When the Las Vegas Raiders selected former Arizona defensive backs Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson in the 2026 NFL draft, they weren’t just adding a couple of safeties to the roster. The Raiders got a pair of team captains to help lead the charge for the organization’s rebuild.
To get a better understanding of Stukes’ and Johnson’s leadership skills and work ethic, Silver and Black Pride sat down with Arizona’s Director of Football Strength and Conditioning Cullen Carroll for an exclusive interview.
Carroll has been on the Wildcats’ staff since 2024, working with the defensive back duo for two years.
SBP: You spent the last two years working with Treydan and Dalton in the weight room and whatnot. What did you learn about their work ethic and who they are as people?
CC: It starts with them being exceptional athletes. Trey is very naturally athletic. He was a walk-on, under-recruited, not highly praised player. So the fact that an unranked walk-on player worked his way into a second-round draft pick status, I mean, that’s really all you need to know about Treydan Stukes’ work ethic. It’s objective, right? Like a lot of players are extremely gifted, and they don’t match that talent level with the investment, or what we like to call paying the price.
So when I got to Arizona in 2024, Treydan was already an established captain, leader, tremendous player and teammate. So it was really cool to watch him transition into a new staff and a new way of doing things; his maturity was always apparent. It was a very exciting thing for a coach to see someone that professional, that focused, that detailed and that consistent match all that talent.
Dalton, on the other hand, is just a tough Katy, Texas kid. Hard working, really disciplined, tough football player. Like “football guy”, is how I would describe Dalton Johnson. And I think Dalton, as far as his work ethic, pushing himself, conditioning, all that stuff, was always a lead. I think the biggest thing that stood out for me with Dalton Johnson was his leadership.
Talk about a kid that really had influence on the people around him, was mature enough to understand that he had that influence, and really used it to help guide a lot of people around him. Really helped push the culture and the message of [Head] Coach [Brent] Brennan and what we were trying to do with our program.
So just two really mature, really gifted guys that worked their tails off and wanted to be coached hard, too. Wanted to be critiqued, wanted to be challenged, wanted to be pushed. Did not want to be told that things were good enough, or “at a boy”. They were football guys, through and through
SBP: What type of leaders were they?
CC: I think Treydan Stukes is like a model of consistency in terms of the process and the approach to the work. He’s a guy that, as a young player, as a player that’s contributing, as a player who wants to contribute, if you just watch and follow Treydan Stukes, you’re going to have a pretty good blueprint as to how to go about your business. As far as his fire and his enthusiasm, a lot of that showed up around competition.
He’s a mild-mannered dude. He’s got a great sense of humor, and he’s very inclusive and welcoming to his teammates and coaches, but Treydan really lights the fire in competitive scenarios. He does not back down. And so I think from a leadership standpoint, people seeing his consistency and then seeing his competitiveness on display daily was like a big part of his leadership and why he was very impactful.
Leadership in football often coincides with field credibility, right? Like you could be a phenomenal leader, but if you’re not making plays or having an impact on the field, sometimes your voice might fall on deaf ears. So, when you combine Treydan’s ability on the field with his consistency, his pro process and approach, and then his enthusiasm and competitiveness, it was pretty infectious. He modeled the way, and a lot of guys wanted to do exactly what he was doing.
Dalton: toughness, competitiveness, edge, bringing you along. Dalton also did an excellent job with coach speak. He understood the lessons and the messages that we as a football staff are trying to get across to the team. And both of these players are highly intelligent, too. Treydan Stukes is incredibly bright. Dalton Johnson is incredibly bright.
Dalton is a lot more vocal and assertive at times than Treydan, just because of Treydan’s personality. I think that was kind of the secret sauce for Dalton in 2025. The timing of his leadership and the assertiveness with which he recognized a situation as a critical moment, whether it be in training, in practice, or in games. You use the word catalyst, right? Dalton Johnson is a catalyst. He can get people to change the tide. He can get people to stand up and take advantage of the moment. And more times than not, Dalton was the one who was doing that.
Dalton can flip the momentum of a game, and when you have Treydan doing what he’s doing, you always feel like you have a chance. Both are phenomenal leaders.
SBP: So, it sounds like Dalton is a “coach in pads”, so to speak?
