Arizona football slated to finish third in Pac-12 South in preseason poll

The Arizona Wildcats enter the 2018 football season with a new head coach, and the expectation is that Kevin Sumlin’s team will compete right away.

In the Pac-12 preseason media poll released Wednesday, 42 voters who cover the conference picked the Wildcats (178 points) to finish third in the Pac-12 South. Three of those chose Arizona to win the division.

The media members selected the Wildcats to finish behind USC (225 points, 22 first-place votes) and Utah (209 points, 14 first-place votes).

The UCLA Bruins, under first-year coach Chip Kelly, were picked fourth (116 points, two first-place votes). Colorado (80 points, one first-place votes) and Arizona State (72 points) rounded out the Pac-12 South.

The Washington Huskies were the overwhelming favorites to win the conference and the Pac-12 North, racking up 249 points and 40 of the 42 first-place votes.

For the Wildcats, the bar is arguably the highest among the five Pac-12 teams who have new coaches: Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, Arizona State and UCLA.

That’s because Arizona went 7-6 (5-4 in Pac-12) in 2017 under former coach Rich Rodriguez while leaning on a young defensive unit and raw quarterback.

Khalil Tate’s rise as one of the nation’s most unique signal-callers began a third of the way through the year and provides much reason for optimism on the offensive side of the ball after he threw for 1,591 yards, 14 touchdowns and nine interceptions, then rushed for 1,411 yards and 12 more scores on top of it.

Running back J.J. Taylor, who added 847 rushing yards and 5.8 yards per carry while winning the league’s freshman offensive co-player of the year award, as well as the top two receivers, Tony Ellison and Shun Brown, are also back for the Wildcats.

On defense, Pac-12 Freshman Defensive Player of the Year Colin Schooler is back after recording 13.5 tackles for loss in 2017, as is fellow linebacker Tony Fields II, who led the team with 104 tackles.

Schooler and Tate will join Sumlin in Hollywood, Calif., on Wednesday at Pac-12 Media Day.

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