Bringuel Bringing New Mentality to Wildcats' Linebacker Corps

The Arizona Wildcats linebacker corps has its new coach in Josh Bringuel, who was hired by the program back in March.

Bringuel played college football at San Diego State under Danny Gonzales, who is now the defensive coordinator for the Wildcats.

"One of his unique traits is being able to relate to his players and relate to his coaches," Bringuel said in an introductory press conference. "He's a great person first and foremost, a great father, a great husband and you see that when you first come into him as a player."

After his playing career was cut short due to injury, Bringuel began coaching for the Aztecs as a graduate assistant in May 2020.

"If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be here," Bringuel said. "I got to get a jumpstart on my coaching career and I got lucky to be able to get started. With Brady Hoke giving me my first official job as a coach and i got to get a jumpstart. That opportunity catapulted me into getting the opportunity to go to Syracuse, which then I went to Nebraska. It led into something that's really special."

Shortly after that, he went to Syracuse in the same position as he was at San Diego State, assisting from 2021 to 2022. He was promoted to a full-time coaching position for the bowl game that the Orange played in.

Bringuel played a part in the Orange improving from a defense ranked in the 100s to being a 19th-ranked defense.

Later on, Bringuel became the defensive quality control coach in 2023 and an assistant linebackers coach in 2024 at Nebraska, aiding in shaping the Huskers to a top-level defense.

Nebraska was ranked eighth in run defense, 13th in scoring defense and 11th overall in the country. In 2024, the Huskers were ranked 14th as a rushing defense, 20th in scoring and 19th overall.

Now that he has the chance to coach his own group of linebackers, he implemented the idea of "dominant contact", which he describes as a "mentality and technique".

Mentally, Bringuel wants his players to make contact with an opposing player with speed and violence. Technique-wise, he is looking to "generate the most force on contact" with body position and footwork.

The Wildcats are going into the 2025 season without the likes of Jacob Manu, Sterling Lane II and Kamuela Ka'aihue, who all transferred to different schools in the offseason

Bringuel has a talented linebacker room to work with for his first year in Tucson. Taye Brown, who was the teams second leading tackler last year behind safety Dalton Johnson should have a good year under the new coach.

Chase Kennedy is another name for fans to look out for, as he seems to be coming into his own during early football camp workouts.

Texas State treansfer Max Harris and Montana transfer Riley Wilson are other names who are hoping to make a name for themselves in the rebuilt Arizona defense.

Should Bringuel use the tools that he used to help build Syracuse and Nebraska into nationally recognized programs defensively, then this will be a linebacker corps that teams in the Big 12 will need to gameplan off of.

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