Saturday Storylines: Arizona looks to find mojo on defense vs. NAU, return of the turnover sword, more

Five storylines for No. 20 Arizona's "red out" matchup with Northern Arizona at Arizona Stadium on Saturday. 

Duane Akina avoids giving out letter grades for his players when assessing their performances in games.  

He's just never done it.  

"Why would I start now? I've done this 44 years (and) I never said, 'This is an A, this is a B, this is a C,'" said Arizona's defensive coordinator. "What I will say, we need to be better.

"We just have to get better and we understand that as a staff, as a football team." 

As the Wildcats prepare to host Northern Arizona in their second and final nonconference home game of the 2024 season — it's the matchup that precedes Arizona's battle at No. 17 Kansas State next week — the Wildcats "just gotta do better, prepare better and do our job," said nickel back Treydan Stukes.

Arizona was shaky in three departments against New Mexico: tackling, giving up big plays and penalties.

Pro Football Focus counted 14 missed tackles that led to, according to Akina, 84 additional yards for the Lobos.

"That's all hidden yardage there," Akina said.

Practicing tackling is a double-edged sword. "Live tackling" is "definitely something that's hard to simulate," Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. Replicating live tackling puts potential stars and impact players at risk of injury. Then if a coach plays it safe during practice, the risk of sloppy tackling and extra yards arises. 

"Coaches across America are having this conversation every single offseason, in-season, because you're trying to create the most safe practice environment you can, but also get the required physical work you need to get done, and it's a challenge," said Brennan.  

If the Wildcats showed a weakness and a red flag in their first game of the season, it was struggling to corral an athletic quarterback like New Mexico's Devon Dampier, who rushed for 130 yards. Arizona also didn't have any sacks for the first time in nearly two years and had just three tackles for loss. 

"People are trying to do more than their job," Brennan said.

"That's been our focus this week," he added. "'Just do your job this week and we will be fine.'" 

Stukes, who Akina earlier dubbed the "best-kept secret in college football," also surrendered eight receptions and 96 yards on 11 targets against New Mexico, per PFF. Of the seven big plays (15-plus yards) New Mexico had against Arizona, six were in the first half, including two 31-yard receptions during the same drive in the first quarter.    

"We know we didn't play up to our standard," Stukes said. "We set a high standard for ourselves, and we were hoping to play better than that, but that's football, that's life.

"When stuff doesn't go your way early, sometimes guys get in their own head and make plays they're not supposed to make," he added. "I think we just calmed ourselves down, tried to remember who we were, get back to doing our own job and playing our game." 

Akina said, "eliminating the big plays is critical" this week, as well as the "selfish penalties."

Arizona had nine penalties for 100 yards, including two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on defensive backs Tacario Davis and Genesis Smith, who took off his helmet immediately after securing his second-career interception. Coupled with a first-half personal foul call, Davis was ejected in the second half.

The Wildcats "made too many mental errors" and "gotta be better in terms of the penalty situation," Akina said. 

"A couple of those penalties extended drives, so that takes momentum out of the game, and I take responsibility for all of that," he said. "Everywhere I've been, we've been a defense that plays on the edge, yet keeps its poise. As much as anything, we have to work on that aspect." 

Brennan's message to the Wildcats this week: "How damaging those self-inflicted wounds are and understanding everyone on the field — from the head coach to trainer and everybody in between — has a responsibility. No one is worth 15 yards. Nobody."

Smith, who has two interceptions in the last two games going back to the Alamo Bowl, could potentially make his first-career start at Arizona. The 6-2, 203-pound Smith signed with the Wildcats as a safety but has played nickel back behind Stukes. With Arizona senior safety Gunner Maldonado playing 45 snaps last week and leaving for injury, Smith stepped into the free safety role and had four tackles and one interception. Maldonado's status is questionable this week. 

"I thought he did a great job," Stukes said of Smith. "It was his first time playing some significant snaps at a different position and I think he did well. I'm excited to see what he's going to do moving forward."

Brennan said Smith, a Chandler native and former Hamilton High School star, "has this incredible energy and big smile."

"He's a super engaging young man," Brennan said.

Smith learning from veterans and multi-year starters like Stukes, Maldonado and safety Dalton Johnson "is incredibly valuable," Brennan said.

"All of those guys are really good players," said Arizona's head coach. "They've all played a ton of football. Them being in that big-brother mode is extremely valuable for his process and development. We're all expecting big things from Genesis as his career continues." 

Lado expected to take lumps

Arizona freshman offensive tackle Matthew Lado appeared to be on the redshirt track for his first college football season. Then Arizona had its top two left tackles suffer injuries in Rhino Tapa'toutai and Oregon transfer Michael Wooten, who is expected to return soon. Tapa'toutai exited the win over New Mexico and is questionable for Saturday.

