Wood gives Wildcats a Gronk-ish option at TE

Rich Rodriguez, the Arizona Wildcats’ full-time coach and part-time comedian, occasionally punctuates answers to press queries in a presidential manner: “That’s fake news!” Nothing sounds more insincere to UA fans than the notion that its tight ends will be more involved in the passing game. It has been suggested many times but hasn’t come to fruition for most of Rodriguez’s tenure. Why might this year be different? For starters, tight end Trevor Wood is playing the best football of his college career — and is being targeted accordingly.

Wood caught several passes during Arizona’s open practice Saturday, continuing a trend that began in spring. Not coincidentally, that was the Wildcats’ first spring with Rodriguez confidante and co-offensive coordinator Calvin Magee in charge of the tight ends. It was also their first without departed wide receivers Nate Phillips, Trey Griffey and Samajie Grant.

Those three left a void, and Wood is among those who could fill it. The redshirt junior has bonded with Magee, who played tight end in the NFL for four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“I’m just taking his mentorship and going with it,” Wood said. “He played a long time in the league. Any tip I can get, I’ll take.

“He knows those little things that can help you to be better the next day.”

Wood regularly works with Magee after practice, trying to improve his ball skills and other parts of his game. It was Rodriguez who proclaimed that “this is the best Trevor’s looked in his career,” and Wood appreciates the compliment. His simple goal is daily, incremental improvement.

“He’s really dedicated to it,” Magee said. “He’s really trying to learn the position and pay attention to the small things, the little details.

“He’s making plays. He gives us a different element to what we can do.”

Wood is a massive man, listed at 6 feet 6 inches and 265 pounds. Quarterback Brandon Dawkins has noted the benefits of having big targets such as Wood and 6-5 Shawn Poindexter among his primary options.

Magee is trying to impress on Wood the importance of playing big.

“He’s a big-bodied kid, and he needs to use that,” Magee said. “Tight ends need to play big. They need to be brutes.”

Based on size alone, Wood presents a mismatch for any defensive back. Knowing that, the coaches are moving Wood — and backup Jamie Nunley, who’s 6-5, 230 — to different spots.

“We’ve always utilized what we’ve had and tried to fit it into the offense,” Magee said. “We happen to have some guys now. If a guy can flex out and do some things where we don’t have to sub, he fits that mold.”

Naturally, Wood likes the idea of the coaching staff “putting us in position to make plays.”