Wildcats Counting on Salgado-Medina Having Bounce Back Season

Special Teams Struggles Last Season

Sophomore kicker Michael Salgado-Medina had the tall task of replacing Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop. Loop made a total of 67 field goals in four seasons at Arizona and combined for a percentage of 83.8% for his career.

Salgado-Medina fell short of picking up where Loop left off. He struggled last season, going 19-31 on field goals, equaling a 61.3% kicking percentage. The good news is that it was just his first year being the starting kicker, and he has had another year to grow and improve under Naivar.

Salgado-Medina Improving Through Spring

Naivar took time during spring ball to talk about some goals he wants to see Salgado-Medina improve on and strive for this offseason.

“To build consistency in his kicking… comes from trusting the snapper, the holder, the whole process. He's responded really well, and we’re seeing good things from him right now,” Naivar said.

Naivar Talks Long Snapper Battle

As well as bringing back Salgado-Medina, the Wildcats brought back long snapper Broden Molen. They also added Drew Nicolson to compete with Molen for the starting long snapper job. Naivar spoke about how the position battle is going between the two.

“Broden is having a tremendous spring; he has really stacked days from what he did in the fall. Drew Nicolson has come in as a deep snapper as well; those guys have a tremendous battle going. We have two excellent deep snappers, taking care of their business.”

Two New Punters

The Wildcats have brought in two punters for this upcoming season, Carter Schwartz and Chase Ridley. Here are Naivar’s thoughts on the two additions to the Wildcats special teams unit.

“Chase Ridley and Carter Schwartz have come in as punters; that battle has been a pretty battle, those guys are feeding off each other, working hard, and competing against each other.”