Arizona football fans are well versed in the legend of “Two-Star Scoob.” They might even know the sage of Trevin “Two-Star” Wade.
They’re just getting to know “Zero-Star Stukes.”
Treydan Stukes is a third-year sophomore who’s tracking toward a full-time starting job with the Wildcats after a breakout season in 2021 that largely went unnoticed.
That’s a familiar phenomenon for Stukes, who didn’t receive a star rating from any of the major recruiting websites and didn’t have any scholarship offers from FBS programs.
Stukes was a track standout at Millennium High School in Litchfield Park — one of the best jumpers in the state. He produced on the football field too, totaling seven interceptions and five touchdowns as a senior. But he was undersized and underexposed.
Two former UA assistant coaches, Paul Rhoads and Greg Burns, offered Stukes a preferred walk-on spot. He ended up playing extensively in the 2020 Territorial Cup, when the Wildcats were decimated by injuries, compiling seven tackles. It might have been the only positive for the Wildcats that night.
Stukes quickly impressed the new coaching staff with his athleticism, work ethic and intelligence, and he earned a scholarship before the 2021 season. Stukes started five of 12 games, including the final four, and led the team with seven pass breakups.
He has been running with the ones throughout spring practice opposite Christian Roland-Wallace and has been one of the defense’s most consistent performers.
“He’s probably one of the hardest workers in our group,” cornerbacks coach DeWayne Walker said. “He’s mentally strong. For us to see him improving like he is, I’m not surprised one bit.”
Stukes always had confidence in himself, and he used the collective recruiting snub as motivation. A late growth spurt also helped. Stukes is listed at 6 feet 1 inch and 184 pounds on the spring roster.
“I thought I could play,” Stukes said. “My dad instilled the confidence in me that I could play here. I wasn’t going to get bitter about these (other) people getting offers.”
Stukes’ father, Ray, played defensive back at Pacific and was a two-way player for the New York CityHawks of the Arena Football League. Stukes said last season that his dad was his first coach, schooled him on football through high school and gave him a plethora of “tips and tricks — all that good stuff.”
Stukes has taken to coaching at Arizona and has benefited from staff continuity in the secondary. Although the UA has a new defensive coordinator in Johnny Nansen, Walker is back for his second season as the cornerbacks coach. So that group has receiving consistent messaging.
“I’ve gotten much smarter as a player,” said Stukes, who’s also among the Wildcats’ fastest players. “I relied a lot on my athletic ability in high school. It’s more than that now. I’m understanding concepts, formations. What are we going to get when they line up like this?”
Although he had bouts of inconsistency last season — to be expected for a second-year freshman with minimal experience — Stukes posted some noteworthy coverage statistics.
According to Pro Football Focus, Stukes had the third-lowest completion rate against among Pac-12 cornerbacks at 45.9% (minimum 20% of coverage snaps). He had the second-most forced incompletions (nine) and the second-highest forced incompletion rate (24.3%). Quarterbacks posted a 64.3 NFL passer rating when throwing at Stukes, the seventh-lowest mark in the conference. Stukes didn’t have an interception, but he didn’t allow a touchdown pass either.
“He’s got a bright future,” Nansen said. “The kid is pretty special. I’ve been around this league for a long time. I’ve been around some great corners at Washington, USC, even at UCLA. He’s just as good as any of them.”
‘Football School’
Earlier in spring, we learned that one of Nansen’s coaching techniques is to teach defensive players about offense. As he said at the time, when players “understand why they’re doing things, then the scheme makes sense to them.”
We subsequently have learned the why behind the why. And that Nansen’s curriculum is called “Football School.”
Nansen played linebacker at Washington State, but he has coached on both sides of the ball. He worked with running backs at Montana State, Washington and USC.
“When I moved to offense, I realized how important it is for defensive guys to understand what offenses are doing,” Nansen said. “And then just talking to scouts at the combine, they say the biggest difference with our guys is that we’re great on the board because of the way we develop them. I think that goes a long way.
“Some of (our) guys are more advanced when they come in (because) they know football. It’s a great foundation. Technique and tackling and all that are important. So is ‘Football School.’ “
Subjects include formations, personnel groupings, route concepts, gaps and techniques. Nansen said he also repeats the first-day installation of the defense to make sure everyone has it down.
Stukes summed up the mission of “Football School” as follows: “See what we know and then see what we all need to learn a little more about.”
Extra points
Arizona used several different combinations at linebacker during Wednesday’s practice, including pairing Jerry Roberts and Malik Reed for the first time this spring. Roberts, who’s working his way back from a broken leg, saw his most extensive action of spring camp. Reed, who’s been battling a hamstring injury, appeared to make it through practice without a setback. Roberts had a sack during 11-on-11 red-zone work.
Defensive end Hunter Echols continued his recent surge, recording 1.5 sacks, a tackle-for-loss, a quarterback hurry and a batted pass in 11-on-11.
Defensive lineman JB Brown returned after sitting out Monday and nearly had an interception.
Tailbacks Drake Anderson and Stevie Rocker Jr. continued to work on the side. Fellow tailback Jalen John remained out.
Other players who did not participate included offensive linemen Davis DiVall and Jacob Reece.
Second-year tight end Colby Powers entered the NCAA transfer portal Thursday. Powers was part of Arizona’s 2021 recruiting class under former coach Kevin Sumlin. Powers didn’t see any action during the ’21 season
Visitors to practice Wednesday included one of the top class of 2024 QB recruits in the nation, Dylan Raiola of Chandler High School. Raiola has 26 offers, including Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and USC.
The Wildcats return to practice Friday. They are slated to scrimmage at noon Saturday at Arizona Stadium.
