A favorable schedule that features eight home games and a pleasant placement in the rebuilding Pac-12 South are the positive talking points for first-year Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez. A porous defense and a lousy kicking game are among the concerns.

Arizona has an opportunity to rebound quickly thanks to the aforementioned advantages it enjoys this season. In order to do, the Wildcats will need big contributions from the following players:

Offense: RB Ka'Deem Carey

Carey was an explosive player at nearby Tucson Canyon del Oro High and showed signs of his potential in his freshman year when he rushed for 425 and six TDs on 91 carries (4.7-yard average). Much is expected of Matt Scott at quarterback, and in Rodriguez’s system those expectations may be reasonable, but Scott’s game would be aided an awful lot by the presence of a home-run threat in the backfield. The elusive and speedy Carey has the ability to become that threat.

Defense: DE Justin Washington

Think Arizona’s defense can’t be any worse than the 2011 club which allowed a Pac-12-worst 460.5 yards per game and 35.4 points per game while posting just 10 sacks? Think again. UA's defense allowed 552 yards in a recent 92-play scrimmage -- a 6-yards-per-play clip. A year after posting 46 tackles (11.5 for loss) and six sacks, Washington fell off in 2011. The Wildcats have some depth on the interior of the line, but if they can’t get some push and run support from Washington on the edge, it won’t matter how well Rodriguez out-schemes opponents on offense.

Special teams: PK John Bonano or Jake Smith

Why the uncertainty? If you saw the UA’s kicking game the past two seasons, you’d understand. Bonano made 8 of 12 attempts in 2011 for the lowest percentage among qualifiers in the conference. Want to know what’s worse? He fared better than the club’s other two kickers, Alex Zendejas and Jamie Salazar. That’s why Smith, a walk-on, is in the thick of the competition. Arizona needs a major improvement here if 2012 is to be anything other than a write off.

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