Arizona football lingering question No. 3: Will the Wildcats go bowling after reshaping their defense?

Following the conclusion of spring practice on April 15, the Star is asking three lingering questions surrounding the Arizona Wildcats football program entering the summer. Last up: Will the reworked defense be enough for the Wildcats to qualify for a bowl game?

New guys, meet, well, the new guys.

That was the theme for Arizona’s defense this spring: The five front-six transfer-portal additions for 2023 intermingling with returning veterans, with hopes to elevate the Wildcats’ defense to match their high-powered passing attack that ranked among the best nationally and maybe — just maybe — play in a bowl game for the first time in six years.

An asterisk is attached to “veteran,” because most of the Wildcats’ top returners on defense contributed as true freshmen last season, including linebacker — and unsung Territorial Cup hero — Jacob Manu and cornerback Ephesians Prysock. The Wildcats also deployed an all-freshman defensive line — Russell Davis II, Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, Jacob Kongaika and Sterling Lane II — in spurts in the second half of Pac-12 play in 2022.

After losing safety Christian Young and defensive end Jalen Harris, Rich Rodriguez-recruited players are extinct at the UA. Coupled with transfer-portal departures, including USC cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace and defensive tackle Kyon Barrs, Kevin Sumlin-era players are an endangered species on Arizona’s roster.

Year 2 of the Jedd Fisch era was dedicated to building up Arizona’s offense; Year 3 is focused on revamping the defense, which struggled to stop the run, among other things, in 2022. Last season, Arizona ranked 10th in the Pac-12 in rushing defense and coughed up an average of 209.1 yards per game. The Wildcats surrendered over 300 yards rushing in three games last season, including 354 against Cal, which conceivably prevented Arizona from having a 6-6 season instead of 5-7.

So, along with eight defensive linemen and linebackers signed from the high school and junior-college ranks, the Wildcats fished out three defensive linemen from the transfer portal in tackles Tyler Manoa (UCLA) and Bill Norton (Georgia) and edge rusher Orin Patu (Cal), along with linebackers Justin Flowe (Oregon) and Daniel Heimuli (Washington) — two former highly rated recruits who didn’t pan out at their previous stops.

“They’ve got experience, and the good thing about them is they work pretty well together,” second-year defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said of Flowe and Heimuli. “Obviously more reps are still to come, and they’re still getting used to the system. Having Manu, who’s been here for a year, is helping them through that and it’s been good.”

Fisch said “Justin Flowe and company brought a ton of passion and energy to the practice field that is contagious, and that will take us to where we want to go.”

Flowe, the fiery middle linebacker who is expected to start alongside Manu this season, said: “As soon as I came in, this team, we all just loved each other.”

“We all just wanted to be the best we can be, and I feel like that’s when the energy came in and everything started to change,” he said. “This year, buckle up.”

Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura said of Flowe: “You can hear him on every play, whether he’s talking to us or he’s talking to the defense on that side of the ball.”

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Manoa, who played under Nansen at UCLA, ascended to a potential starter role this spring after he demonstrated run-stopping abilities and swatted several passes. Manoa and Norton combined give Arizona 600-plus pounds of beef in the middle.

“(Manoa) has been around me, so he knows the expectation, and it’s just good to have those guys around,” Nansen said. “All of these older kids bring some passion, some energy, some new life to the program, and I’m excited about it.”

Although Arizona’s defense ranked last in the Pac-12 with four interceptions, the Wildcats were tied at the top for fumbles recoveries (12). Arizona debuted its cactus-shaped “turnover sword” last season and stabbed each football that was used in the takeaway.

In the spring game earlier this month, Arizona forced two fumbles. Over the entire month-long spring practice schedule, free safety Isaiah Taylor consistently recorded interceptions.

“The offense picked up where it left off (from last season), and the defense made one of the bigger jumps that I’ve ever seen, that I sat through,” Fisch said.

Early enrollees such as Chandler safety Genesis Smith, who intercepted a pass during Arizona’s first scrimmage at Arizona Stadium, and Hawaiian linebacker Kamuela Ka’aihue occasionally flourished.

“I’m not afraid to throw those guys in there and see how they respond,” Nansen said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, create competition. That’s going to motivate the guys to play even better and practice better.”

Nansen will have even more competition on the defensive line after the Wildcats added Sio Nofoagatoto’a, a 6-3, 315-pound defensive tackle from Indiana this past week, bringing the UA’s total of front-six players from the transfer portal to six.

“I like to play a lot of guys up front and keep them fresh, but so far right now, I like our rotation,” Nansen said earlier this spring.

With three scholarship spots open, Fisch said Arizona is monitoring the transfer portal with “eyes wide open” this summer, but “we’re only going to try and bring in guys that can really help us at this point in time, because I like the commitment that the team we have here has made.”

“We’ll see what that looks like,” he said. “I love the fact that our defense is getting better, our defense is getting bigger, getting stronger, and with that, they’re getting to a point where we have a chance to really compete at a higher level than we did a year ago.”