Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Tucson Citizen: UA Football: Breakout Star

Sabino product Brad Wood has 4 TDs in 3 games as a UA tight end this season.

ANTHONY GIMINO

Tucson Citizen

UA tight end Brad Wood scores a touchdown against Northern Arizona on Sept. 11.   Anyone sitting in Section 207 of Arizona Stadium this season likely has heard multiple shouts of "That's my boy!"  The man making those cries of joy, Scott Wood, has been a UA season-ticket holder off and on for almost 20 years, and he used to take his pre-kindergarten son Brad to games. Brad is still coming to games, too, but he is far away from the east side upper deck of Arizona Stadium. The junior is a tight end for the Wildcats, the team's breakout star during the non-conference season. "That's my boy!" "Seeing him on the field, in that uniform, it's an awesome feeling," said Scott Wood, who owns a commercial printing business. "It's almost shocking, really." "Shocking" might be too strong a word to describe Brad Wood's play this season, but "surprising" certainly will do. Dear ol' Dad has helped elevate Wood's popularity - and perhaps production - with a sign that hangs from the upper-deck facade: "Build This House With Wood." "It was just something to give him a little bit of support, to let him know he has family and friends who are pulling for him," Scott said. Said Brad, "It gives me encouragement to work hard." Hard work has paid off with 12 receptions for 180 yards and four touchdowns this season. Those three-game totals already exceed what Wood did as a sophomore.

"I didn't even have any," Wood said of his expectations for this season. "You try to work hard and hope for the best." At 6 foot 2 and 228 pounds, Wood isn't a classic-sized tight end, but coaches move him around to get matchups against linebackers, who aren't necessarily used to covering a player who has the skills of a wide receiver.  With UA's leading wideouts being 5-8 Mike Thomas and 5-9 Syndric Steptoe, Wood essentially is filling the big-receiver role expected to fall to junior college transfer B.J. Vickers, who never played a down at Arizona because of problems with his JC transcripts. "(Wood) has a knack for making plays and getting open and running good routes," UA coach Mike Stoops said. "He has great hands." His blocking skills have come the furthest in a short time, and he said he was in for 68 plays against NAU, requiring plenty of blocking for running back Mike Bell and others. "There is no favoritism when it comes to run blocking or running routes," Wood said. "If all I'm going to do is run-block ... as long as the team wins, I don't care." Wood, who was only moderately recruited out of Sabino High School, said that four-year schools that were interested always decided to take a junior college recruit instead. Arizona, then coached by John Mackovic, declined to offer a scholarship.

 

 

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