Every coach brings their own flavor to Arizona’s program once they are hired, often in the form of slogans. Rich Rodriguez had “Hard Edge” and “OKGs.” Jedd Fisch had “It’s Personal” along with variants based off of the initial motto.
Brent Brennan made it clear from day one that “Redline” was going to be a way of life for his UA program. His players and coaching staff would come to learn exactly what it means and how to live the Redline life.
However, some fans still come to wonder, ‘What does redline
even mean?’ Redline comes down to effort, execution, and accountability. Effort means giving 100 percent energy and hustle 100 percent of the time, execution means doing your job without cutting corners and focusing on the process, and accountability means completely owning your actions, fighting for your teammates, and upholding the standard.
Redline truly showed during last season’s turnaround, and the 5-game winning streak to end the regular season to earn a spot in the Holiday Bowl. Following losses to BYU and Houston, it could’ve been really easy for Arizona to have the “woe is me” mindset, but the wiring of Eedline instilled in the players did not allow that to happen.
Now, the mantra has taken form in a new title of “Mr. Redline,” given to a player who shows effort, execution, and accountability both on and off the field at a very high level. In the spring, edge rusher Tre Smith had earned that title, but as summer progressed and now a few days into training camp linebacker Taye Brown has joined him in sharing that title.
“I would say it’s between Tre and Taye, because Taye is a player that consistently shows up in practice that way, but that’s earned over training camp,” Brennan said. “You come out of spring, you’re like, ‘Hey, this guy plays really hard, this guy personifies redline,’ and we talk about it frequently as a team, but then does it show up in fall camp? That’s what the next three weeks are about.”
It’s not just the coaches that see Brown and Smith as Mr. Redline. Smith’s defensive line counterparts Leroy Palu and Julian Savaiinaea see his work ethic on a daily basis.
“I mean Mr. Redline himself, watching him, his technique, his mannerism, is just so funny to see redline in breakfast, redline in meetings, redline on and off the field,” said Palu.
“He’s been trying to step out of his shoes and be more vocal, but he’s really a leader of action,” said Savaiinaea. “He leads by his actions, and man, his actions speak louder than his words.”
While Brown and Smith may be the Mr. Redlines of the program, there are others with the title within the smaller position rooms. For the tight ends, Josh Miller has looked to Tyler Powell and Tyler Mustain as that group’s leaders.
“I would give the edge to Mustain a little bit, just because he’s everything that you would want in a student athlete,” Miller said. “He’s a great student, he’s trying to conquer a really hard degree here at the University of Arizona. He shows up to work every single day with everything around his class schedule. He’s an engineer (major), so if he’s got a class conflict he’s got to make it up on his own.”
It’s not just Miller who sees it, even 6th-year Illinois transfer Cole Rusk gives the nod to both Powell and Mustain.
“Oh yeah, those guys show up to work every single day, and you know what you’re going to get out of them,” said Rusk. “TP is awesome, and I mean since I’ve been here, he took me under his wing and showed me what it’s about. He’s been here a long time, a lot longer than most people you know in the transfer age.”
The tight ends have two Mr. Redlines in their room, but the running backs had to one up them. Lyle Moevao said that his trio of senior running backs live up to the name.
“I would honestly say that those three seniors, Antwan Roberts, Quincy Craig, and Kedrick Reescano, I would say those guys are redline in our room,” said Moevao. “Those are the redline running backs, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from those guys going into the season.”
For other rooms, like the wide receivers, there’s not one singular guy that stands out as a Mr. Redline. Instead, the group as a whole moves as one Mr. Redline and it’s Bobby Wade’s job to make sure they continue to move as one.
“There’s a nucleus of guys that we’ve already been able to identify as everyday guys that we can really lean on, and so we’re going to require that each and every day, and obviously that’s my job to be able to set that standard,” said Wade.
There’s a similar notion within the offensive line room, and that’s the way offensive line coach Josh Oglesby wants it. There shouldn’t be one standout guy, because the job that the room is trying to accomplish requires everyone to be living a redline life.
“Our group works extremely hard, and I don’t know if I could single one individual guy out, especially because we work so much as a unit all the time,” said Oglesby. “The one thing that’s phenomenal about our group is our group embodies that red line mentality because they never complain, they never shy away from the work. Whenever there’s an issue that needs to be fixed, they own it and they really strive to fix it.”
Some of the various Mr. Redlines around the program will see the field this season, but some may still be taking a long term road this season. Junior safety Quinn Olson received high praise from his coach Brett Arce.
“A name that nobody really knows would be Quinn Olson. He’s a young guy coming up. He’s a walk-on, but I could see him taking the Stukes path at some point. Started as a walk-on and is working his way into a you know a prominent player.”
The Wildcats know the Mr. Redlines who will be leading them into battle this season. If all the players can embody at least a small percentage of what goes into a Mr. Redline, then the goals ahead of Arizona will come to fruition.