CC: Yeah. In 2024, Treydan had a season-ending injury, and we had a couple of other key guys get injured that season, too, unfortunately. But Dalton’s football savvy and his athletic range really allowed him to be versatile. That allowed him to play some linebacker for us; he was doing some stuff in the box. You can’t do that unless you’re physically equipped for it, but then also, he’s a football player. There’s a savviness and an intelligence about what’s going on and a leadership too, and a credibility and a trust there, you know?
I always look back, even though Dalton’s best season was in 2025, I’m proud of the 2024 Dalton Johnson because he had to step up and do a lot more than he was probably should have been asked to do, just because of the situation we were in as a program. And he was a freaking stud for it, man, an absolute stud.
SBP: You brought up Treydan’s torn ACL in 2024. Did you have much interaction with him during the recovery process?
CC: Yeah, 100 percent. We run a high-performance model, so our athletic trainers and I worked in lockstep with Tredyan for the entire year. So he was with us every single day. We had a completely modified program for him throughout the year. And if you want to talk about someone’s professionalism, their consistency, their approach, their mental discipline, to be able to come back from the injury and not only just come back, but come back better than ever.
Come back and run 22 miles an hour, run in the 4.3s at his pro day, and have the type of season he did from a production and durability standpoint, that’s an elite level of attention to detail, discipline and commitment. That’s who Treydan is. So, although I was bummed for him and our program when he was injured, I was excited for what was going to come from him, because every setback you get to turn into a comeback, right?
I knew that Treydan was equipped to be able to make the comeback at the elite level that he did, just because of the type of person he is and the type of competitor he is. The plan was to get him back involved for the Kansas State game (Week 3), and that’s kind of where he started getting going. From the Iowa State game (Week 5) on, he was full tilt and was the best player on the field.
SBP: What would a normal rehab day look like for him?
CC: In the early parts after his surgery, there was a lot of recovery, a lot of stuff that was being done in a controlled setting. And then as we progressed him in the weight room, the goal was to look at some of his objective numbers prior to the injury and look at what he’s doing post-injury. He got back up to a 300-pound power clean, 315 pounds actually, during the summer. He power cleaned 315 in July, right before the season started, which was his PR.
Another benchmark was that he was a 22.5 mph guy before the injury. He was running 22 mph going into camp. So, in terms of recovery and his ability to return to his pre-injury performance standards, he did a phenomenal job.
A lot of it goes back to your actual recovery day-to-day. At the college level, we have them in the facility for only so many hours of the day and the year, and then they go home, and they’re on their own. I think the guys who separate themselves during those unfortunate situations are the ones who do take care of the time they aren’t at the facility, and Treydan did that.
By July, he was full-go training with the football team. There was no difference between what healthy safety was doing and Treydan coming off his surgery.
Heading into the combine, I knew he was going to run fast and thought he was going to break 4.4 in the 40-yard dash, but him running a 4.33 is elite.
SPB: With Dalton, was there one thing specifically that you guys were working on during the offseason for him to get better at for the 2025 season? And how did he do in accomplishing the goal?
CC: Dalton’s extremely strong and powerful. So I think the fluidity in his hips, his change of direction, and his max velocity were the focus. His first few steps are explosive and strong, but helping Dalton just increase max velocity, that upright speed, the stuff that you might see in a 40-yard dash. So him running that 4.41 was blazing. That was fantastic for him, a testament to the work that he’s done over his entire career, working on weaknesses and turning them into strengths.
But his fluidity with his movement, and then helping him be a true defensive back, rather than what we had to do in 2024, jumping down into the box. But I think the biggest area of growth for Dalton, which is a huge source of pride for me with him, is just his leadership. Understanding that as a fifth-year player, the impact that he had on everyone around him.
Coach Brennan likes to say, “They go as we go,” and I think that goes for the coaching staff, but also goes for leadership. You have to be the thermostat, you’ve got to set the temp. You can’t be the thermometer that just reads it and tells it and judges it. You’ve got to set it, and Dalton was that guy.
He showed spurts of that in 2024 because he had had some leadership and whatnot prior, but I really think he owned it in 2025, and that was really special to see, because I think it translated on the field. It helped our whole team. He was a clear, defined leader and a football guy.
