Arizona's Jedd Fisch offers injury updates on several Wildcats ahead of Washington
Arizona defensive lineman Tia Savea will likely miss another game with an ankle injury, coach Jedd Fisch revealed on Thursday.
Savea didn’t play last weekend against Oregon with an injury. He’s listed on the participation report provided by the program, but Fisch said he did not get into the game. Fisch said he was hopeful they’d have him for the Oregon game, but at this point he’d be “surprised” if Savea saw the field against Washington.
Another transfer the Wildcats added this offseason, Savea is a big body up front along the defensive line at 6-foot-4. Fisch said this matchup with Washington will need to see the Wildcats be effective with their pass rush.
Elsewhere on the injury front, tailback Michael Wiley sounds like he’ll be more of an emergency option.
Wiley exited Saturday’s loss to Oregon at halftime with what the team called an abdominal/oblique injury. He finished with just six carries for 10 yards. Fisch said on Monday the Wildcats were hopeful to have him back for Saturday’s game, but after going through the week of practice, Fisch says they plan to start someone else.
“I think Mike will be maybe ready if called upon, but I don’t think he’s necessarily in a spot where we’re gonna start him,” Fisch said.
As such, freshman Jonah Coleman will handle the lead role for the game. Coleman has 217 yards and two scores on 45 carries so far this season.
Fisch says DJ Warnell will start at the Star DB position for Arizona, taking over for Gunner Maldonado, who had started the first six games.
“He’s really embraced this opportunity,” Fisch said of Warnell, a UCLA transfer. “Really started working his way up through special teams. If you look at where his initial impact came, it was his production on special teams. He kept making tackles, had great effort on kickoff and punt coverage, and now he’s beginning to show up there on the defensive side as well.”
The Wildcats travel to Seattle for a matchup with Washington on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 Network.