Arizona football preview: de Laura as a runner, Mississippi State cowbells, more

STARKVILLE, Mississippi — Arizona football storylines for the Wildcats' road opener at Mississippi State: Jayden de Laura's running since last season, the "ear-splitting ringing" cowbells of Davis Wade Stadium, the "turnover sword," more.

QB Jayden de Laura more balanced in second go-around

When the Arizona Wildcats face Mississippi State on Saturday, UA junior quarterback Jayden de Laura will strive to take a different approach against the Bulldogs.

For starters, three of de Laura's Pac-12-worst 13 interceptions a year ago were against the Bulldogs defense in Arizona's 39-17 loss to MSU in Tucson. Current Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett, then the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, deployed blitzing linebackers and safeties and forced de Laura to make quick decisions in the pocket.

De Laura, who finished that night with a 54.8 overall grade by Pro Football Focus, was reluctant to run and was sacked twice for minus-25 rushing yards. Mississippi State dared de Laura to run and potentially extend drives, but he didn't budge from his pocket-only attack.

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch said at the time de Laura's failure to use his legs "is something we talked about." The following week? De Laura had 10 carries for a then career-high 50 yards.

"He's always learning, always growing," said UA offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll. "I think he saw that and then a couple games following that he ran the ball a little bit more."

Carroll added de Laura has "never been against" running, "he was classically trained to stay in the pocket and throw the ball."

"It's an element to his game that he definitely has and and we're excited about it," he said.

In Arizona's season-opening victory over Northern Arizona, de Laura evaded one missed tackle and peeled off down the Lumberjacks' sideline for a 53-yard touchdown.

"That was a great run. I thought he was flying," Fisch said. "I didn't know he had that in him."

De Laura — whose favorite NFL team is the Philadelphia Eagles for his fandom of Michael Vick, one of the NFL's top dual-threat quarterbacks of all time — credited his improvement in getting "faster, strong and more confident in my running" to strength and conditioning coach Tyler Owens.

"I don't know if he was as fast as he is now," Fisch said. "I don't know if he had that same burst as he does now.

"We always talk about how good of a job our strength staff does, and I think that's another indication. Not only did Jayden get bigger, stronger, faster, he got all three," Fisch said.

Although "he's been coached to stay in the pocket as much as he can, as long as he can," Arizona senior wide receiver Jacob Cowing, de Laura's top target, said "one of the main things I've seen (him) improve on" is improvising and running when needed.

"When he needs to scramble, he knows when to scramble," Cowing said. "When he needs to stay in the pocket a tad bit longer, he can stay in the pocket and deliver a good pass and then just continue to move the ball."

Running backs 'open up the passing game a lot more'

While de Laura has improved as a runner, his running backs are improving as pass-catchers.

Arizona senior running back Michael Wiley, who is 99 yards shy of 1,000 career receiving yards, led the Wildcats with six catches for 57 yards against NAU, while sophomore running back Jonah Coleman was second with three catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. Coleman (90.5) and Wiley (87.6) had the top two PFF grades in the pass game.

"When you've got running backs that can catch out of the backfield, that opens up the passing game a lot more for us receivers," Cowing said. "They can't really point out one guy or double-team one guy.

"We've got running backs that can catch out of the backfield and do something with it."

The Wiley-Coleman tandem dazzled in Arizona's opening offensive possession and gained the Wildcats 57 yards in five plays, including a 37-yard catch by Coleman to set up Cowing's 4-yard touchdown catch. Coleman's 37-yarder beat his season total (24) as a freshman.

"You can see the development from Year 1 to Year 2. He looks faster, stronger, quicker," Carroll said of Coleman. "He could always catch the ball really well, so it was nothing that we didn't expect, but it was great seeing it live. It wasn't a surprise to us he could do all that. He's been showing us that all camp and we're excited for it."

Cowing said Coleman has "gotten into his playbook a lot more."

"He understands the offense and understands what his role his, he knows what the scheme is," Cowing said. "At this point, he can go out there and relax a little bit and just play his game."

De Laura said he's "very confident" in running backs' pass-catching abilities.

"Our running backs can really do a lot of things and I trust them. I trust them to make plays and play football," de Laura said.

Turnover sword back for another season

In celebration of turnovers, Arizona unsheathed the "turnover sword," a saguaro-shaped metal sword, last season. It's Arizona's version of the recent turnover celebration trend that uses props, similar to UNLV's turnover slot machine, Oregon State's chainsaw, Miami's turnover chain or Pittsburgh's turnover basketball hoop.

