Arizona football: Danny Gonzales breaks down defensive development during training camp
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Arizona’s defense is coming off one of its best seasons in school history from a statistical standpoint, arguably the best since the Desert Swarm era. But Danny Gonzales doesn’t impress easily.
“My opinion, finishing 19th in the country in total defense, that’s okay,” Gonzales said Wednesday, following the second-to-last day of training camp. “Around here, it’s unbelievable because of what they’ve done statistically. That’s not, that’s just okay. We have greater aspirations.”
The Wildcats had the second-best defense in the Big 12 last season, the 308.5 yards allowed per game 1995. They were 7th nationally in defending the pass and second in turnovers forced, but that was with a unit that included seven players (including five defensive backs) currently battling for roster spots in the NFL.
Gonzales thinks this year’s defense could be even better in some areas.
“I think we have good enough players up front to be really aggressive, and we’ve got some guys in the secondary that I think can cover man-to-man maybe better than we had last year,” he said.
Rebuilding the secondary has been the primary focus from an outside perspective, but getting better up front and deeper in the middle has been where Gonzales has expended most of his energy.
“We have nine to 11 D-linemen that I think can play in a Big 12 football game, and we’re going to rotate it like that,” he said. “And if we can keep those guys coming fresh, our pass rush should be pretty good. If we get pass rush with a 4-man rush, we can be really dangerous. So that’s yet to be seen, though. It’s yet to be proved.
As for run defense, Gonzales believes Arizona is “further along” than a year ago. Stopping the run was a big issue for the UA during the first half of 2025.
“Zac Siulepa gives us a huge advantage inside (on) short yardage,” Gonzales said of the 6-foot-6, 368-pound Australian native. “I can’t wait to see somebody block Zac Siulepa.”
At linebacker, between seven and nine are in the mix to rotate. That includes transfers Cooper Blomstrom and Everett Roussaw Jr., both of whom were edge rushers at their previous schools. Blomstrom is in line to start alongside veteran returners Taye Brown and Chase Kennedy.
The starting secondary at this point looks to be Jay’Vion Cole and Dwight Bootle II at the corners, with Malcolm Hartzog in the slot/nickel and Gavin Hunter and Quinn Olson at safety. Oregon transfer Daylen Austin has been limited during camp, per Gonzales, and the lack of practice time is likely to keep him out of the starting lineup at the outset.
The star of that group may prove to be Hartzog, a Nebraska transfer who plays much bigger than his 5-foot-8, 187-pound frame.
“He might be one of the best cover guys in man-to-man I’ve ever been around, and I thought was Treydan Stukes was unbelievable in coverage,” Gonzales said.
The next great walk-on?
The most surprising potential starter on defense is Olson, who was recruited to Arizona as a walk-on out of Sioux City, Iowa. Family and coaching connections led to him arriving at UA, as high school coach Anthony Thomas played for the Wildcats from 1997-2001 and was a captain on the 2001 squad.
“He knew Coach (Duane) Akina, and so he kind of just asked me if I’d be interested in playing here and see what he can do,” Olson said. “And my sister went to school here, so I wanted to go to school here and play football, and it all worked out.”
A two-way player at Bishop Heelan Catholic HS, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Olson knew defensive back was his opportunity in college over offense.
“I was more of a running quarterback, so I knew skillset-wise, I probably wasn’t good enough throwing to play quarterback at the next level,” he said. “So I kind of knew it’d be on defense.”
That experience as a QB has contributed to Olson working his way up the depth chart, going from someone who logged zero defensive snaps his first two years in Tucson to one of the top performers in camp.
“Just kind of having a better understanding on what the quarterback is seeing and what offenses are trying to do, certain formations or situations in the game,” he said. “Kind of just understanding from the other side of the ball, having that perspective on what they might try to be attacking and why they’re doing it, so I think that perspective really helped defensively.”
Learning a new level
With 7.5 sacks last season, Blomstrom took down more opposing QBs than any two UA players from 2025. Then again, that was at the FCS level with Georgetown; trying to get off the edge against FBS offensive lines is a different story, thus Arizona’s decision to move Blomstrom to linebacker.
“The pass rushability off of his tape, and the same thing that Everett (Roussaw) did in Memphis, that was kind of what was the initial draw to those guys,” Gonzales said. “Cooper off the edge is probably technically a little more advanced than what Riley Wilson was at this point last year. Maybe not as as savvy inside blitzing with what he does. He has the tools. He just needs to continue getting reps at it. But what Cooper and Everett have done off the ball has been really impressive, and it gives us an opportunity to do some different things and different disguises with those guys in there, when we go with our 20 personnel package. Athletically, (Blomstrom) can bend the corner as good as as Chase Kennedy.”
Blomstrom said Gonzales’ defense is unique, something he got an early glimpse of via social media when he first saw the Red Rover formation used against Baylor.
“The first clip I saw was on Twitter, and I was like, that’s pretty interesting,” he said. “I saw four off-ball linebackers just holding hands, and I thought that’s hilarious. But then we watched the SMU game with my family, and they did it a lot, and I thought it was really cool.”
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