Arizona Wildcats football training camp preview, Part I: Defense

Leading up to Arizona’s spring football practice schedule, which begins on Tuesday and ends with the UA’s spring game on April 27, the Star is previewing how the Wildcats stand heading into the first season under new head coach Brent Brennan. Part I: Defense.

Key returners: LB Jacob Manu, CB Tacario Davis, DT Bill Norton, FS Gunner Maldonado, SS Dalton Johnson, DB Treydan Stukes, DL Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, LB Justin Flowe, S Genesis Smith

Key departures: DE Taylor Upshaw, CB Ephesians Prysock, DE Isaiah Ward, DT Tiaoalii Savea, DT Tyler Manoa, DB/LB Martell Irby, DT Sio Nofoagatoto’a, DE Russell Davis II, DT Jacob Kongaika, CB Dylan Wyatt

Key additions: DE Tre Smith, DT Chubba Ma’ae, CB Marquis Groves-Killebrew, S Jack Luttrell, CB Johno Price, DE Cyrus Durham, DT Kevon Darton (joining team in summer)

On the rise: CB Jai-Ayviauynn Celestine, LB Leviticus Su’a, DE Dominic Lolesio, LB Kamuela Ka’aihue, DE Sterling Lane II, DT Isaiah Johnson, LB Taye Brown

Coaches: Duane Akina (defensive coordinator), Danny Gonzales (linebackers/special teamss), Joe Seumalo (defensive line), Chip Viney (cornerbacks), Brett Arce (Stars)

The rundown: One could make an argument that Arizona’s defense is the reason the Wildcats were able to rally in the second half to beat Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl in December.

Oklahoma was knocking on the door, threatening to score and deliver the haymaker until Johnson caused a fumble that landed in the hands of Maldonado, who returned it 87 yards for a touchdown, sparking the Wildcats to a 38-24 win. Arizona forced six turnovers en route to beating Oklahoma.

“I hugged them all because we beat the heck out of those guys physically,” said Akina. “The greatest compliment you can receive as a coach is not, ‘Man, your scheme is this or that,’ because there’s a lot of different schemes; it’s ‘You guys play hard and responsible and execute the defense.’ As coaches, we’re teachers. We have to inspire learning, hard work and details or whatever it is. I’m just glad I teach a cool subject, which is football.”

Arizona ended the 2023 season 50th in total defense, a significant improvement from 125th nationally from the previous year, courtesy of former defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen’s leadership; he’s now a co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Texas.

Arizona went from surrendering 36.5 points per game in 2022 to just 21.1 in ’23, which ranked fourth in the Pac-12. After having one of the worst rushing defenses in college football in 2022, allowing just over 209 yards per game, the Wildcats had the 27th-best rushing defense and gave up 118.2.

With a few fresh faces in the starting lineup, rotation and coaching staff, the core of Arizona’s defense remains. Akina takes over as Arizona’s defensive coordinator, the sixth defensive play-caller since 2019, after spending last season as a defensive backs assistant. Akina has worked with five different head coaches at Arizona between Dick Tomey, John Mackovic, Mike Stoops, Jedd Fisch and now Brennan.

In his latest act as Arizona’s defensive coordinator, the 67-year-old Akina, who helped create the celebrated “Desert Swarm” defense in the 1990s, said his “first job I have here is to gain the respect of the locker room, and you do that through toughness.”

“Everybody respects physical toughness, but what I’ve added is mental toughness, because you’re going to have adversity in this game — you’re going to have adversity in life,” Akina said. “You need to be able to manage that.”

The Wildcats did just that in the Alamo Bowl and look to double-down on another memorable season to stack on top of their 10-3 campaign last year.

This upcoming season, Arizona’s defense will have the 4-2-5 scheme it ran for the last two seasons, along with its modifications, like the “dollar” package with seven defensive backs or the “double-eagle flex” defense, or 3-3-5, which they deployed in a 38-point win over Washington State.

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Akina said the secondary and defensive front “will be much the same,” but “maybe a little more attacking in some ways, but the language (will be the same).”

However, the Wildcats don’t have the depth in certain areas that they were expecting to have upon entering the offseason, including defensive line, which lost Upshaw, Manoa and Nofoagatoto’a to the NFL Draft, and Ward, Davis and Kongaika to the transfer portal. Norton will anchor a defensive line that will rely on up-and-coming prospects in addition to transfer portal players, including Smith, who was a first-team All-Mountain West edge rusher at San Jose State.

At cornerback, between Prysock’s departure and three decommitments from the 2024 recruiting class, the Wildcats lost four players to Washington and Fisch.

Washington didn’t nab every Arizona cornerback, though.

Junior Tacario Davis, who led the Pac-12 with 15 pass breakups, decided to stay at Arizona for at least through the spring, after entering the transfer portal after Fisch left for Washington. With Davis, who switched his jersey number from 23 to 1, back in Arizona’s secondary, the Wildcats have four of five starters back this season.

“I think we’ve developed a few defensive backs over the years. I’m glad he’s here,” Akina said of Davis. “He’s got a lot of upside, along with Stukes, Gunner and Dalton. We have a good core in the back end. I’ve been a part of some really good secondaries, and I thought our secondary was really playing well at the end. Very high IQ players, which helps us.”

In the final two games of the season the safety tandem of Johnson and Maldonado recorded three interceptions, two fumble returns and two forced fumbles. Throughout the season, Stukes and Johnson were among Arizona’s top open-field tacklers. By the end of the last season, “there was no discussion who our best players were back there,” Akina said of Arizona’s defensive backs.

“I think there’s a few more things we can get to back there,” he added.

Potential replacements, besides Groves-Killebrew (a transfer from Louisville), for Prysock are Celestine and redshirt freshman Emmanuel Karnley, who Viney called “hard workers.” Karnley didn’t appear in any games last season, and Celestine played just 24 defensive snaps but received the fourth-best defensive grade for a Wildcat, according to Pro Football Focus.

“They’re guys who don’t have a lot of opportunity and playing time, but they’re going to see a lot of opportunity in the spring and fall," said Viney. "They’re foaming at the mouth. They’re attacking every single workout and willing and ready to take the next step in their careers.”

In the middle of Arizona’s defense is Manu, the Wildcats’ All-Pac-12 linebacker who led the conference in tackles (116). Akina called the 5-11, 225-pound Manu “a legitimate tough guy.”

“I don’t care what the paper says, he is physically and mentally a tough guy,” Akina said. “Everybody respects toughness in this game.”

Between Arizona’s other linebacker position, cornerback and defensive line, the Wildcats have a few questions entering spring ball, “high IQ” and experience working together as a unit gives Akina optimism for the season.

“(Manu) has a very high IQ and you can give him a lot of information. We’re blessed because we have that in the second level, and then Gunner, Stukes and Dalton are high IQ players. Bill Norton up front is a high IQ player,” Akina said. “If the middle of your team is strong, you got a chance to win a lot of games. ... The middle of our defense really gave us a chance.”