46 Days Linebackers and Defensive Backs
Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2022 5:26 am
Here is Brian J. Pedersen's break down for each group from AZDS:
Arizona currently has 13 linebackers on the roster and 5 incoming scholarship players.
Starters: Malik Reed (Soph.), Jerry Roberts (RS-Sr.)
Backups: Anthony Solomon (Jr.), x-Sterling Lane (Fr.)
Will also play: Ammon Allen (RS-Fr.), Kolbe Cage (RS-Fr.), Jeremy Mercier (RS-Jr.), Dante Smith (RS-Jr.), Anthony Ward (RS-Fr.)
Huge question marks at a position that has a lot of new faces. Reed and Roberts are projected as the starters but that will depend mostly on their health, as each missed a lot of time during the spring (neither played in the Spring Game).
Lane, if he’s as good as projected, would slide into the second unit despite not showing up until the summer.
Two more freshmen LBs (Jacob Manu, Tyler Martin) join the program in the summer, but like Matt Weerts and converted running back James Bohls their best chance to play in 2021 may be on special teams.
Arizona has 6 returning corner backs and 3 incoming scholarship corners.
Starters: Christian Roland-Wallace (Jr.), Treydan Stukes (Soph.)
Backups: Isaiah Mays (RS-Jr.), Isaiah Rutherford (Jr.)
Will also play: Jai-Ayviauynn Celestine (Fr.), Ephesians Prysock (Fr.)
Defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen plans to use a 4-2-5 alignment, with the fifth defensive back alternating between a corner and a safety. When it’s the former, Rutherford figures to be the nickel guy after starting seven games last season. Stukes supplanted him at the field corner spot last season and did nothing in the sprint to lose that gig, while Roland-Wallace spent much of the spring going 1-on-1 against McMillan and will benefit greatly from that matchup.
Celestine and Prysock both have bright futures, and will get some reps on defense, but may spend most of their first year on special teams. Same goes for incoming freshman Tacario Davis, who of the newcomer CBs is the most likely to be redshirted.
Finally, Arizona has 10 returning safeties with just 1 new addition, DJ Warnell from UCLA, who already joined the team in the spring.
Arizona averaged 46.7 yards per punt last year.Starters: Jaxen Turner (Jr.), DJ Warnell (Soph.), Christian Young (Sr.)
Backups: Gunner Maldonado (Soph.), Jaydin Young (Soph.)
Will also play: Dalton Johnson (RS-Fr.), Isaiah Taylor (RS-Fr.)
Turner and Christian Young combined for 23 starts last season, though CY was playing the Viper spot in Don Brown’s defense but now falls back to the more traditional strong safety position. Warnell would be the nickel corner/safety.
Maldonando and Jaydin Young bother started a year ago, and make for great backups and potential replacements if the starters have an injury. Johnson and Taylor both looked good in spring, with the former maybe the most promising of the remaining members of Kevin Sumlin’s last recruiting class who didn’t play in 2021.