SBP: I’ve seen you post on social media a rope that’s tied to the ceiling where players have to climb up it and touch the Territorial Cup (rivalry trophy against ASU) and the Big 12 Championship trophy. Is that something every guy on the team has to do, or is it only a handful of guys who can do it?
CC: Everybody gets up that rope. In the winter, we had a 346-pound starting right guard get up there. And the part about climbing up the rope is there’s a mentality going hand over hand, to get up the rope, secure yourself and touch those trophies.
But the football-specific part is when the guys have to control their body weight when they come down because you can’t slide down. We call it dynamic shoulder stability, your rotator cuff and all those small muscles that support the shoulder complex, their ability to grapple and strain and provide stability when you do that is critical.
So Dalton and Stukes, the first time they did it was just their body weight. So the next time they threw on chains. After that, they threw on two chains, and then they stopped using their legs. Those guys challenged themselves, which is the whole design of the drill.
Funny story about climbing ropes. When I started that, one of the first things Dalton told me was that in high school in Katy, Texas, we had climbing ropes. After practice, in full pads, helmets and shoulder pads and everything, you had to climb up the rope. So Dalton was one of my demo guys for the team. Dalton, very experience rop climber.
SBP: Building off that, is there a particular story about each guy that you think exemplifies who they are?
CC: We have an in-house drill, kind of like climbing the rope, and Dalton was one of the first guys to do it because I knew that he had never seen it before. It was one of those things where an explanation does nothing, but a demonstration tells everybody what they need to know about the drill. I threw Dalton in there first because of his toughness, his competitiveness, his mental discipline. I knew that come hell or high water, Dalton was going to fight to do it right, and he did a great job.
I don’t know if there is a specific story that I have for Treydan. But I remember when Treydan got his power clean to 315 again, the excitement and the energy that the weight room had knowing that he had a PR on his power clean coming off the surgery. That was a pretty special moment.
And then Dalton, he’s a phenomenal squatter. So, him continuing to go up bonus set after bonus set in the weight room, and then watching him turn around, racking the bar, and then jumping on the next rack and supporting the next guy going.
That’s how I remember those guys. On the field and conditioning, neither of those guys ever missed a time. These are “empty the tank” kids, going balls to the wall in making their times. We have a rule that you can’t put your hands on your knees and can’t put your hands on your head. Never once had to correct them for that.
When you’re a coach joining a new program, and especially a program that’s had some success, that has some talented players, as we do at the University of Arizona, you need mature vets like that that are coachable, that are tough, that want to improve, that want to get better, and are willing to buy in. Those two dudes, among others, were some of the best at that.
SBP: Last question for you, both of these guys are pretty versatile on the field. Where do you think they fit best in the NFL?
CC: First and foremost, both of them can play all four special teams. So you want to talk about versatility? They’re crafty, they’re tough, they’re disciplined, they’re selfless, and a lot of that is present on special teams. We call it GAF, ‘giving a frick’. Those dudes’ GAF when it comes to the sport of football could not be higher.
Treydan really has shown that he can play whatever you ask him to play. He was a tremendous player at our star position, which is like the nickelback. Very physical, can cover the guy with a three-way go with his athleticism, his savviness, his football awareness.
I’m trying to stay in my lane because I don’t watch film, and they certainly aren’t coming to me for any technical instruction on the actual football part of it. But I know if we put Treydan Stukes at cornerback, he was going to lock the kid down. If he was in the slot, he was going to lock someone down, or if we sent him on a blitz, he was going to get there. If he had to come up and make a fourth-and-two stop at Utah in Salt Lake City, he was going to put his forehead right in the other player’s chest. That was Treydan Stukes.
Dalton, like we talked about earlier, the fact that he even had to play a little bit of linebacker for us in 2024 just speaks to his abilities. I love Dalton in the middle of the field. There’s a sense of comfort that you should get as a fan or as a coach, knowing that Dalton was patrolling the middle. Just a nose for the football. When Dalton was closing ground, running the alley, or when he was coming up to make the tackle, you knew that tackle was going to get made.
I think they’re great athletes, I think they’re great players, I think they’re great captains, leaders and teammates. I’m fired up, and I think they’re going to play football for a long, long time.
