Arizona Wildcats Training Camp Talk: Defensive Takeaways

After an underwhelming 2024 season under Brent Brennan where Arizona went 4-8 after starting the year in the preseason AP Poll at No. 21 and ending the year losing 7 out of its last 8 games, the WIldcats made changes to the roster and their coaching staff.

Brennan revamped his coaching staff 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.”

The energy at practice was high, loud and the pace of play was a complete 180 from the previous season and matches the mindset and mentality that the coaching staff wasn’t to bring to the 2025 season.

Three Observations

Takeaways

• Last season under former defensive coordinator Duane Akina saw many of his players fall to injuries forcing the coaching staff to play players that weren’t ready for live games from freshmen to walk-ons. With the lack of experience on the field, Arizona struggled at creating turnovers coming up with 16 and ranking 77th nationally.

• This training camp, Arizona has been flying to the ball and creating some issues for the offense, which has led to interceptions and some fumbles during 11-on-11 drills. The Wildcats have been well-balanced on both sides of the ball but it seems the defense is going to be an aggressive unit that will create needed turnovers to flip field

Michael Dansby

• Before transferring to Arizona, cornerback Michael Dansby played three seasons at San Jose State where he played under Brennan his first two seasons. While with the Spartans, Dansby played in 32 games where he recorded 70 total tackles, 49 solo tackles, three tackles for loss and five interceptions.

• During training camp, Dansby has been working with the first team and second team defense becoming a piece of the rotation on the defensive unit for Gonzales.

• Dansby has been solid and has been able to come away with a few interceptions and pass breakups as he has gotten better each day in camp.

Alexander Doost

• After transferring to Arizona from Northwestern last season, guard Alexander Doost became one of the most consistent players on the Wildcats’ offensive line playing in 12 while making nine starts allowing just three sacks during that time.

• In training camp, Arizona’s coaching staff has been raving about the progress they have seen out of Doost and how he has grown as a player. He has been able to be rock solid in the running game and has improved his footwork in the passing game as well.