Arizona's thin depth at tackle has thrust Lado into a potential starting role.   

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The 6-6, 292-pound Lado signed with Arizona in December after his career at Apollo High School in Glendale. Lado was one of three Apollo stars to sign with the Wildcats, along with running back Adam Mohammed and Michael Watkins, who both transferred to Washington. 

It's expected for Lado, who Brent Brennan called a "a really neat young man," to endure growing pains and lessons most first-year offensive linemen experience. But the early experience can pay off in the long run; i.e., Jordan Morgan, Arizona's first-round pick by the Green Bay Packers earlier this year. Morgan struggled as an underclassman but progressively improved — with the help of gaining weight — over his five-year career and became one of the top blockers in college football. 

Brennan said Lado "has a long way to go" before reaching Morgan's high-caliber level of play, Brennan said.  

"Every freshman wants to play. The hard part of it is there's a developmental process to getting good at college football," said Brennan. "Sometimes when a freshman has to early, it accelerates that development, but there's some tough lessons in there. We're going to do everything we can to bring him along the right way.

"There's going to be some tough moments for him. That's just the nature of it. You're going up against guys who are four or five years older than you and just have more experience at this level." 

Long live the turnover sword

The turnover sword, Arizona's cactus-shaped prop to celebrate takeaways, is staying at Arizona. The "fun tradition" that deflates opponents' footballs was started by former defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen in 2022. 

The Wildcats used the turnover sword for their two interceptions against New Mexico.

"I think it's a cool tradition," Brent Brennan said. "It's been here for a little while and it's awesome."

Duane Akina said the turnover sword is "a heck of a thing."

"I don't know how others feel. ... The kids really enjoy it and I think it's a neat aspect of the game," 

Nansen, now the insider linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator at Texas, brought a UT-inspired sword known as "Texcalibur." The Arizona players don't feel slighted by Nansen handing Texas its own turnover sword. 

"Coach Nansen has all the leeway he wants," UA defensive back Treydan Stukes said. "It's a fun thing. I'm glad he showed it to us and I'm glad we can share it and he allows us to use it over here, too." 

Getting to know the Lumberjacks  

ESPN Tucson's "Spears and Ali" spoke with Mitch Strohman, the 27-year voice of the Lumberjacks, earlier this week about NAU. Here are three questions from that interview: 

How do you assess NAU's 66-6 win over Lincoln, an independent travel-ball team from the Bay Area, last week? 

A: "We'll start with the 60-point-win part. It's hard to get around that particular number right off the top. With all due respect, it's a tough game to draw anything super conclusive from. Even NAU's head coach Brian Wright said after the game on Saturday in Flagstaff, 'It's a hard game to look at and take away meaningful conclusions.'

"Lincoln is a non-Division I team. They're not even an NAIA team, so it's tough to look at and say, 'That's great execution here, great execution there,' because the quality of opponent was lacking. Overall, everyone did what they were expected to do on the field.

"For the Lumberjacks, they needed to play this team and as hard as they could until the final moments of the fourth quarter to keep their mental focus and sharpness — and they did that."

What is Wright's coaching background, and what's NAU's identity under his direction?

A: "He wants the identity of NAU to be explosive offensively and sharp with their focus and execution on both sides of the football and special teams.

"The last four years in the best Division II conference in the country with Pittsburg State (Kansas), the Gorillas. Just an amazing winning percentage there, all kinds of offensive productivity and just a really good football program there. He actually spent four games as an interim head coach at Florida Atlantic after they fired their head coach before the end of the season. He went 4-0 with Florida Atlantic and was in the hunt for the full-time job. His coaching record is outstanding and he's a guy that's all about offense.

"It's the first time in about 25 years that NAU has a head coach that comes from an offensive mindset.

"It's a paradigm shift for Lumberjack football in Flagstaff with Coach Wright, and that has a lot of people excited." 

Who are one or two Lumberjacks we should pay attention to on Saturday?

A: "Quarterbacks, both Ty Pennington and Angel Flores. On defense, (defensive back) Alex McLaughlin, he was a Freshman All-American last year on the back like. He was a guy who could've transferred out of this program to any FBS school and decided to stay here." 

Zendejas named honorary captain

After Arizona brought in former All-American defensive back Chris McAlister as the first honorary captain of the season, the Wildcats' next captain will be the program's all-time leading scorer, kicker Max Zendejas. 

The two-time All-Pac-10 kicker and Sun Bowl MVP had multiple game-winning field goals as a Wildcat, including a 48-yarder to help Arizona take down Notre Dame in South Bend in 1982 and a 45-yarder the following season to lift UA over in-state rival Arizona State in Tempe. 

Zendejas was inducted into the UA Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.