"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

What players to watch in Saturday’s game at Arizona Stadium

The talent rundown for the game according to NFLDraftScout.com. NOTE: Players are ranked by their position in each class. For example, Devin Ross is the 12th-rated cornerback among seniors. The *-asterisk denotes player projected to be drafted in first three rounds:

ARIZONA SENIORS			WSU SENIORS
No. 12 Devin Ross*, CB, 5-10, 176			No. 7 Kenny Alfred, C, 6-2, 300
No. 14 Chris Gronkowski, FB, 6-2, 235			No. 45 Andy Mattingly, OLB, 6-3, 255
No. 15 Earl Mitchell, DT, 6-2, 295			No. 48 Kevin Kooyman, DE, 6-5, 246
No. 26 Cam Nelson, SS, 6-1, 202			No. 64 Dwight Tardy, RB, 5-10, 208
No. 51 Terrell Turner, WR, 6-2, 190			No. 69 Tony Thompson, FB, 6-2, 241
ARIZONA JUNIORS			WSU JUNIORS
No. 4 Keenyn Crier, P, 6-1, 200			No. 22 Chima Nwachukwu, FS, 5-11, 201
No. 5 Colin Baxter*, C, 6-4, 295			No. 27 Reid Forrest, P, 6-0, 193
No. 9 A.J. Simmons, TE, 6-3, 255			No. 28 Micah Hannam, OT, 6-4, 285
No. 13 Brooks Reed, DE, 6-3, 255			No. 57 Andrew Roxas, C, 6-2, 306
No. 20 Nic Grigsby, RB, 5-10, 190			No. 61 Bernard Wolfgramm, DT, 6-3, 288
ARIZONA SOPHOMORES			WSU SOPHOMORES
No. 6 Robert Golden, FS, 5-11, 190			No. 27 Steven Ayers, OT, 6-4, 315
No. 11 Alex Zendejas, PK, 5-11, 190			No. 39 Alex Hoffman-Ellis, ILB, 6-1, 236
No. 13 Matt Scott, QB, 6-3, 190			No. 41 Eric Block, FS, 6-0, 196
No. 25 Nick Foles, QB, 6-5, 235			No. 46 Kevin Freitag, OG, 6-3, 302
No. 36 Trevin Wade, CB, 5-11, 182			No. 49 Marshall Lobbestael, QB, 6-3, 206
ARIZONA FRESHMEN			WSU FRESHMEN
No. 6 Adam Hall, FS, 6-4, 205			No. 19 Jeff Tuel, QB, 6-2, 208
No. 15 Trevor Erno, ILB, 6-1, 230			No. 28 Jamal Atofau, FS, 5-10, 185
No. 16 Solomon Koehler, OG, 6-3, 335			No. 37 Travis Long, DE, 6-4, 247
No. 23 Chris Merrill, DT, 6-2, 285			No. 50 Darren Markle, ILB, 6-1, 224
No. 31 Terrence Miller, TE, 6-4, 224			No. 56 Nolan Washington, CB, 5-10, 168

INITIAL OBSERVATIONS

Nick Foles

The NFLDraftScout.com rankings of some positions will not be updated until the end of the season — hence Nick Foles‘ continued No. 25 rating among sophomore quarterbacks compared to No. 13 of Matt Scott. Foles has recovered from the flu, and should be 100 percent when the game starts. UA offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes offered this analysis of Foles to Rivals.com this week: “He’s a guy who doesn’t get rattled easily. He has an ability to make plays in pretty key situations. He does a great job on third down. He seems to find a way to get it done. The team’s really responded well to him. He’s played with more confidence and leadership than I thought he was going to be able to. He hadn’t gotten to start early (in the season) and just hadn’t played that much. Usually those guys have a little more of a feeling-out process, but he’s just taken the reins and run with them.”

UA FACES ANOTHER FRESHMAN QB

Jeff Tuel

For the third consecutive game, the Wildcats will play against a freshman quarterback. The UA has defended against Stanford’s Andrew Luck and UCLA’s Kevin Prince in the recent homestand and now must face Jeff Tuel of Washington State. Later in the season, the Cats will also probably face freshmen quarterbacks Brock Osweiler of ASU and Eric Barkley of USC. Barkley and Luck hold the top two spots among freshman quarterback prospects in the nation. Prince is No. 6, Osweiler No. 7 and Tuel No. 19. If these five freshmen remain in the league until their senior year of 2013, it will rival the most recent best class in the Pac-10: 2001. In that class was Oregon’s Joey Harrington, USC’s Carson Palmer, Cal’s Kyle Boller, and Washington State’s Jason Gesser.

THE CENTER OF ATTENTION

Kenny Alfred

Typical of a down season: The Cougars’ top prospect is a center, according to NFLDraftScout.com. He is senior Kenny Alfred, who is rated the No. 7 center in his class. “Kenny’s our bell cow up front,” WSU offensive line coach Harold Etheridge told the Spokane Spokesman-Review earlier this season of Alfred, a three-year starter who is on the watch list for the Rimington Award, which honors the nation’s best center. “It’s a term I’m not necessarily used to,” said Alfred, laughing off bell cow moniker. “It’s more of an out-of-the-Pacific Northwest term.” According to the Spokesman-Review report, “Alfred, from Gig Harbor, Wash., is all Pacific Northwest, from his lumberjack-like features including the shaggy beard to his intellect, which is straight from Seattle’s coffee houses. What really rings the eclectic English major’s bell is discussing the relative merits of novels, or music, or, thankfully for Cougar fans, the satisfaction of knocking a big ol’ defensive lineman back a few yards.” By the way, the role of a bell cow is that of the leader in a dairy herd.

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