Arizona Wildcats Talk: Defensive Adjustments

Welcome! To another edition of the Arizona Wildcats Insiders Podcast featuring your host Troy Hutchison, who will be delivering a daily podcast discussing everything happening surrounding Arizona athletics giving you an inside look at all the programs on campus.

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years, with his coverage spanning all across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their respective sports, there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats' excelling outside of Tucson.

Arizona is set to open up its 2025 season as the team has ended training camp and is now in full game week mode as the Wildcats and head coach Brent Brennan start to prepare for their opening game against Hawaii, which is set for a 7:30 p.m. (MST) kickoff on TNT.

Nov 25, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats linebacker Taye Brown (6) against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the Territorial Cup at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

During the offseason, Arizona and Brennan revamped the coaching staff by hiring Seth Doege as the new offensive coordinator, promoting Danny Gonzales to defensive coordinator and adding Joe Salave’a, Josh Miller and Josh Bringuel to the coaching staff.

Last season, Arizona struggled on both sides of the ball but the defense got worse as the season went along and injuries started to pile up to the point where it was too much to overcome.

However, when the defense was healthy, the unit struggled when going up against dual-threat quarterbacks.

From the very first game of the season Arizona had its issues with running quarterbacks as then-New Mexico QB Devon Dampier, who rushed for 130 yards on 15 attempts and found the end zone twice.

Two weeks later, Kansas State QB Avery Johnson put up 127 yards on the ground in KSU’s 31-7 win over Arizona.

In all, when the Wildcats went up against a running quarterback, the team gave up 363 yards in four games.

The defense didn’t have an answer, or a way to slow down opponents if their quarterbacks had the ability to pick up yards on the ground.

Aug 31, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier (4) gets tackled by Arizona Wildcats defensive back Dalton Johnson (43) during fourth quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

Now, Arizona will open up its 2025 season against Hawaii, whose quarterback Micah Alejado has the ability to be a dual-threat with his mobility. Against Stanford, Alejado had 10 rushes for 36 yards, which isn’t much but it does show that it is part of his overall game.

Last year, Arizona’s defense wasn’t aggressive at times and took a sit back and react approach to its defensive scheme.

Now, with Gonzales taking over as defensive coordinator the scheme of the defense will be changing things up and if what we saw in training camp holds true, the Wildcats will be an aggressive defense that will throw the kitchen sink at their opponents.

In the past at San Diego State and Arizona State, Gonzales ran the 3-3-5 defense as his base set. But, was known for mixing things up and giving the quarterback different looks constantly throughout a 60-minute game.

Arizona will need to improve against rushing quarterbacks with four on the schedule. Saturday’s game against Hawaii will be a solid test for the defense and give them an idea of where they're at when it comes to defending dual-threat quarterbacks.

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