Justin Washington was suspended by Arizona Wildcats head coach Rich Rodriguez earlier today. Here is the quote from Rodriguez concerning Washington's suspension.

#arizonawildcats DT Justin Washington has been suspended. Said Rodriguez: "he's got some things to work on."

— Ryan Finley (@ryan_finley) August 22, 2012

This is a year of transition for Arizona. The Wildcats are installing a new offensive scheme that should hopefully generate points by the bunches in Tucson. Rich Rodriguez's spread option torched through the Big East (and occasionally the Big Ten) en route to touchdowns galore. And the defense does not have a lot of depth.

This is not a particularly good time for a suspension to a noted starter. The Wildcats are thin in their front seven. With Washington moving to the inside at defensive tackle, his suspension puts the load on Sione Tuihalamaka to perform on the interior of a 3-3-5. It also puts additional pressure on a linebacking corps that is paper thin Washington had a solid redshirt freshman season in 2009 before regressing a bit in 2010, but his loss could be a significant one for Arizona.

Talk about the Washington suspension and Arizona football in general by heading on over to Arizona Desert Swarm. Check out the SB Nation college football hub for more NCAA football coverage.