Arizona's Noah Fifita, Dalton Johnson 'making sure this team stays together' after 5-game skid

A five-game losing streak and a losing season wasn’t what the returning cast of Arizona stars signed up for.

Nearly 10 months after Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and other UA standouts, who contributed to the 10-win season last year, announced their plans to return for head coach Brent Brennan’s first season, the banged-up Wildcats (3-6) are sputtering and regressing as a result of injuries and Arizona’s yoyo offense.

A year after Arizona lost three games by a combined 16 points, the Wildcats have lost six games by a combined 128 points. It’s conceivable Arizona could end its season on an eight-game losing streak, after winning seven straight to end last season.

If the Wildcats have any desire to play football in December, they’ll have to double their current win total this season.

However, some of the elder statesmen on Arizona’s roster are taking a unique approach when evaluating a season chock-full of blowout losses and injuries.

Arizona redshirt junior defensive back Dalton Johnson, who’s been shifted to a box safety-linebacker hybrid in the last three games due to three season-ending injuries in the starting lineup, was a Wildcat the last time Arizona lost five straight games, which was the 20-game losing streak between the 2019-21 seasons.

Johnson signed with the downtrodden Arizona football program in the winter of 2020, when it was one of the worst Power 5 programs in college football in the aftermath of former head coach Kevin Sumlin’s 9-20 tenure in three seasons.

Johnson said in Arizona’s 5-7 season in 2022, “right before (the season ended), you could kinda feel the locker room check out and want to get home early for Christmas.”

“Our part as leaders is making sure this team stays together no matter what,” Johnson said after Arizona’s 56-12 loss to UCF in Orlando Saturday. “We could win the next three, lose the next three, but we’re a family and it’s why we came back. Obviously this isn’t going the way we pictured it, but we’re still brothers at the end of the day. It’s family. Just making sure we all stay together as a unit.”

No one expected second-year left tackle Raymond Pulido to step away from the team for personal reasons or his replacement, Rhino Tapa’atoutai, to suffer a season-ending leg injury; additionally, starting right guard Leif Magnuson endured concussions that have sidelined the Canadian offensive lineman. The hit to Arizona’s depth on the offensive line has forced the Wildcats to shuffle the deck and play Jonah Savaiinaea at left tackle.

No one expected highly-touted New Mexico transfer running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt’s eligibility status to get flagged by the NCAA after one game, then have junior Rayshon Luke sit out after four games to redshirt. Two key components to Arizona’s rushing rotation has now been limited to Quali Conley and Kedrick Reescano. The Wildcats have 83 net yards in the last two games, when it was a strength for them last season.

No one expected preseason All-Big 12 linebacker Jacob Manu, safety Gunner Maldonado and nickel back Treydan Stukes — who have played a combined 5,761 snaps at Arizona — to suffer season-ending injuries.

Arizona’s offensive play-calling and style with long-developing plays and lack of identity hasn’t been a perfect match for Fifita and company, either.

Still, Fifita has no qualms with his decision to remain at Arizona instead of entering the transfer portal to follow former head coach Jedd Fisch to Washington or bolt for another school.

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“We always say that we stayed for each other,” said the Arizona quarterback. “When you’re struggling and when you’re on a five-game losing streak, it’s easy to point fingers and it’s easy to doubt. In a similar fashion, it’s easy to question God. Just continue to love each other, continue to play for each other.

“The whole world is against us now, so we’re really just playing for the people in the locker room and trusting God’s timing. His timing is never wrong. It’s easy to be a believer when you’re at the top, but when you’re at the bottom, it’s difficult to trust His plan, but we do and we trust each other.”

Added Brennan: “The most important thing — the players and the coaches — is that we stay together and move forward together. That’s one of those things that gets hard to do after you lose games, the outside world tries to pull them apart. These players care about each other, they care about their coaches. I think that part of it is how much can we lean on each other and find a way to move forward together?”

When Brennan was asked if Arizona planned to fire assistant coaches entering a bye week, the Wildcats coach said, “I don’t think that serves this team right now,” but noted, “There’s constant evaluation of where we’re at in terms of how we’re coaching, how we’re teaching.”

“The program, in my chair, is in constant evaluation,” Brennan added. “That’s an everyday thing for me, evaluating every part of the program, and we’re going to continue to do that as we go.”

T-Mac inching closer to all-time receiving record

McMillan has three games to collect 182 yards to become Arizona’s all-time receiving yards leader and pass his wide receivers coach, UA legend Bobby Wade, who has owned the record for just over two decades.

McMillan is tied with Dennis Northcutt for most career touchdowns (24) by a Wildcat. Former UA receiver Juron Criner owns the record with 32 touchdowns.

“He deserves it more than anybody that I could think of,” Fifita said. “Being able to beat his receivers coach makes it even more special. Right now, our focus is to win games. That’s T’s focus, and that’s the type of leader he is. For us to have to success, No. 4 has to be able to do what he does.”

New role ‘slows the game down’ for Johnson

Since Johnson garnered a linebacker-safety role in Arizona’s dime defense, a six-defensive back scheme used against Colorado, West Virginia and UCF, the redshirt junior and two-year starter is averaging 11 tackles per game in his new spot.

Johnson, who has two forced fumbles this season, leads the Wildcats with 66 tackles. Sophomore linebacker Taye Brown has the second-most tackles (48). Johnson has played a combined 197 snaps lined up in the box over the previous three games, after playing 206 in his first five performances of the season.

“I like it. I think it’s fun,” said Johnson. “It slows the game down a little bit. Sometimes I’m a linebacker, sometimes I’m a safety. That dime position allows me to do both. I like being versatile and if it means I have to play linebacker to help this defense, then that’s what I’ll do.”

Extra points

• Former Arizona left tackle
  • Jordan Morgan, a first-round pick by the Green Bay Packers, made his first-career NFL start in Green Bay’s 24-14 loss to the Detroit Lions. Morgan, a Marana High School product, played a season-high 65 snaps at left guard for the Packers; he surrendered four quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus. Morgan has also played right guard this season.
  • The Wildcats are 3.5-point favorites to beat Houston on Friday, Nov. 15, in Tucson, according to FanDuel sportsbook.