'Super impressive' Julian Savaiinaea bulks up, breaks through on Arizona's defensive line

Julian Savaiinaea’s hometown is Tafuna, American Samoa, but the Arizona Wildcats defensive lineman considers Honolulu home.

Savaiinaea graduated from Saint Louis School in Honolulu, which is about a 10-minute car ride from where Hawaii football plays its home games.

Ten players on Hawaii’s roster played at Saint Louis School, which is a football powerhouse that has won 14 state championships and produced players like Tua Tagovailoa, Marcus Mariota, current Hawaii head coach Jimmy Chang and Miami Dolphins rookie offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea (Julian’s older brother), who will be an honorary captain alongside former UA kicker Tyler Loop on Saturday.

“Super excited for him to be back in town,” Julian Savaiinaea said of the older Savaiinaea, who just played three NFL preseason games at left guard. “I haven’t seen him since the draft party. I’m definitely stoked to see him again.”

With his brother in town and several connections at UH, will Arizona’s season opener give Savaiinaea extra juice for Saturday?

“It’s just another game, so we’re looking to attack it and give it the best that we’ve got,” Savaiinaea said.

Entering his third season at Arizona, Savaiinaea looks to become the latest member of his family to contribute for the Wildcats.

Even though Jonah Savaiinaea was an offensive lineman — and one of the best offensive linemen to play for the Wildcats — Julian Savaiinaea “just liked playing on the defensive line and sort of the aggressiveness and physicality aspect of it,” he said. The Savaiinaea brothers often went to parks in Honolulu and competed with each other in one-on-one drills, with their father, Joe, sometimes recording their sessions so they could break down film and study techniques.

“The bonus was going up against my brother, just getting better at it,” Julian Savaiinaea said.

Away from football, “we were both homebodies,” he added.

“We wouldn’t go out too much,” Savaiinaea said. “Probably just at home, gaming or jamming, playing music. ... We were blessed to grow up in a church community, so we were surrounded by playing in church. We played every instrument, drums, guitar, piano, bass, just to help out with church service.”

Savaiinaea signed with Arizona in 2023 and redshirted his freshman season, the same year Arizona won 10 games and the Alamo Bowl. Last season, Savaiinaea played in six games as a redshirt freshman and had four tackles, a sack and a forced fumble against TCU.

In just over two years, Savaiinaea elevated his body weight from 245 pounds to 280 on his 6-3 frame. Savaiinaea worked with Arizona’s nutrition staff and “every offseason, we have a plan and our goal weight,” he said.

“For me, it was just taking it day by day, meeting the calorie intake and just seeing what was right for my body heading into the season,” said Savaiinaea.

Arizona starting defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea, who was teammates with Savaiinaea in ‘23, noticed the body transformation after transferring back from Texas.

“I was like, ‘Dang, my boy got big,’” Savea said of Savaiinaea. “He went from scrawny and now he looks like a bodybuilder. He has improved a lot and that’s what I like to see.”

First-year defensive line coach Joe Salave’a “has done a lot of things for me” between the spring and the training camp practices leading up to the season, Savaiinaea said.

“From the beginning, it was just the basics, techniques, fundamentals, using hands, tearing off blocks and just being physical overall, playing at the line of scrimmage,” he said.

Savaiinaea will play behind Savea and UT Martin transfer Deshawn McKnight this season, alongside Cerritos College transfer Leroy Palu on Arizona’s interior defensive line, but “he’s really focused on developing his game,” said Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales.

“Obviously, Jonah gave him an opportunity growing up to go against one of the best O-Linemen — I mean, the dude is in the NFL,” Gonzales said. “So, watching what Julian has done in a short time — and the development from last year to this year, it’s been super impressive. He has earned a spot in the rotation. He’s one of the inside pieces that has enough twitch and enough power and enough strength to do everything that we ask him to do.

“I’m excited to watch him play. ... I’m super proud of Julian for what he’s done to give himself a chance to play.”

