'Straight-up baller' Genesis Smith is the 'CEO' of Arizona football

The CEO of every college football team is the head coach, but the Arizona Wildcats have another CEO in their program.

Arizona’s second CEO isn’t a Chief Executive Officer; that’s head coach Brent Brennan. The Wildcats’ other CEO is free safety Genesis Smith — also known as the “Chief Energy Officer, because he is always with the juice. Always,” Brennan said after Arizona’s 23-17 win over Kansas State Friday night.

Brennan called Smith “the energizer bunny” of Arizona’s defense.

“He doesn’t stop,” said the Arizona coach. “But the guys feed off of that.”

Arizona defensive end Tre Smith (no relation) said the UA safety’s “effort is so fanatical.”

“His character, who he is as a human being, you’ll go play hard for that guy every single time,” he said.

Genesis Smith has been one of Arizona’s most productive defensive players this season, and the third-year safety from Chandler leads the Wildcats in tackles (19), pass breakups (four) and is one of five players with an interception this season.

Arizona’s defense currently ranks 10th nationally — second in the Big 12 — in total defense, allowing just 222.3 yards per game. Arizona is also 10th in college football in points allowed per game (8.7), and is tied with Houston for the most interceptions in the Big 12 this season.

Against Kansas State on Friday, Arizona held the visiting Wildcats to 193 yards of total offense and just 88 passing yards. Arizona also held Weber State to just 68 passing yards the week before, marking the first time Arizona held back-to-back opponents under 100-plus passing yards since Georgia Tech (65) and Illinois (75) in 1995 — the peak of the “Desert Swarm” era.

“Any time you hold any Division I team to under 200 yards of total offense, that’s a special night,” Brennan said. “That is a hell of a football night. Our defensive staff and those players should be ecstatic. We’re ecstatic for them, because that’s big time. ... We gotta give the defense their flowers. That was awesome.”

Arizona also held Kansas State to 3-for-17 on third- and fourth-down conversions. Arizona has the third-best third-down defense in the Big 12, with a 22.5% conversion rate, along with the second-best fourth-down defense at 16.7%.

“That’s a championship down, so we gotta get off the field,” Smith said. “We felt like we did well in that.”

Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales “has this mantra that third-and-medium is a championship down, and we showed up on a lot of those third-and-mediums,” Brennan said.

“I like the confidence our defense is playing with,” he added. “They trust Coach Gonzales and the staff, they’re all doing their job and when they do their job with redline, you’re seeing fantastic results. I’m encouraged for that thing to continue to develop and evolve over the next couple weeks of practice and over the course of the season. But 3-for-17 is an awesome number for a defensive football team on third (and fourth) down.”

Arizona’s only defensive blunder against Kansas State was the opening play of the second half, when K-State wide receiver Jayce Brown lined up in “Wildcat” formation, took the snap and ran for a 75-yard touchdown. Kansas State running back Joe Jackson grabbing Arizona nickel back Gavin Hunter’s left shoulder, which could’ve been flagged for holding, prevented Hunter from tackling Brown, but Smith took a misstep 2 yards in front of the line of scrimmage and missed the tackle.

Brown’s touchdown was the first touchdown Arizona allowed this season. Arizona didn’t allow a touchdown in the first 10 quarters — 150 minutes — of the season. Arizona only surrendered 12 points in the first 10 quarters of the season. In 12 quarters this season, Arizona’s defense has shut out its opponents in seven of them.

After Kansas State’s opening touchdown of the second half, Smith responded with a game-high three pass breakups and eight tackles and nearly grabbed the game-sealing interception on the final possession. Smith was Arizona’s highest-graded defender (86.3) in pass coverage on Friday, according to Pro Football Focus.

“Miss a play? Miss a tackle? I gotta respond,” Smith said. “I felt like I responded well.”

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Smith said, “there’s definitely been a lot of growth this year as far as responding” to adversity and shrugging off bad plays.

“Getting back to redline whenever adversity strikes, that was Coach Brennan’s emphasis on this game,” said Smith. “Whenever we mess up, just own it and fix it. It worked itself out from there.”

After the game, Brennan called the 6-2, 204-pound Smith “a straight-up baller.”

“He’s an awesome football player,” Brennan said. “He’s still pissed off, because he dropped the two interceptions that both would’ve been just miraculous, incredible catches. But that’s what kind of competitor he is. ... To his credit, (he) misses a tackle and then shows up consistently late in the game in the moments that matter.

“In the moments when it has to get done, Genesis is there to make a play.”

Ma’ae ‘is everything right about college football’

Arizona made a tweak to its offensive line on Friday. In addition to Rhino Tapa’atoutai making his second start at right tackle, Chubba Ma’ae made his first-career start at left guard.

Redshirt junior and converted tackle Michael Wooten started the previous two games at left guard between left tackle Ty Buchanan and center Ka’ena Decambra.

Ma’ae was a key cog in Arizona rushing for 234 yards against Kansas State. Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi doesn’t rush for 189 yards “without that offensive front blocking the way they had to against a team that’s normally hard to block,” Brennan said.

Ma’ae’s block on Kansas State defensive end Cody Stufflebean created a lane for Mahdi to burst for a 60-yard run in the first quarter. The drive ended with quarterback Noah Fifita rushing in for a 15-yard touchdown. The 6-2, 349-pound Ma’ae also received a team-high 88.7 pass-blocking grade on PFF and had Arizona’s fourth-highest overall grade (63.4) on offense.

“Wow, did he show up tonight,” Brennan said on Friday. “I’m just so proud of him and so happy for him.”

Ma’ae, a Long Beach, California native and Long Beach Poly graduate, played defensive tackle the first four years of his collegiate career at UC Davis and Arizona, but moved to the offensive line in the second half of Arizona’s spring practice schedule earlier this year. Ma’ae and Wooten, among others, split reps at left guard.

Ma’ae also endured tragedy “and had a tough fall,” Brennan said. Ma’ae’s father, James, died in August at 55 years old. Despite the significant loss in his family, Ma’ae grieved through playing football and being around his Arizona football family — and honoring his father on the football field.

Ma’ae started a YouTube series, “Chowing Down with Chubba,” where he tries notable restaurants around Tucson with some of his teammates and other UA athletes. Chowing Down with Chubba has shot episodes at Martin’s Comida Chingona, Fiamme Pizza, Brother John’s Barbecue and Baja Cafe.

“Chubba is one of those young men where if you spend any time with him, you’re blown away by his charisma, his intelligence,” Brennan said. “He’s just one of those special young people. He’s a leader of our football team. ... He’s one of those guys that is everything right about college football. I’m glad Chubba is on our team — and so is everybody else. Everyone loves Chubba.”

Extra points

— Arizona’s upcoming opponent, Iowa State, moved up to No. 12 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. The Cyclones are the highest-ranked team from the Big 12, ahead of No. 16 Utah and No. 17 Texas Tech.

— Arizona is one of eight Big 12 teams without a loss. Other undefeated teams in the Big 12 are No. 12 Iowa State (4-0), No. 16 Utah (3-0), No. 17 Texas Tech (3-0), Houston (3-0), BYU (2-0), TCU (2-0) and UCF (2-0).