It was expected that the Arizona Wildcats' offense would lead the way in the 2012 spring game, but the scrimmage didn't begin as planned. It took the Wildcats five possessions to score a point as three turnovers and penalties cost Rich Rodriguez's offense early on.
After that, it was back to what we expected.
A defense held down by Adam Hall and Jake Fischer's returns from ACL injuries struggled as quarterback Matt Scott -- and the other offensive crews -- got hot as the scrimmage wore on. After fumbles by Ka'Deem Carey an Taimi Tutogi, and interception by Marquis Flowers on back-up QB Richard Morrison, then a couple of bad snaps, first-year coach Rich Rodriguez had enough.
[RELATED: My live blog of the spring game]
He slammed his headset onto the Kino Stadium turn in front of an approximated 4,800 fans, and that was it. From that point forth, the offense moved steadily. Scott went 22-of-35 passing for 315 yards, including several threadings of the needle for touchdowns to receiver Tyler Slavin (three touchdowns on the day), and the offense racked up 597 yards and 10 scores on the day.
In general, this is what we saw from the offense -- open receivers for short routes and enough running room for the smaller backs to get a couple yards through holes and the larger backs to push through for positive yardage. Many quick passes to the outside opened up the middle, where the UA quarterbacks found receivers frequently, especially as the afternoon wore on.
Only a couple times did the quarterbacks look to throw it deep and test the safeties against post routes, but it's both too early and not in the Wildcats' M.O. to expect to see much of that anyway.
From a defensive perspective, the expectations that the depth isn't there is a fair one. The cornerback position is especially weak, as Connor Sohns an Douglas Samuels ran with the first team when Shaquille Richardson wasn't in.
The defense, again, was weak at the second level across the middle, but it did handle itself fairly well clogging up the interior to avoid any huge bursts. Daniel Jenkins and Taimi Tutogi each had runs over 25 yards, but otherwise, the push of the defensive tackles and middle linebackers appeared to put pressure on the quarterbacks. While Fischer and Hall both looked aggressive per their old selves, there just might be too many holes elsewhere to expect the defense to be much of a strength entering next season.
In the end, the day began sloppy and ended with what you'd have guessed.
Positions of strength: Quarterback, running back and ...
Kickers -- seriously, John Bonano and Youngstown State transfer Jake Smith looked, at the very least, solid and consistent.
Positions of weakness: Wide receiver (depth), cornerback, linebacker
Up for debate: Offensive and defensive lines