Whether it's a fumble or interception, whoever has the football following a takeaway runs to the Arizona sideline to use the turnover sword to stab the football and hoist it towards the crowd. Against Mississippi State in Tucson last season, the Wildcats had three takeaways — two fumbles and one interception.

"The kids love it and then all of a sudden (during) the Mississippi State game everybody started talking about it because we were stabbing balls. I wasn't even paying attention, I was worried about calling the defense. And then I see one the (MSU) student assistants running across (the field) and then one of our managers tackled them on the sideline," UA defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said. I'm like, 'What the heck is going on?' They're like, 'You guys are stabbing the ball.' 'I don't know what's going on,' so... I like it."

Last week against Northern Arizona, UA safety Dalton Johnson recorded the Wildcats' first forced fumble of the season, with middle linebacker Daniel Heimuli recovering the loose ball.

More (or less) cowbell

Some of the confounding noises from the Dick Tomey Practice Fields on the UA campus this week were in preparation for the thousands of cowbell sounds the Wildcats will endure at Davis Wade Stadium on Saturday.

Mississippi State fans are renowned for rattling their cowbells at MSU football games, but there's an exception — also known as the "cowbell compromise," according to Mississippi Sports Talk host Brian Hadad.

Fans are only allowed to wave the cowbells up until the point the center puts his hand on the ball.

"You will hear a noticeable change from that ear-splitting ringing noise to just cheering," Hadad said. "But when those bells are ringing, it's something that's unique in college football. You can't replicate that sound. You can't get it anywhere else. It's really loud."

Although the Wildcats piped in cowbell sounds over their loud speakers during team periods in practice, "it's very difficult to replicate that sound," Hadad said.

"It's just so difficult to replicate what 30,000-40,000 cowbells — on top of 50,000 fans — sounds like," he said.

Fisch said the Wildcats "have to be alert for" the cowbell effects on Saturday.

"The cowbells aren't allowed to be ringing when you're in formation. They're allowed to be ringing while you're in the huddle or when you're in between plays," Fisch said. "When you're going through the cadence, there's no cowbells. I know they're very disciplined on that, because it's a penalty. But other than that, I know they're going to be loud.

"I know it's something we need to be aware of," he added. "We're going to look forward to the energy that an SEC game brings."

Arizona (1-0) at Mississippi State (1-0)

When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m., SEC Network

Line: Mississippi State is a 9-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

Series: Mississippi State leads 1-0, winning 39-17 last year in Tucson.

At stake: Both schools aim to follow up dominant opening wins over FCS opponents. Arizona routed Northern Arizona 38-3 and looks to avenge last years loss to the Bulldogs. Mississippi State blew out Southeastern Louisiana 48-7.

Key matchup: Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura vs. Mississippi State’s pass defense. The junior has 7,352 career yards passing and 56 touchdowns between Arizona and Washington State. The Bulldogs’ defense started strong for first-year coordinator Matt Brock, holding SLU to just 125 yards passing and 208 overall. They rank 15th nationally. Linebackers Jett Johnson and Nathaniel Watson continued their stifling play with 14 combined tackles, 2.5 sacks and three forced fumbles with a recovery.

Players to watch: Arizona senior receiver Jacob Cowing had a 4-yard touchdown among three catches last week to extend his streak with at least one reception to 45 games, the nation’s longest active. He was selected to The Associated Press preseason All-American second team after leading the Pac-12 with 85 receptions for 1,034 yards (fourth) and seven TDs (second) last season.

Mississippi State’s Jo’Quavious Marks rushed for a career-best 127 yards and two touchdowns, the first Bulldogs running back to break the century mark since Kylin Hill’s 137 against Mississippi in November 2019. He also caught four passes for 59 yards. His 195 career receptions are just five shy of breaking MSU’s school record.

Notable: Arizona is 1-6-1 all-time against the SEC. … Tacario Davis returned Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei’s blocked field goal 85 yards for a touchdown against NAU, the Wildcats’ first return since 2002 and the Pac-12’s longest since at least 1996. … The three points allowed marked Arizona’s fewest since topping California 10-3 in 2021. … Bulldogs quarterback Will Rogers needs 32 yards to surpass Kentucky’s Jared Lorenzen (10,637) for 10th on the SEC’s total yardage list. … MSU ranks 18th nationally in scoring. … The Bulldogs converted four red zone chances for 24 points, including a blocked punt returned for a TD. … The Bulldogs committed just one penalty against SLU, its fewest since October 2018 against Auburn.

Associated Press

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: UA's de Laura ready to run into loud SEC environment at Mississippi St.