive tackle, from Michigan State just before this season. "He鈥檚 going to be good,鈥 said Amey, whose players regularly battle Lukusa in practice. 鈥淚 wish he was playing for us now. He鈥檚 legit.鈥
*聽Amey smiled when asked about defensive tackle Finton Connolly (2.5 TFLs). He said Connolly has matured a great deal. He鈥檚 now able to get past and bounce back from mistakes.
*聽Rodriguez said Arizona turned in more plays than usual to the Pac-12 for review after Utah game. The league agreed with the UA on some calls, not others.
*聽Rodriguez said he was disappointed in the intensity of Wednesday practice. Thursday鈥檚 was better, even though the team didn鈥檛 work in full pads.
*聽Arizona didn't end up doing as much live scrimmaging with young players as Rodriguez had planned because so many of them are part of the first and second units.
*聽Rodriguez plans to watch the Colorado-UCLA on Saturday night; the Buffaloes and Bruins are the Wildcats鈥 next two opponents. He says he takes notes (mental or written) whenever he gets the chance to watch college football.
