Arizona football training camp: Offense on full display as Jayden de Laura has 'best day' at practice

Thursday’s training camp practice for Arizona football showed what its offense could potentially look like this season.

UA quarterback Jayden de Laura had his best passing day at camp, making big throws down the field to connect with his many weapons.

“He had his best day, best command at the line of scrimmage, no silly pre-snap issues, anything like that he took care of the ball really well,” UA quarterback coach Jimmie Dougherty said of De Laura. "He got the ball down the field, some big plays and things like that. Making great decisions was the biggest thing for us. He was very decisive with the football today. So, we were really happy with it.”

Doughtery is seeing an improvement from his quarterback room from year one to now, seeing them make better decisions and knowing what the down in distance is.

“You got to know all those things and how it correlates to the concept we have called and how it fits in their job.” Doughtery said, “And again, it all ties in, being in year two and I think they understand it and are doing a great job with it.”

A wide-receiver who has stood out in camp and connected on a big play with de Laura was redshirt freshman AJ Jones.

“AJ’s had a couple really good days,” Doughtery said. “I’ve been really proud and happy to see him playing with some confidence. He’s always had the talent and for a young player, especially a receiver to start to have that confidence, it’s so big. You don’t see the mental errors and things like that. He's playing so well and confident right now and that’s why you’re seeing him catching the ball better. He’s making some plays, he’s showing up right now for us no question.”

Another playmaker for UA, Tetairoa McMillan is coming into his sophomore season left off the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award. Doughtery is surprised that his name was kept off the list.

“We’re gonna put him in position to make plays,” Doughtery said. “There’s no doubt about it. He’s coming out here doing the work every single day, but the preseason is the preseason, obviously, we want to make sure at the end of the year, he’s on that list, if not winning those awards.”