Going into Friday night’s game against UTEP, the Arizona Wildcats were the heavy favorites, and they didn’t disappoint.

Let’s take a look at the Wildcats who stood out in Arizona’s 63-16 shellacking of the Miners.

Offense: Brandon Dawkins, QB

Game Stats: 18-for-21, 155 yds, 3 TD, 0 INT; 14 car, 144 yds, 3 TD

Well, Dawkins had himself quite the night. He looked better and more composed. He had some nice passes down the seam to Tyrell Johnson and Shun Brown. It may have been UTEP, but Dawkins did what any good quarterback does and that’s take what the defense gave him and was successful at it.

Arizona can have a dangerous offense if Dawkins can replicate what he did Friday.

Defense: Jace Whittaker (CB) and Colin Schooler (LB)

Game Stats: 5 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 3 PBU and 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 forced fumble

This was a tough call so I’ll go for a tie.

We’ll start with Whittaker. He was caught out of place a couple of times, but not enough to hurt himself or the team. He came out swinging early in the night coming up with an assisted tackle for loss. Whittaker also played solid man coverage in the red zone, knocking away two straight pass attempts.

Moving on to Schooler. The young freshman had himself a great performance in only his third career college game. He came up with a forced fumble that was recovered by Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles. Schooler also showed great patience when UTEP quarterback Zack Greenlee floated a pass which landed right into his hands (Schooler then returned it inside the 5-yard line).

Schooler was aggressive yet smart and we’re beginning to see his maturation as each week goes by.

Special Teams: Shun Brown, WR/PR

Game Stats: 3 rec, 42 yds, 1 TD; 2 ret, 62 yds, 1 TD

If you want to know why Brown got the nod here, take a look at this.

Honorable Mention

Bryce Wolma, TE: 6 rec, 41 yds, 1 TD

Josh Brown, LB: 2 QB hurries (first action of the year)

Tony Fields II, LB: 4 tackles, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL