Michael Lev: Arizona football secondary — the improving, returning ‘Rad Five’ — could be 2nd to none

Barring something unforeseen, Arizona will return all five starters from its secondary next season.

An entire position group? In this economy? Can you imagine?

That is a rare occurrence indeed in modern college football, where, as of Friday afternoon, almost 1,700 players had entered the transfer portal, per On3.com.

It is a wonderful development for the Wildcats, who will look to build on this year’s breakthrough in 2024.

The unit at the forefront just might be the back end of Arizona’s vastly improved defense.

Treydan Stukes. Gunner Maldonado. Dalton Johnson. Ephesians Prysock. Tacario Davis.

They all got better, and they’re all planning to come back.

Let’s call them the Rad Five. As in radical. As in, this just doesn’t happen anymore.

“I’m excited,” said Stukes, who moved from cornerback to nickel in 2023 and has thrived in that role. “I think we’ve taken a significant step forward this season. Being able to have that continuity, that chemistry that we have and just keep building on it for a whole ’nother season is gonna be good for us for sure.”

It’ll be better than good. It’ll be great. Arizona will have one of the top defensive backfields in the Big 12 and possibly one of the best secondaries in the country.

If you had told me that in August, I wouldn’t have believed you.

Keeping it real

Arizona’s DB unit entered this season with more questions than answers. Stukes was an established starter but was moving to a new position. The safety spots were up for grabs, and none of the candidates had put together a complete season. None of the cornerbacks was a proven starter.

Fast-forward to late December with Thursday’s Valero Alamo Bowl vs. Oklahoma on tap. Stukes and sophomore cornerbacks Davis and Prysock earned honorable-mention honors from the Pac-12. Davis — who wasn’t even a starter at the beginning of the season — got a first-team all-conference nod from Pro Football Focus and a second-team placement from the Associated Press.

Safety Johnson became one of Arizona’s top defensive playmakers. Fellow safety Maldonado became one of the Wildcats’ most reliable tacklers.

The Wildcats have yielded 29 fewer passing yards per game and lowered their completion rate allowed by nearly 10%.

And all five starters are coming back.

How does something like that happen nowadays?

Part of it is good fortune and timing. Davis and Prysock have NFL talent but aren’t eligible for the draft yet. Stukes and Johnson are loyal, team-first players who still have eligibility. Maldonado already transferred once, returning to his home state. Like Stukes, Maldonado has one year left.

Part of it — maybe most of it — is the culture Jedd Fisch has created. “It’s personal” isn’t just a slogan; it’s a mandate.

“The relationship we have with our guys — they know they’re cared for,” defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen said. “And I think they trust the way we’re coaching them. We’re honest with them, which (is) hard to find in college football.

“Tell them exactly how they (can) improve as players — but also how you care about these kids. I think these kids are starting to feel that, and that’s the main reason why you keep the core the way it is.”

“This is not, like, a fake program,” Stukes said. “When you come here, it really is a family. I feel like those guys are my brothers in there. And the coaches, I feel like they truly care about me as a person and not just a football player.”

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Stukes cited the example of how the coaches treated him while he was battling injuries. They didn’t push him to play if he wasn’t feeling right.

“Little stuff like that just shows me that they’re not just caring solely about production,” Stukes said. “They want me to be at 100% for myself, for my career.”

‘Sky’s the limit’

Former Arizona defensive coordinator Don Brown bestowed the coveted “dude” label on Stukes before he went from walk-on to scholarship player in August 2021. A part-time starter at corner that season, Stukes developed into a mainstay this year at nickel, which requires a greater degree of physicality.

Stukes has a career-best 48 tackles and four stops for loss. In November, Nansen dubbed Stukes’ ability to adapt to nickel “the best thing that ever happened to us.”

Maldonado’s emergence as a steady last line of defense might be the most unlikely thing that’s happened. The fourth-year junior posted missed-tackle rates of 27.7% and 24.2% in his first two seasons at Arizona. He struggled at the start of this season, earning PFF grades of 52.7 or worse in four of the Wildcats’ first five games.

Then Maldonado turned it around. He finished the regular season with an overall defensive grade of 71.6 and lowered his missed-tackle rate to 8.1% while recording a career-best 72 tackles.

“He improved in so many ways,” Stukes said. “If I had to pick one, I’d probably say open-field tackles. Being the middle safety, a lot of the times, if a run busts, you’re the last one. He’s made so many of those tackles to keep our defense on the field and give us another chance to line up.”

Johnson hadn’t started a single game before starting 11 of 12 this season. As the year went along, he made more and more plays. In Arizona’s final two contests, one-sided wins over Utah and ASU, Johnson totaled 19 tackles, four TFLs, one sack and one interception.

Johnson ranks second on the team behind All-Pac-12 linebacker Jacob Manu in PFF’s defensive stops stat — tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense. Manu has 37. Johnson has 30. No one else has more than 17.

Davis and Prysock had three starts between them entering this year, all by Prysock. Both flashed their potential as freshmen in part-time roles. Both stand 6-foot-4, which is extraordinary for their position. If secondary coaches John Richardson, Duane Akina and Chuck Cecil could tap into their potential, the thinking went, Arizona might really have something.

Prysock was installed as a starter in spring, and he performed well, allowing only one touchdown all season, per PFF. Davis, who didn’t become a full-time starter until Week 4, one-upped him.

Davis has the highest PFF coverage grade (82.4) of any cornerback in the Pac-12, the second-lowest completion rate allowed (44.2%, trailing only ex-teammate Christian Roland-Wallace) and is tied for the fourth-most forced incompletions (16) in the nation.

“We got two corners that are gonna be NFL guys,” UA quarterback Noah Fifita said.

Receiver Tetairoa McMillan took it a step further: He believes Prysock and Davis can develop into first-round picks.

“Props to my guys. Sky’s the limit for Ephe (Prysock) and Bobo (Davis),” said McMillan, who’s projected to be a first-rounder whenever he declares for the draft.

“I’m glad to ... be able to go against them one-on-one every day. Just like everyone says, iron sharpens iron.”

That’s the Rad Five’s unseen, unquantifiable contribution to the team: They help make the Wildcats’ passing offense better.

“They force you to be perfect,” Fifita said. “Your deep ball’s gotta be perfect throwing against two 6-4 corners. They’re gonna keep you honest at all times.

“If you stare down a receiver, it’s gonna be an interception. If you underthrow a receiver, it’s gonna be an interception.”

“Words can’t explain how good they’ve gotten,” McMillan said. “The transition they’ve made from last year to this year is just ridiculous.

“Let me tell you: In practice it’s battles, for sure.”