Nov 25, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats safety Dalton Johnson (43) against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the Territorial Cup at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Arizona Updates its Team Captains for the Game

Originally posted on Arizona Wildcats on SI
By Troy Hutchison | Last updated Aug 30, 2025 5:56 PM ET

The wait is finally over and the long offseason has come to an end as the Wildcats will opening their 2025 season against Hawaii on Aug. 30, 7:30 p.m. (MST). Now, before the start of the season, head coach Brent Brennan went out and revamped his coaching staff following the end of an underwhelming 4-8 year with the team missing a bowl game berth.

Brennan mixed his coaching staff up by hiring Seth Doege as the offensive coordinator and promoting Danny Gonzales to the defensive coordinating job. Plus, he was able to bring in defensive line coach Joe Salave’a, who is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation and a former Wildcat as well.

“When we go through a tough season like we did a year ago, you got to find a way to fix what was broken, fix what wasn’t working and put those pieces together,” Brennan said. “And part of those pieces are how we’re going to do things in terms of how we’re going to coach, what we’re going to do schematically and the other part is who are the players that are going to play those roles.”

Although this is the first game for the Wildcats, we have seen Hawaii already record a win in a game against Stanford in a solid 23-20 victory off a game-winning field goal by kicker Kansei Matsuzawa.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Before the Wildcats take the field on Saturday, Brennan spoke to the media one last time about the upcoming game, what he has seen in practice and his thoughts on Hawaii.

During his press conference, Brennan was asked about the team captains for the season and if the team and staff have come to a decision on those guys.

“I can tell you right now for sure for this one, the first group going out there will be Noah [Fifita], Tre [Smith], and Genesis [Smith],’” Brennan stated. “And then there'll be a player to be named later that'll be added to that group.”

So the WIldcats are going with two defensive players in Tre and Genesis and an offensive player in Fifita with one player to be named ahead of game-time.

Now, Brennan has added Dalton Johnson to the captains list for the Wildcats' game against Hawaii making him the fourth captain.