Yet, in accord with his coaching style, he added the caveat: "Any conclusion you draw now would be unwise. The guys really worked hard and handled it with a real maturity. Now we get into game preparations and the proof will come from next week to the end of the season," Tomey said.

The Wildcats open the season at third-ranked Penn State in the Pigskin Classic Aug. 28.

"When we play Penn State we'll find out a lot of things about ourselves that we like and probably a lot of things we don't like. That's the process. But in camp we built a fundamental base, got a feeling for each other, established a work ethic and evaluated personnel as much as you can," he said.

Sophomore wide receiver Peter Hansen, a former walk-on quarterback who earned a letter last year on special teams, was awarded a scholarship by Tomey following morning drills. Hansen, 6-foot-8, blocked two kicks in key games last year against Washington and Nebraska.

"Peter probably made the biggest contribution on our team in a per-play sense," Tomey said. "It's not even close. He maybe was out there for 20 plays and had game-turning plays in two of the bigger games of the year."

In between practices the Cats held their annual swimming contests in the college pool, with wide receivers winning the position relays and redshirt freshmen winning the contest between classes. True freshman walk-on kicker Ramey Peru beat three-time defending champion Dan Wirth, the UA's director of strength training, for the camp's 25-yard freestyle sprint title.

The Wildcats return to Tucson early Wednesday morning for a day off, then resume campus practice sessions Thursday, including a 7:30 p.m. public scrimmage in Arizona Stadium. Classes at the UA start Monday.