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College Football: Grading every new Power Five head coach in 2018

By John Mitchell

LINCOLN, NE - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Scott Frost of the Nebraska Cornhuskers watches late game action against the Troy Trojans at Memorial Stadium on September 15, 2018 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE - SEPTEMBER 15: Head coach Scott Frost of the Nebraska Cornhuskers watches late game action against the Troy Trojans at Memorial Stadium on September 15, 2018 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

11. Kevin Sumlin – Arizona

  • Record: 3-4 (2-2)
  • Grade: D

Kevin Sumlin seemed like a glove-like fit in Tuscon to take over for Rich Rodriguez as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats. With a Heisman sleeper at quarterback in Khalil Tate, who seemed like a perfect fit for Sumlin’s system, many prognosticators thought Arizona would be a contender in the PAC-12 South.

Instead, Sumlin has failed to utilize Tate’s best weapon in his ability to run the football. Tate has just 112 yards rushing (on 2.4 yards-per-carry) this season. Tate had six games last season where he eclipsed that total. Tate has been hampered by an ankle injury that forced him to miss most of last week’s loss to Utah and he’ll also miss this week’s game at UCLA, so that certainly hasn’t helped.

The Wildcats are not only not contenders in the divisional race, it will be a tall order from here for them to even make a bowl game, which would be a massive disappointment in Sumlin’s inaugural season on the sideline.

Sumlin’s in-game management was always the problem during his failed tenure in College Station; he was always able to recruit players at a high level at Texas A&M, but would struggle on Saturday’s. It’ll be tougher to attract top-end talent to Tuscon, and so far he’s struggling to do just that. The Wildcats didn’t close last cycle well, and currently sit 58th in the 247 composites for the 2019 class.

Without top tier talent, and based off early returns, the Kevin Sumlin era may not last long at Arizona.

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