Arizona Football: B.J. Denker talks Wildcats QB Battle

"You gotta just play your best," B.J. Denker opened. "You can't think about 'if I mess up on this play you're not going to play week 1'."

"If the young guys have questions, I'm more than happy to help them. We're one play away, backup's one play away from being the starter, so I want what's best for this team, so I'm not going to not help a young guy out. I'm not like that at all."

Denker is the only senior, and he talked about how his experience helps him over the other guys.

"I'm more experienced and I'm more confident, I know what we're doing....the more experience has definitely helped, I'm more comfortable, I know what I'm doing on the field, I know what the defense is doing and that helps a lot."

"I'm still fighting my way. No one knows who's going to play, who's going to start."

On what he thinks is the biggest asset to help him win this starting job: "My brain."

"I hope the coaches realize that I'm the smartest guy on the field. I don't want me to think that, I want them to think that. I know what I'm doing every single play. That's the big thing....knowing what to do with the ball."

"The things we don't practice is my ability to make plays when things break down. You can't simulate that in practice, that'll come in game time when I've won the job. Use my legs a little bit and extend the play."

"Maybe I'm a little bit more athletic. I like to think I'm pretty fast. Game speed's a little bit different than running a 40. If you see my 40 it might not jump off the screen, but if you've got a big guy chasing you, that helps you extend the play. But you can't really practice that right now because we're not really live."

"Hopefully the brain is the biggest part though."

Right now there's seven QBs taking reps. For the first twenty minutes on Tuesday, this was the order of snaps:

1. Denker
2. Jesse Scroggins
3. Nick Isham
4. Khari McGee
5. Javelle Allen
6. Anu Solomon
7. Connor Brewer

Honestly can't tell you why Anu has dropped from second to sixth. From what we saw on Tuesday, Denker was outplaying everyone, but Scroggins was still no contact and getting his feet underneath him.

"It's frustrating (splitting reps with seven guys) cuz I want to be on the field all the time and have as many reps as possible. It's frustrating, it doesn't make me mad, it's just I wish I was out there getting more reps."

"It makes your reps more valuable, so you get less chance, so you have to make more of your opportunities."

Denker also spent a lot of time talking about his new eating habits.

"I've gained 15 pounds in the last 13 weeks, and I've gained seven pounds in the last four days. Eating three meals a day helps. Bear Down Kitchen helps when they make you wake up, make you eat breakfast. I'm not a big breakfast guy...so here, three meals a day and a snack helps a lot."

Denker right now is at 187 pounds, and is targeting being between 190 and 195 when camp is over. He's listed at 173 on the roster.

"That'll be the heaviest I've ever been in my life."

"When I'm up there I spend about an hour and a half eating, cuz I have to force my self three plates at least. That's the worst feeling, I'm bloated 24 hours a day now. I hate eating but I have to do it."

"Eat until I'm full and eat a little more."

Hopefully for him, all this eating won't hurt his alleged ability to make plays in the open field when it comes time to prove that in scrimmages. But he seems in good spirits and happy with the situation that he's currently in.