Arizona football: Big 12 releases first availability report for opener at Iowa State

Arizona looks to be fairly healthy heading into its Big 12 opener Saturday at No. 14 Iowa State, according to the first availability report released Wednesday night.

Only three Wildcats are listed as questionable, including offensive lineman Chubba Maae and running back Kedrick Reescano. Reescano started the season opener against Hawaii but has missed the last two games, while Maae started at left guard against Kansas State.

Among those listed as out include tight end Tyler Powell, who was injured on the first offensive play against Hawaii and has been ruled out for the season.

Not listed anywhere is defensive end Tre Smith, who missed the Kansas State game after getting hurt against Weber State. Same goes for Georgia Tech transfer offensive lineman Jordan Brown, who suffered an injury during spring practice.

For Iowa State, kicker Kyle Konrady will miss this game after playing the first three, which included kicking a 63-yard field goal.

The Big 12 joined other FBS conferences this season in publishing availability reports for league games, the first one coming out three days before a contest. Further updates will be published two and one day before each game, along with one 90 minutes before kickoff.

“I think it puts everybody on the same page,” UA coach Brent Brennan said Monday. “I think there’s some consistency in college football with what the availability report is going to be. I think we’ve been moving that way. I know that’s something that the media has been asking for for years. think it takes a lot of pressure off of you guys, and us, because I just feel like whenever there is an injury, it just becomes too much in the narrative when really (you’re) just trying to get your team ready to play with who was available for that game. So now we have a streamlined process of this is the availability report, and these are guys that you think are going to go, and these guys are doubtful.”

0 Comments