Arizona DBs coach Brett Arce adding 'flavor' to lessons learned from Duane Akina

For 16 seasons of his nearly 50-year coaching career, Duane Akina was one of Arizona's top assistant coaches.

Akina was a part of several coaching regimes between his first season at the UA in 1987 as a defensive backs coach under head coach Dick Tomey to this last season working for Tomey disciple Brent Brennan.

In between, Akina had stops at Texas and Stanford — and coached three Jim Thorpe Award winners and produced a plethora of NFL Draft picks. Akina's reputation as a defensive backs coach has moved into the guru category. 

Akina was most recently a defensive coordinator for the Wildcats after serving as a defensive backs assistant coach in 2023. After two seasons in Tucson, Akina, who was replaced by linebackers coach Danny Gonzales at defensive coordinator this offseason and returned to coaching defensive backs, became the defensive backs coach at Texas. 

"Akina played a big role in my development, so it was tough seeing him leave, but definitely wish the best for him," said Arizona junior free safety Genesis Smith.

Smith's safety counterpart, Dalton Johnson, who led the Wildcats in tackles last season, said Akina "changed my career around for the better."

Akina was key in Stanford and Arizona landing safety Jshawn Frausto-Ramos, who played two seasons with the Cardinal before transferring to the UA. Frausto-Ramos was recruited by Akina twice, but never played a snap for the defensive backs coach. 

The 68-year-old Akina also mentored his younger colleagues, including Brett Arce, a 35-year-old rising star in the profession, who worked with NFL defensive backs Talanoa Hufunga and Adoree Jackson at USC and played a role in the development of Smith, Johnson, nickel back Treydan Stukes and safety Gunner Maldonado, among others, at Arizona. With Akina gone, Arce moved over from coaching "Stars" (nickel backs) to coaching safeties alongside cornerbacks coach Chip Viney. 

"These past couple of years, while I've been with him, we've had a great working relationship and bounced ideas off each other," Arce said of Akina. "I was like a sponge, just soaking everything up. The way he teaches the game, he teaches offensive theory and I've stolen some of that. He was a quarterback and has been an offensive coordinator, so I think the knowledge of that side of the ball, I was able to gain from him in that part and regurgitate and teach that to our guys."

Like Akina, Arce hails from an offensive background, playing tight end at Stony Brook in New York and starting his coaching career as a wide receivers coach. Defensive coaches with offensive backgrounds "know how offenses break down defenses and what they're looking for ... and you know what gives them problems and how they're going to attack you," Arce said.  

In the two-plus years working together, Akina "has done a ton for me and I've learned a ton from him," Arce said. 

The biggest coaching point Arce learned from Akina: "To be coached is to be loved," he said.

"He coaches those guys hard," Arce said. "To bring the juice and energy every day, that has carried over with me. And he's a phenomenal teacher, the way he teaches the game, where your eyes should be and where the communication is, that has carried over. Our scheme now, there are some differences, but taking those base fundamentals and teaching and where your eyes need to be, all of that has carried over." 

When Akina arrived at the UA in 2023, one of the most notable adjustments he mandated was defensive backs watching film and meeting together as one unit instead of cornerbacks and safeties meeting separately. The cohesiveness in studying film together and learning communication skills translated to production on the field. 

Defensive backs also cross-trained multiple positions in the event of injuries and Arizona has to shuffle players around, like last season with Smith, who started at three different defensive back positions. 

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"There's a lot of carryover in that room," Arce said. "We speak the same language and we're doing the same things. I think that's great for the guys. For me, I've built relationships with these guys for years now, so I think they feel confident in me and it's been fun. Just adding my own twist to things and taking some of the stuff from Coach Akina and adding my own flavor to it. That's been enjoyable."

In addition to Stukes, Arce inherits the two most experienced players in Arizona's defense between Johnson and Smith, who was lauded by Arce for his "great instincts." The Chandler native had a team-high three interceptions last season and received Big 12 Co-Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Houston.

"Expect big things from Genesis," Arce said. "He knows the whole defense mentally and knows what the D-Line does, the linebackers, so that's a value when we get caught in a crunch. He is very natural as that post player. He's one of the better ones I've been around. He's got a great feel (for the game)."

Gonzales' defensive system with disguised blitzes and pressure from linebackers and blitzing defensive backs was on display during Tuesday's practice, when Johnson had a pass breakup in the backfield on a safety blitz. Or sometimes Arizona's defensive backs and linebackers show blitz at the line of scrimmage and drop back in pass coverage. 

"We got guys coming from everywhere right now, whether that's blitzing, safeties dropping in here, dropping in there," Arce said. "I think it's hard for offenses to diagnose pre-snap. That's our job defensively, to make the quarterback second-guess pre-snap. If you're giving him a look and changing that look post-snap, I think we're doing that now and putting stress on offenses." 

Stukes 'a luxury' for Arce

Even though Stukes is unavailable this spring, due to recovery from his season-ending knee injury against Utah in the Big 12 opener, the senior defensive back is a player-coach during practices when he's not rehabbing on the sidelines. 

"I can't say enough good things about Stukes," Arce said. "He's a great player, he's a great teammate. When he got injured at the Utah game, he wasn't worried about himself. He said, 'I gotta get back out there and help my guys.' He's a phenomenal leader for this team, for our position group.

"He continues to coach the guys on the sideline when he's not rehabbing. He looks great right now when he's moving around from what I've seen. When he's not doing stuff with our athletic training group, he's in the huddle giving guys wise words, coaching them on technique stuff. It's a luxury for me, because it's like having another coach." 

Extra points

– Arce, on Arizona's defense working against the Wildcats' up-tempo, no-huddle offense: "I think it's easier to slow down than go fast. Going tempo, like our offense does, is hard to simulate in practice when you're working against a scout team (in the fall). ... I think the world of (offensive coordinator) Seth Doege and what he's doing. They're a pain to go against every day. Them putting stress on us is only going to benefit us in the long run. You can't get that speed and that level of detail and execution like they bring on a day-to-day (basis) when you get into your scout looks. It's hard to do."

– Working against backup offensive tackles Michael Wooten and Matthew Lado, redshirt freshman linebacker Stacy Bey and Alcorn State defensive end transfer Malachi Bailey combined for a sack during a team period on Tuesday. Redshirt freshman edge rusher Eduwa Okundaye also had a sack in the "twos" group.

– Cornerback Jay'Vion Cole, while defending tight end Tyler Powell, intercepted quarterback Noah Fifita. Cole, cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew, cornerback and nickel back Ayden Garnes, Johnson and Smith were starters in Arizona's defensive secondary.

– After an overthrow and a dropped pass, Fifita launched a 65-yard touchdown to Javin Whatley in a 7-on-7 period on Tuesday. Whatley, a transfer from Chattanooga, is a rising slot receiver and a serious candidate for significant snaps this season. Washington State transfer Kris Hutson also had a nifty grab over the middle on a crossing route.

– Former Washington and Boise State head coach Chris Petersen attended Tuesday's practice. Petersen is a longtime friend and mentor of Brennan.