October 2- The Wildcats have formally announced their leadership team for the upcoming season as Matt Rogers will serve as Arizona's captain for 2019.

 

Rogers, a Senior Agricultural Business major from Granite Bay, California, rises to the role after a standout season as one of the best Scrumhalves in the country, helping the Wildcats to the playoffs and to a top three national finish in Sevens while earning first team all conference and an invite to the Men's Collegiate All Americans assembly. "Being a captain this year is a huge honor" said Rogers, "in my time here I've seen some great leaders come through the program and I'm planning on following in those footsteps and making this program better." One of those leaders who Matt follows as Captain is older brother Kyle, who has served as captain the past two seasons. "Matt has grown up so much in the past few years and while we can joke about the Rogers dynasty it's been clear how Matt has learned not just from Kyle but also guys like Sean Coleman and Ben Joseph last year and we keep this machine rolling with Matt as our captain" said Head Coach Sean Duffy.

 

Joining Rogers in the leadership team as Vice Captain for Fifteens is Lock Bronson Teles, with the Junior from Texas taking over the Forwards this season after the graduation of fellow Second Row Sean Coleman. Teles has been the team's leading tackler each of the past two seasons, earning first team all conference last year along with also earning an invite to Men's Collegiate All Americans camp.  "I am very humbled and grateful to be a captain, I look forward to setting a great example and leading from the front" said Teles. "Bronson since day one has ate, slept, and breathed growth as a person and growth as a team. He sets the tone and he's a model we want all our young Forwards to follow" said Duffy.

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Last but not least in the group is Sevens Vice Captain Ben Scoular as the Junior from the United Kingdom continues his rise up the ranks of the team after another strong season last year. As both a Flanker in Fifteens and a Hooker in Sevens, Scoular has excelled and brings great experience and energy to the group, following in the footsteps of Ben Joseph who served in the role last season. "Ben arrived here as a quiet English kid who didn't say much and now he's Benny Scouls bringing the tempo to every session and every workout and he is a great choice to assist Matty in leading this Sevens group" said Duffy. "It's a great honor to be named one of the captains" said Scoular "and I hope to continue the strong leadership and success this program has had." 

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"This is a decision we don't take lighly" said Duffy. "We do a lot of things to prep guys for captaincy roles over the course of their time here, because if we get this wrong, it makes a lot of things difficult. We've gotten it right every year I've been here and these three join that group of leaders that they know they can always call on as well for advice. Another important point is all three will graduate in 2020, giving hypothetically a two year window to each of these guys to grow as leaders and help us grow as a team, giving them skills that they'll take out in to the world."

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