What Do Coaches and Teammates Think of Genesis Smith?

Arizona is now in the stages of fall camp after a productive spring practice that Smith says was used to build chemistry and learn more of the defense.

"Spring was good, "(I got to)Learn a lot of new things, a lot of new defenses. Kind of got acclimated to everybody, all the new players, and built up our chemistry, and it kind of built the confidence, and this off-season built the confidence for us to go into fall camp fast."

Smith's leadership and liveliness are what earned him the respect of his coaches and teammates. If all things pan out in the season, Gonzales believes it might end with him adding a Big 12 player of the year award to his resume.

"If everything clicks for Genesis, he'll have a chance to be the Big 12 player of the year," Gonzales said. "He'll be first team all Big 12 and he probably won't be here next year, unfortunately. That's how talented he is and that's the opportunity that position creates for him. It'd be a good and a bad problem to have. because trying to replace that guy would be really hard. He's a special human being."

Fellow safety Dalton Johnson felt the same way, holding high praise for his defensive counterpart and stating just why he is a special player when out on the field.

"Yeah, I would say he's not really young at this point, but his body is young, I guess you can say," Johnson said. "He's great in the post number one, and he has great hands and feel for where the ball is going to be. And then he's getting used to the box. He's really becoming an all-around player. So I think Gen has a great chance at being a player of the year candidate. Plus, he can do it all. So if he just keeps working on each game, he'll be fine."

Redshirt senior edge rusher Tre Smith pointed to Smith's ability to light up the locker room with his humor but also knows how to dial in when it comes to practice or games.

"One thing I love about Genesis is that he is one of the funniest guys ever, but he knows when to work," Jones said." He knows when it's time to work. He knows when it's time to be serious, so he always helps us all stay locked in, remember the mission that we're focused on and just get it done."

Click the link to find our social media page for more stories.