The three Arizona Wildcats who opted out of the Holiday Bowl do not deserve your scorn.
They deserve your appreciation.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
I completely understand the frustration of UA football fans who felt misled or even betrayed when star defensive backs Treydan Stukes, Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith decided to not play in Arizona’s season finale.
Maybe you wouldn’t have made the trip to San Diego had you known. Maybe you wouldn’t have placed a wager on the Wildcats. You have every right to be upset about that.
But if you’re still holding a grudge against those guys, your vitriol is misplaced.
Yes, they chose not to play in one game that could have clinched just the fifth 10-win season in program history. They also chose to play for Arizona for the entirety of their college careers. Do you realize how rare that is these days?
Arizona defensive back Dalton Johnson (43) makes a signal against BYU in the first half, Oct. 11, 2025, in Tucson.
My colleague Justin Spears calculated that Stukes, Johnson and Smith played 6,700 defensive snaps for Arizona. You know how many they played for other schools? Zero.
That should be the takeaway here — and I think it will be as we move past the opt-outs and into NFL Draft season.
All three players have a chance to be selected. Stukes and Smith are participating in the Jan. 31 Senior Bowl — the most prestigious pre-draft showcase. Johnson is headed to the Jan. 27 East-West Shrine Bowl, which is one rung down — but springboarded UA running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt onto draft boards and into the league.
With all due respect to Croskey-Merritt, the three defensive backs did far more to earn their UA letters. Through no fault of his own, Croskey-Merritt played only one game for Arizona. Stukes played 52, Johnson 49 and Smith 37.
Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes, left, breaks up a pass intended for Colorado wide receiver Quentin Gibson in the second half, Nov. 1, 2025, in Boulder, Colo.
But they all have something in common: Whenever their names pop on the screen in the NFL — in the draft, in a preseason game, in a regular-season game, in a playoff game — the graphic also will say “Arizona.”
Stukes, Johnson and Smith represent three more chances for UA players to make NFL rosters — three more chances for the “Block A” to appear on the most-watched programming on U.S. television. That’s far more valuable to the football program than anything those players might have contributed during the Holiday Bowl.
Consider the alternatives
Still mad? I hear you.
But consider this: Stukes, Johnson and Smith all entered the transfer portal during their UA careers. They all decided to stay in Tucson. That’s meaningful.
Literally thousands of players have entered the portal over the past week-plus. Stukes, Johnson and Smith could have made more money by transferring. Not only would they have finished their college careers at other schools, they would have represented schools other than Arizona in the NFL.
Arizona defensive back Genesis Smith (12), right, shows off the ball after recovering an Arizona State fumble late during the fourth quarter in the Territorial Cup, Nov. 28, 2025, in Tempe.
Wouldn’t that have felt far worse than the way it played out?
You could argue that one (transferring before this season) has nothing to do with the other (opting out at the end of it). I’m just trying to remind you of the realities of modern college football.
If a draftable player plays his entire career with one school — and sits out only a non-College Football Playoff bowl game at the very end of it — that’s a best-case scenario.
Opt-outs are the norm, not the exception. Big 12 rivals Cincinnati and TCU, to name two, played their bowl games without their star quarterbacks, who declared their intention to enter the transfer portal. ASU was missing more than a dozen non-injured players for the Sun Bowl.
I realize that you’re not used to any of this. The Holiday Bowl was just Arizona’s third postseason game in nine years. It was only the Wildcats’ second during the portal era.
Arizona had only one significant opt-out in the 2023 Alamo Bowl: star left tackle Jordan Morgan. I defended Morgan’s decision, citing his injury history (torn ACL 13 months earlier) and rising NFL Draft stock (second-round pick at worst).
Arizona defensive back Dalton Johnson (43) chops Baylor running back Caden Knighten (22) off his feet as fellow DB Genesis Smith (12) closes in during the second quarter of their Big 12 game, Nov. 22, 2025, in Tucson.
Morgan announced his intentions 20 days before the game. That was his choice. And because of that decision, his absence didn’t come as a surprise.
Brent Brennan and his staff knew that Stukes, Johnson and Smith weren’t going to play several weeks before the Holiday Bowl. The public did not — which made it feel like it came out of nowhere.
The media who attended practice in San Diego — including the Arizona Daily Star — were asked to keep the news under wraps until pregame warmups so as not to give SMU a competitive advantage. If you want to question our journalistic integrity for abiding by that agreement, that’s fine. Just understand that we have relationships with sources within the program that enable us to provide you with inside information. Burning those sources would severely hamper our ability to do our jobs.
Game-day contributions
Still not convinced? I get it.
You probably saw Stukes, Johnson and Smith on the sideline at Snapdragon Stadium and wondered why they were there. Didn’t Brennan say during the season that if players weren’t fully on board, he didn’t want them around?
Arizona defensive back Treydan Stukes (2) jumps over Arizona State wide receiver Jaren Hamilton (16) to intercept a pass during the third quarter in the Territorial Cup game, Nov. 28, in Tempe.
Brennan made an exception in this case because he recognized how much those three players had contributed to Arizona football. Again, they could have left him in the lurch. They elected to stay and help him turn the program around.
They weren’t just goofing around, either. I was told that Stukes, Johnson and Smith were trying to steal signals and were coaching up their youthful replacements. Stukes consoled Dajon Hinton after he hurt his leg. The opt-outs were not unwelcome.
Were there any awkward moments between those three and the rest of the team after word leaked that they were sitting out? It’s entirely possible. They did not formally address their teammates, some of whom might have felt resentful.
It couldn’t have been an easy decision for the three defensive standouts. I’m sure they felt pangs of guilt and hints of regret.
But you can’t play football halfheartedly. The coaches didn’t want them to “play scared” — preoccupied by the fear of getting hurt. They had to be all in.
Arizona defensive back Dalton Johnson (43), bottom, and linebacker Taye Brown (6) jar the ball out of the hands of Baylor running back Bryson Washington (7) and to defensive back Genesis Smith (12) during the fourth quarter of their Big 12 game, Nov. 22, 2025, in Tucson
Stukes would have had that possibility in the back of his mind after suffering a torn ACL in 2024. Smith was nursing a toe injury and missed considerable practice time late in the season.
OK, fine. But you still might be wondering: Don’t their revenue-sharing/NIL contracts obligate them to play every game?
I was told that Arizona doesn’t structure those deals as week-by-week, pay-for-play agreements. They’re considered marketing deals. So if you’re the school and looking at the long-term value of those contractual relationships, wouldn’t you prefer that those players remain healthy and promote the brand via multiyear NFL careers?
We’re also talking about some of the best dudes on the team. Stukes and Johnson have been humble, loyal soldiers, sticking around through multiple coaching changes and enduring some of the lowest moments in program history. Smith started his own charitable foundation. All three earned the benefit of the doubt within the program.
Their decision to sit out one game should not tarnish their UA legacies. If/when their names are called during the NFL Draft, they deserve your applause. Whenever they return to Tucson, they deserve your embrace.
