TUCSON, Ariz.---ArizonaWildcats.com sat down with sophomore running back Nick Wilson and learned what it's like to live a day in his life. Coach Rich Rodriguez also spoke with the media after Wednesday's practice.
Q: What is your major/minor?
A: My major is criminal justice.
Q: Describe your typical daily routine.
A: I wake up at about 8:30 am and then I go to class at 9 am. I have a little bit of a break before I have class again at 11. From there I come back to the facility and get treatment then I get dressed and head to our meetings and go to practice. After practice I eat and then go home and go to sleep.
Q: How has being a student-athlete helped you manage your time in everyday life?
A: I have learned that you have to manage time well or you will go crazy. You have no time for yourself really. Most of your time is either dedicated to football or academics. You get very little free time during the season. You just have to figure out how to balance it all.
Q: What do you plan to do after you graduate?
A: I will hopefully go pro. But after, I for sure want to be a police officer.
Q: What is the most valuable lesson you have learned since you have been at the U of A?
A: That’s a hard one because I have received a lot of good advice. But one that comes to the top of my head is to not take anything for granted.
Q: What is your least favorite class?
A: All the sciences like Astronomy
Q: What is your class schedule during the week?
A: I have four classes this semester, two a day, five days a week.
Q: What is your favorite food to have for breakfast?
A: I like eggs and bacon
Q: In your opinion, what is the most important thing about having the title of “student-athlete”?
A: You always have to be weary and be aware of those who are around you because you don’t know who has your best interests in mind. At the same time though, it is good being a student-athlete because you get to represent your university in a positive way.
Q: Where is the best place for you to get your school work done?
A: I like going to study hall to get my homework done
Q: What do you like to do in your time off?
A: I like to play video games and watch Netflix and world star videos
Q: What is your pump up song on gameday?
A: I don’t really have a specific song, I have a whole playlist that I go through
Q: What is your number one goal for this year?
A: Really to just make it to a bowl game, whatever bowl we are fortunate enough to be in and win.
Q: If you could tell the fans one thing, what would it be?
A: Thank you so much for the support. All of the support really hypes me up and I really appreciate it.
Q: What was your favorite memory from your day today?
A: The hour nap I took today.
Head coach Rich Rodriguez
On this week's opponent, Oregon State..
"They have a couple big guys outside and a really fast guy inside. I am really impressed how they use their people whether it's the quarterback, running back, or wide out. They use them in all the right ways. They use their quarterback to run the ball and he is fast. If you make a mistake or dont' take the right angle and are not disciplined on the zone read or power read then he will be able to make some big plays. When he throws it, you have to be careful sometimes with man coverage because he will scramble around and make a play that way too. They are pretty active on defense, they change their fronts and they will go from an odd front to an even front and somtimes our guys will move right before the snap. They move their coverages around a bit and they have long, athletic kids in the secondary."
On our enthuiasm on defense..
"The guys have been pretty good. Our players are more resilent than the coaches. After Sunday's practice and having Monday off, I thought yesterday's practice was a good practice. Today we weren't in full pads the whole practice, it was half pads but it was solid. It was a solid two days."
On the one o'clock kickoff..
"I like it. I am appreciative of that and I wish we had more of them this season. I would like to have one on the road too because you get back so late with the later kickoff times. We give our players time to sleep in on Sunday's, it's probably harder on us coaches but we aren't out there playing anyways. I think about it everyday about making sure our guys are getting enough sleep. We don't get them up early on game days or anything like that and we try to get them as much sleep as possible. It's hard without an open week to get caught up."
