Arizona Football: Defense has Talent, but Production is Uncertain

The official kick-off to 2018 is quickly approaching, and as the Arizona Football team continues to prepare, the defense remains a big question.

It has been quite a while since the Arizona Football team has fielded a formidable defense, and there is plenty of uncertainty heading into 2018. The talent appears to be there, but will they produce?

Attrition, scheme, injuries, etc. you name it, whatever the case may be, the Wildcats have seemingly faced it. And over the past few years, perhaps this is a big reason for the Cats not making much of a jump from being a slightly above average football team, to an even better one.

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It is worth noting, that things certainly changed under former head coach Rich Rodriguez. During his tenure with the Wildcats, he had a Total Defense ranked in the Top 100 just once. For reference, there are now 129 FBS Football teams.

Long gone are the days of ‘Desert Swarm’, and it’s uncertain whether the Wildcats can ever return to those days, but nonetheless it’s great to imagine an Arizona Defense once as dominate as they were under the Dick Tomey years.

So just how bad has Arizona’s defense been the past few years? Well, let’s just take a look!

Since 2010, here is how the Wildcats have fared in terms of defensive ranking according to the NCAA:

2010- 33rd Overall

2011- 110th Overall

2012- 118th Overall

2013- 62nd Overall

2014- 103rd Overall

2015- 114th Overall

2016- 115th Overall

2017- 118th Overall

Things undoubtedly have been bad defensively. We can go tit-for-tat as to why that was, but in short, there were a myriad of contributing factors that led to Arizona’s poor defensive performance.

Heading into 2018, things are at least promising. The Wildcats return a number of young players from last season that contributed heavily, and additionally, Arizona adds a number of bigger guys along the defensive front.

If there is at least one major takeaway these past few years, it’s that the Wildcats have lacked size and talent, especially on their front defensive line. That appears to be changing.

While it doesn’t solve all the problems, it addresses an area that I feel helps the defense immensely. When you are able to have guys that can fill gaps, eat up space and create a formidable pass rush, it helps everyone else on the field.

It shorten’s opposing quarterback’s times to release the ball, and allows the secondary to be more effective in coverage since they don’t have to continue guarding their man or zone for extended periods of time.

Also, the linebackers may perhaps be Arizona’s best position on defense. Colin Schooler and Tony Fields II certainly surprised a number of people last season, and now as sophomores, we imagine them both taking a huge step forward.

Finally, Arizona has a number of solid pieces, perhaps this could be the year, they make a huge jump. More importantly, I think defensive coordinator Marcel Yates may have some more freedom under Kevin Sumlin.

This is a coach who put together solid defenses in Boise, and had the 57th ranked defense and 109th ranked defense in 2012 and 2013 respectively, when Yates coached alongside Sumlin in College Station.

It’s uncertain just how improved this unit will be in 2018, but we can at least hope for an improved group. The talent is there, now we just got to see how productive and effective the defense can be!

At Zona Zealots, we’re excited for the return or football and can’t wait to see how the Arizona Football team performs this season! Bear Down, Arizona!