Gavin Hunter ‘a totally different player’

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With nickel back (or “Field Kat” in Gonzales’ scheme) Treydan Stukes, who is recovering from a season-ending leg injury he suffered last season, still questionable for the season opener, Hawaii native Gavin Hunter could make his first-career start on Saturday.

The 6-2, 204-pound Hunter, a redshirt sophomore from Ewa Beach, Hawaii, is “a totally different player” from the start of spring practices to now, said Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege.

“In the spring, you think, ‘This is the guy you go after,’” Doege said. “Now, he’s in the right spot and is making the right plays. He’s making plays on the ball, which he needs to be. You can just tell he’s a way more confident player.”

Gonzales said “maturity” nudged Hunter, who played 53 defensive snaps in three games last season, to potential starter status while Stukes remains limited.

“When I first got here, we had some challenges with Gavin butting heads with everything, and that’s with a lot of kids,” Gonzales said. “Give Gavin a lot of credit. ... He attacked the offseason with Stukes being hurt, knowing there’s an opportunity. I think that happens for a lot of people, but he took advantage of it.

“A lot of people get the opportunity and just assume their roles are going to fall into their hands by default, and that plan never works. Gavin took the opposite approach to that. It’s by far the best camp that he’s had; a lot better than last year; a lot better than the previous year, talking to the coaches that were here. Little, tiny details are the difference between him taking that next step further. ... I have a lot of confidence that we can give Stukes some reps, but I don’t think he has to play the entire game because Gavin earned that opportunity.”

West Virginia transfer Ayden Garnes has played reps at nickel back, but has mostly been used at cornerback. Hunter’s ascension in training camp “has afforded us an awesome rotation at corner” between Garnes, San Jose State transfer Michael Dansby, Texas transfer Jay’Vion Cole and returning starter Marquis Groves-Killebrew.

“I think we have four guys at corner that I consider starters and we can rotate them,” Gonzales said. “When you can do that, it’s hard to throw deep ball after deep ball.”

Arizona coaches weigh in on injury rule

Among the multiple rules the NCAA is implementing this season, the NCAA Football Rules Committee is putting an end to fake injuries that stop game clocks.

Starting the season, if a player appears to be injured after the ball is spotted, that team will be charged a timeout. If a team doesn’t have any timeouts, they’ll be flagged 5 yards for delay of game.

Players faking injuries in games has been a common practice to slow down tempo and fast-paced offenses.

The message is clear from the Arizona coaches to players.

“It’s a go-down situation if you’re hurt,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

“If you’re really injured, get on the ground. If you can make it off the field, man up and make it off the field. Either way, we’re fine with it, but you can’t do the in between. ‘Oh, I’m hurt, but I’m going to make it to the numbers and I fall.’”

One of Gonzales’ mantras to his defense “is get your tail off the field,” he said.

“If you’re almost dead, we’ll come get you,” Gonzales said. “That’s the bottom line. It doesn’t matter if it’s an ACL, a broken ankle — it doesn’t matter; get up and hop off (the field). If you can get up and hop off, figure it out on the sideline, so we shouldn’t be impacted by that rule because it’s a mentality when you see people go down.”

Extra points

• Doege, on if Arizona has the first 10 plays scripted on Saturday: “I think everybody does to an extent. My list might be shorter because I’ve gotten to a point where if you script the first 10 plays and you get off-schedule, what’s the point of having the first 10 (plays) scripted, because you’re off-schedule at this point? I keep my list a little bit shorter, but we have an opening drive and a series scripted.”
• Doege, on Hawaii: “They play extremely hard. They’re coached really well. Specifically on defense, they play what they do really, really well. They have enough mix in their bag to cause problems and make you practice different type of looks. They can present problems for you because they’re never going to be out of position and they’re going to make you earn everything. ... I’m excited to have a team that’s hungry and that will challenge us and see what we’re really about it.”
• Chang told reporters on Tuesday that he expects Hawaii quarterback Micah Alejado, who suffered a leg injury last week against Stanford, to play against the Wildcats on Saturday. Alejado was recently named the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week.