Arizona coach Rodriguez: Short week a concern for ailing Anu Solomon

Going into the 2014 season, the Arizona Wildcats didn’t know who their starting quarterback was going to be.

Shortly before the opener against UNLV head coach Rich Rodriguez decided on redshirt freshman Anu Solomon, who responded by starting every game for the ‘Cats and putting up some pretty impressive numbers.

But heading into Arizona’s final game of the regular season, a home matchup with Arizona State, the team’s QB situation is once again up in the air.

Solomon left Saturday’s 42-10 win over Utah at halftime, spending the rest of the game in a walking boot on the sideline with what is being described as an ankle injury.

Backup Jesse Scroggins, a senior, finished the game, and Monday Rodriguez talked to Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM about his quarterback.

“You know, he was banged up going into it,” he said of Solomon, who had been dealing with an ankle issue the past few weeks. “We knew it, he didn’t practice a whole lot.

“He gutted it out the first half, but at halftime it was determined he couldn’t go so we put Jesse in. We’ll see how he responds this week; it’s a short week, that’s the only problem, with a short week playing on Friday, but we’ll see what happens.”

Solomon finished the Utah game completing 8-of-17 passes for 158 yards while rushing for 22 yards and a touchdown on five carries. On the season, he has completed 57.6 percent of his passes for 3,216 yards and 25 touchdowns with seven interceptions.

Scroggins completed 3-of-5 passes for 64 yards while adding another 16 on four carries, though he lost a fumble on a bad snap.

There’s little doubt the Wildcats would prefer to have a healthy Solomon Friday — or at least a healthy enough Solomon — though early in the week it’s unsure if that will be an option. If not, Scroggins, a former four-star recruit who originally went to USC before going the Juco route and ending up in Arizona, will make his first start since going to Tucson.

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