'Heart' of Arizona's defensive secondary 'continue to work and grow their game'

After Arizona’s triple-overtime loss to USC last season in Los Angeles, then-UA defensive backs coach Duane Akina mandated the UA defensive backs to study game film together — coaches and players.

Instead of the cornerbacks and nickel backs meeting only with the cornerbacks coach, or the safeties meeting with their position coach, combine the group so it could work as one unit.

Akina compared it to offensive linemen meeting separately; tackles work with a tackles coach, while centers and guards work with another coach.

“I think the secondary has to hear one voice,” said Akina, who’s entering his first season as Arizona’s defensive coordinator. “Communication is just too important.”

Arizona adopted the one-nickel-instead-of-five-pennies mindset, which boosted their communication and play on the field. Since the Wildcats combined their defensive backs meetings, they haven’t lost a game and have the second-longest winning streak (seven games) in FBS behind Michigan.

Junior cornerback Tacario Davis, who was recently projected as a first-round pick in the next NFL Draft, blossomed into one of the top cornerbacks in college football with a Pac-12-best 16 passes defended. Free safety Gunner Maldonado drastically improved over the course of the season and became the Alamo Bowl Defensive MVP, while safety Dalton Johnson, nickel back Treydan Stukes and cornerback Ephesians Prysock were steady playmakers.

The Wildcats had the fourth-best passing defense (229 yards per game) in the Pac-12 behind Oregon, Utah and UCLA. Pass deflections rose from 35 to 53 — four interceptions to nine — between the 2022 and ‘23 seasons.

“I really thought by the end of the year, the secondary was playing well,” Akina said.

All but one of the aforementioned players (Prysock) are back with the No. 21-ranked Wildcats this season. Louisville transfer cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew, rising sophomore Genesis Smith, who the Arizona coaches have called a “chess piece” in the secondary, and Colgate safety transfer Owen Goss have bolstered the UA secondary.

Davis, Maldonado, Stukes and Johnson, “the heart” of the secondary, “have not stood still” since returning to the UA for this season, Akina said.

“They continue to work and grow their game,” Akina said. “I always talk about a standard and, for me, you have to coach the best players the hardest, because they’re never finished. I don’t care if you’re a 10-year pro, you’re still going to learn in the scheme; the scheme is always moving forward.”

Akina is a renowned defensive backs coach. He mentored three Jim Thorpe Award winners in Darryl Lewis (Arizona), Michael Huff (Texas) and Aaron Ross (Texas) and other notable NFL defensive backs, including Chris McAlister, who will be the honorary captain for Saturday’s season opener against New Mexico.

Although Akina is considered a DB Yoda, he has an offensive foundation as a coach. Akina was the backup quarterback to Warren Moon at Washington and a one-time offensive coordinator under former Arizona head coach Dick Tomey from 1992-95 during the height of the “Desert Swarm” era.

“I teach from an offensive perspective. It’s a class,” Akina said. “We know offensive theory as much as anything.”

Akina’s students “bought into the mental side of the game” and have “really raised the level of the room, which has improved the younger players.”

“It’s wonderful that they’ve bought into that,” Akina said. “The older guys are the ones who set the example.”

Added Akina: “As they go, the room chases them because they all want to be the starter.”

Since “they’ve bought into the intellectual side of the game,” Arizona’s defensive backs have cross-trained positions. If a safety has to leave the game, the next person up could be a safety. Or a cornerback. Or a safety.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

“That’s a big thing for us. Coach Akina always talks about (how) he wants the best guy on the field,” Stukes said. “He’s not sticking to depth charts. Having position flexibility allows us to put the best guy that’s going to next up, whoever it may be, wherever they need to be. We need to move guys around so we can match up with teams the best way possible.”

Arizona expects blitzing Lobos

UA head coach Brent Brennan said New Mexico, Arizona’s season-opening opponent, is “definitely creative defensively.”

New Mexico’s first touchdown of the season was a scoop-and-score off delayed blitzes by linebacker Jayden Wilson, who caused the sack-fumble, and safety Christian Ellis, who scored the touchdown in Saturday’s loss to Montana State. Arizona fully expects the Lobos to deploy linebackers and defensive backs as blitzers against the Wildcats.

“They’re going to do it again, because that’s in their scheme,” said Arizona right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea. “We’re going to expect it and be prepared for it come Saturday.”

Arizona center Josh Baker said “specific player alignments” reveal blitzes pre-snap. After “time and time and time again of watching certain plays, you’re going to see tells of what’s coming,” Baker said.

The UA offensive line will likely have two first-year starters on its offensive line in redshirt freshman left tackle Rhino Tapa’atoutai, who’s succeeding Jordan Morgan, and San Jose State transfer right guard Ryan Stewart.

Arizona’s offensive line “is coming together pretty good now that we’ve gotten many guys able to get reps so we’ve gotten more cohesion and depth with guys coming in to fill their roles,” Baker said.

The starting offensive line on Saturday could be a rough draft of the Wildcats’ most cohesive five-man unit.

“You never know with the health. We still got some guys who are banged up from camp,” said Arizona offensive coordinator Dino Babers. “As they get healthier and show us what they need to show us, they’ll have an opportunity. I really don’t think that offensive lines get settled until the third or fourth week of the season, then you’ve got two-thirds of the season left. But I am excited about what I’ve seen the last four or five practices, and I do think they’re coming together.”

Family ties

Arizona recently announced the addition of several staffers, including Kamalii Akina, son of Duane Akina, as a recruiting coordinator.

The youngest Akina, nicknamed Kama, is the youngest of five siblings — two brothers and two sisters — and was born in Tucson. He played three seasons as a backup quarterback at the University of Hawaii. Akina played for the Rainbow Warriors after starring at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, California while the older Akina coached defensive backs at Stanford under David Shaw.

After college, he had an opportunity to coach with former Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich at Washington State, “but he loved being back in the islands,” said Duane Akina.

Kamalii Akina was a ramp agent for Hawaiian Airlines and was in contention to work in the “front office (for) NBA teams,” but “he had thought about (football) for a while.”

“As we know, young coaches hear ‘no’ a lot more than we hear ‘yes.’ He interviewed and got it on his own,” Duane Akina said.

“I’m proud of him.”