Saturday’s loss to USC marked the Arizona debut for several players, while for others it was the first significant action of their college career.
The Wildcats had seven new starters on defense, most of which were expected based on training camp chatter and the the initial depth chart.
But when Arizona sent that unit out for the first time in 2020—thrown into the fire right away after an interception gave USC a short field—there was a big surprise in the middle of alignment.
Rourke Freeburg, a redshirt junior walk-on, was the starter at Will linebacker.