Arizona football training camp: Offensive line competition and Jordan Morgan update

There are over 25 players on Arizona's preseason roster that weigh more than 300 pounds, and 12 of those are listed on the offensive line.

“The size is great, but I feel like we’re more athletic than we were, and have been in the past, and it’s starting to show up a little bit,” offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll said. “We have a long way to go with that. But you know, being big and athletic is usually a good thing at the o-line.”

Part of the 300-pound club is left tackle Jordan Morgan, who is still recovering from a knee surgery from a non-contact play which happened back in November at UCLA. He is on his way back to potentially being ready for the season opener against NAU.

“He’s in the progression back to get back to full speed. He’s done everything we’ve asked,” Carroll said. “He’s way ahead of schedule that he wanted to get to. But he’s right on schedule for where we want. Which is progressing through camp and should be full speed in a couple weeks.”

There is still competition going on to see who will end up starting at some of the positions at the offensive line.

“There are some talented kids over there, they’re young, so they have to get their communication down,” Carroll said. "There’s still a lot of competition around. So there’s all these guys pressing for multiple spots. And it’s exciting that we have a bunch of competition this year. We have guys that are ready to play, we are as deep as we have ever been and we just have to keep bringing those young guys along.”

One of the young guys that has impressed Carroll has been true freshman Raymond Pulido out of Apple Valley High School in California.

“He’s done great, he’s young, he’s a true freshman," Carroll said. "He didn’t have the spring like Big Jonah (Savaiinaea) had last year. So he’s got a lot of catching up to do. But the movement is there, the strength is there, and the world desire to learn, so just keep pressing on him.”

So far in camp Pulido has had two days playing guard and three days playing tackle, showing his versatility on the line and giving coaches something to think about.

“So, press through for another week or so and kind of find out the best alignment for him,” Carroll said. “He’ll have a future somewhere in both spots where it’s going to be this year, we are still working on that.”