Gonzales, Wade, Salave’a Review Win Ahead of Kansas Game

The Wildcats' "24-hour" window is up and now they will be turning their attention towards facing the Kansas Jayhawks this Saturday in what will be an electric homecoming match. Kansas is looking to spoil the event for Arizona, so they will make sure that they are more than prepared to dismantle the Jayhawks.

Defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, defensive line coach Joe Salave'a, and wide receiver coach Bobby Wade took to the podium to answer questions from the media and discuss everything from their players' huge performances to facing a new opponent. Here are five interesting statements he made.

Gonzales on Genesis Smith's lone mistake of the game

"If you go back on YouTube and watch the clip, it's really elite communication by them because it was an illegal formation is what the penalty was called. They had two guys on the line of scrimmage when they shift the tight end. You see, Boog tells Dalton 'ineligible, ineligible,' meaning if the number two receiver runs downfield, it's a running play. They can't throw it downfield. It's illegal. So you see Stukes pointed it out, you see Dalt pointed out."

"So Gen's coming downhill on the running play when he started to come downhill and they throw it over the top. Well, Gen's chasing it from behind because it's a natural play. But those guys did a great job of identifying that they can't throw the ball downfield. It's illegal."

"So Colorado had made a mistake on that play right there. So I thought that stuff's elite. I mean we're 15th in the country in total defense. But if you look at the real number of yards per play, we're eighth in the country in yards per play out of 537 plays at uh 4.37 yards. Like that's elite."

Salave'a on Leroy Palu

"He's the one that we thought showed tremendous toughness, not flashy,but he's been reliable, steady. We look at the film every time we're grading it's he keeps showing up and he's starting to gain confidence in understanding concepts and that's the biggest thing, the ability of other guys to be able to grasp the concept."

"Now it's allowed coach Danny to open up the plethora of the things that he's accustomed to and so now we just need to make sure that we're detailing but he started for us last week and he's going to continue to gain momentum and and we're excited."

Wade on Gio Richardson's growth

"Just consistent work ethic. I think it's important to understand he is a true freshman. There's going to be mistakes made. Opportunities, you want him to make those and he wants to make those and sometimes he doesn't come down with those and it happens that way. So, you just comeback to work."

"But Gio's been great about bringing the same energy, being consistent every single day, putting the work in the classroom, being able to take the learning from the room and applying it onto the football field and as fast as he can go is as much as he'll play. And so that's why you're seeing him get more opportunities now."

Salave'a on Kansas' offense

"Coach (Lance) Leipold, man, he's done it at Buffalo. Uh he's a proven winner. You look at the film and the coaching really speaks out. Those guys are well coached. You got a quarterback Jalon, he's a dynamic one."

"He's probably one of the biggest challenges that we have to face because he's got a a cannon of an arm but also dynamic enough to to get out of there with his feet. The biggest thing for us is how can we minimize uh his opportunities cause he's going to get his. But it starts up front. We have to be sound in what we do. They got a big line there with Bryce (Foster) at the center."

Wade on Luke Wysong's development as a punt returner

"Luke is the ultimate team player, just his patience and waiting for his opportunity to get back there. He knew he's been capable to be able to do that. We just kind of shuffling around a couple guys prior to him."

"So, him just being patient, being consistent, showing up every day and waiting for his opportunity and obviously, you see his ability when he has the ball in his hand. He's very consistent. He works at it. He wants to make the right decisions back there. So, I'm just really excited that he gets that chance to be able to show that skill set back there."