With Treydan Stukes, Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith NFL-bound, Arizona now needs to find the replacements for the trio. To no one’s surprise, the staff went to the transfer portal to try and find replacements.
The Wildcats brought in three safeties from the portal in Malcolm Hartzog Jr, Lee Mollette III and Cam Chapa. While it’s only been a couple weeks of spring ball, safeties coach Brett Arce says that the room is taking baby steps in becoming better.
“Super proud of the progress, those are big
shoes to fill a lot of production, but these guys are doing a great job,” said Arce. “I feel like we have a, you know, we’ve got a lot of depth in there right now, and it’s a heck of a competition.”
Of course, starting spots won’t be decided until closer to the Sept. 5 season opener against NAU, but all three incoming portal additions come in with snaps under their belts. Having experience is what went into bringing the players to Tucson.
They may be new to the program, but they are not new to football.
“There’s no substitution for snaps played in a game, there’s nothing like going in between those white lines with the pressure on,” said Arce. “So we found guys to try and come in that had those snaps and played in some big time games. And I think that’s super valuable.”
Listed at 5-foot-8, Hartzog Jr. has to figure out ways to be able to go up against the taller receivers. He has to become scrappy, which is what Arce finds most valuable with how he plays.
“Even though he might be smaller height wise, he’s a pitbull man,” said Arce. “That dude is tough. He’s one of the strongest guys in the weight room. His quickness and his strength, he can get under people’s pads, he can cover, he can match up with anybody, similar to what Stukes did.”
For Hartzog Jr., he has never found his height to be something that gets in the way of being successful on the field. Logging 1,700 snaps at Nebraska in 32 games, he has 108 career tackles, 13 pass breakups, and eight interceptions.
He had a game-sealing interception against Cincinnati last season, and is looking to make similar plays for Arizona this season.
“I don’t think it’s been an issue,” said Hartzog Jr. on his height. “I think I’ve been very productive in my college career, and I’m trying to keep that going here.”
The count snap may not be as high as Hartzog Jr., but Mollette III still brings many snaps played to the safeties room. Last season at UConn he played 739 snaps and tallied 65 tackles and one interception.
His most impressive stat is only allowing 14 receptions and just two touchdowns.
With the competition ramping up for the Wildcats this season, the Wildcat safeties do not need to be perfect, they just need to be effective against the talented receivers in the Big 12.
Whether it’s experienced guys like Hartzog Jr. and Mollette III, or even a wild card like USC transfer Matai Tagoa’i—who came in as a linebacker—Arce has seen growth from the entire room.
“You can see growth in all their games, in different areas, and how we’re trying to address it,” said Arce. “The room as a whole is getting a lot better, and that’s what you want. So I’m excited for all those guys. There wouldn’t be just one that stands out, because I think they’re all doing really all doing a really good job.”
Chapa is not participating in the spring, but his playing history still gives him an opportunity to become the voice of the room.
He started all 23 games he played in at Northern Colorado and finished with 171 tackles, eight interceptions, and led the Big Sky conference with 63 solo tackles.
“You talk to any coach in the Big Sky, everybody knew Cam Chapa’s name, he was an enforcer out there,” said Arce. “I have high expectations for Chapa and what he can bring, from everything we’ve seen and from what he brings in the classroom, he’s super detailed and attentive.”
For a guy like Gavin Hunter, he needs to prove this season that he took to heart what he learned from Stukes, Johnson, and Smith. He had opportunities last season and showed flashes, but this season it needs to all come together.
In the first three games of the season, he had eight tackles with two of them being tackles for loss against Kansas State. Against SMU in the Holiday Bowl, he had eight tackles and a pass breakup. This season could be a breakout season for Hunter.
“Last year, being the guy early on, and then we had discussions about how we’re going to manage Stukes, and when the time comes he was going to take it, and he was all on board with it,” said Arce on Hunter. “I’m so proud of Gav and all the growth he has made on and off the field, it has been tremendous.”
The spring will set the bench mark for the safeties room, but until the fall comes no starting spot will be given to anyone. For now, every player can earn the right to be the voice in the room.
