Arizona will begin its second preseason training camp under coach Brent Brennan on Wednesday, a month of workouts and practices to get the Wildcats prepared for the 2025 season that opens Aug. 30 against Hawaii
To get you primed for camp, we’re breaking down each position group on the roster. Today we focus on the secondary.
Players on roster: 19
Projected starters: CB Jay’Vion Cole (R-Jr.), CB Marquis Groves-Killebrew (R-Jr.), S Dalton Johnson (R-Sr.), S Genesis Smith (Sr.), NB Treydan Stukes (R-Sr.)
This is by far Arizona’s most experienced group, with four guys who have combined for 68 starts with the Wildcats including 31 last season under the current coaching staff. And that’s not including Cole, who started 12 games for San Jose State in 2023 before spending last season at Texas.
Stukes is the longest-turned UA player, entering the sixth season of a college career that began as a walk-on in 2020. He’s played in 42 games, starting 28, and had started 15 in a row before a season-ending knee injury at Utah last fall. He has 154 tackles and three interceptions in his career.
Johnson, like Stukes a holdover from the Kevin Sumlin era, is entering his fifth season in Tucson and has made 24 starts the past two years. His 189 career tackles are most among active players at UA and 94 of those came last year to lead the Wildcats.
Smith started 10 games in 2024 including the last eight, becoming the do-everything defensive back who logged a team-high 749 defensive snaps while starting at corner as well as both safety spots. He was tied for the team lead with three interceptions.
Groves-Killebrew started six games and played nine for the UA last year after transferring in from Louisville.
Top backups: CB Michael Dansby (Sr.), S Jshawn Frausto-Ramos (Jr.), CB Ayden Garnes (R-Sr.), S Jack Luttrell (R-So.)
Luttrell started the final six games at safety last season because of injuries and ended up with three picks. The rest are transfers, with Dansby coming from San Jose State, Frausto-Ramos from Stanford and Garnes from West Virginia.
Dansby started 11 games for San Jose in 2024 and in 32 games for the Spartans intercepted five passes. Frausto-Ramos has five career starts under his belt, four as a freshman in 2023, while Garnes had solid numbers in six games last season before getting hurt.
Newcomer most likely to make instant impact: Cole
In a perfect world, Cole would have followed his coaches and teammates from San Jose to Tucson last year but instead he was lured to Texas and that didn’t pan out. He only appeared in four games, logging 40 total snaps, but the year before he had 38 tackles with three for loss and helped the Spartans lead the Mountain West in pass defense.
Coaching outlook
Brett Arce and Chip Viney are back for another year, and each has a more involved role than in 2024. Last year Arce handled the STAR position, which was in effect a nickel corner/linebacker hybrid, while now he’s working with all of the corners, while Viney continues to handle the safeties but he isn’t sharing that load with Duane Akina.
Next up: Special teams