The status of Scooby Wright is still up in the air heading into No. 16 Arizona’s home game against No. 9 UCLA on Saturday.
Wright, the Wildcats’ All-American middle linebacker, hasn’t played since injuring his knee in the team’s season-opener against UTSA on Sept. 3, but head coach Rich Rodriguez said Monday that Wright is going to give it a go in practice this week.
“He’s missed the last couple games and he’s itching to get back, so we’ll see how he does if he can practice Tuesday or Wednesday to get ready for Saturday,” Rodriguez said per ArizonaSports.com.
Wright reportedly had surgery to repair a lateral meniscus tear a few days after the UTSA game. Reports indicated that Wright would miss three or four weeks post-surgery.
He has missed Arizona’s past two games against Nevada and Northern Arizona – both wins. His return to the starting lineup would provide a big boost for the 3-0 Wildcats to start conference play.
“The trainers feel optimistic. I think Scooby is optimistic,” Rodriguez said. “I think everything is healed from that standpoint, but does he have his strength back? Is he able to be the old Scooby. We’ll find out this week.”
Wright was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2014 as a sophomore. He ranked in the top five nationally with 163 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, 14 sacks and six forced fumbles.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!