What Brent Brennan, Ismail Mahdi and Treydan Stukes said after Arizona’s win over Baylor
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It wasn’t a good crowd for the first game at Casino del Sol Stadium, even with it being Senior Day. But those that did come out were treated to a nice sendoff, with Arizona winning 41-17 to tie the school record for home wins in a season.
Any fans are better than what Treydan Stukes dealt with when he began his UA career in 2020.
“I started my career when nobody was able to be in the stands,” the 6th-year senior said. “So from going from that to having 1,000 people in the top floor with their shirts off, I mean, it’s been huge. Thank you Zona Zoo for these last six years.”
The Wildcats (8-3, 5-3 Big 12) have won four in a row, the last three trailing at halftime. Down 17-14 at halftime, the UA outscored Baylor 27-0 in the second half including 20-0 in the final period.
“We knew this would be a four-quarter battle,” UA coach Brent Brennan said. “We knew it would be physical, and we knew we would have to play harder for longer. And I felt like the players did that.”
Our game recap can be found here. Below is what Brennan, Stukes and running back Ismail Mahdi said afterward:
Brennan on Senior Day: “This was a fantastic day for our football team, for our football program, for our seniors. We talked all week about wanting to send our seniors off the right way, and I believe we did that. And just incredible performances from some of them. Going into this next week here at Thanksgiving, such a big holiday, I’m so thankful for this group of seniors and everybody that’s in this program, because, like I told you guys on Monday, the kids that are here, the young people that are here, the coaches that are here, they either chose to come or they chose to stay. But all of them made that decision because they believe in the University of Arizona and they believe in our coaching staff, people that are part of this program, their players and coaches.”
On the shirtless section: “Whoever the crew was in the upper deck with their shirts off, it would be hard for me to ever participate in that, but that would be my kind of thing. That looks like a lot of fun. All those fans, you guys in the upper deck going crazy, we see you, we hear you. It’s just awesome, the energy that you give to the moment is really, really impactful.”
On Red line: “I was on a jog on campus, and I had a service truck pull up alongside me. I’m trying to run, I have like a 20-minute window. That’s all I got, just trying to not have a heart attack on game day. Although Courtney Brennan is probably like eh, let it rip. So this truck pulls up, and as I’m running, finally I look over and a guy rolls down his window. There’s no one on campus, and he goes ‘Red line!’ That’s a real story, like from a dude that works in our service department here at U of A. So you know what I did? I ran faster, because I’m challenged by the people that work with us here at U of A.”
On Stukes: “Treydan Stueks is literally one of the best football players I’ve ever been on the field, with his awareness, his toughness, just his technical excellence, his smarts. And it was so awesome. He talked to the team last night. He’s in his sixth year. He went through the ACL, he talked about just that long road back for him, how hard that was, and just what a special night for him with the interception and, obviously a bunch of tackles. He is just such an impactful player, such a great leader for us.”
On the offensive line depth: “That has been critical. For those pieces to come in on the offensive line, they had to believe in Josh Oglesby, they had to believe in Seth Doege, and they did, because those guys are great people, great coaches. And so much of that is really what we want to get to, or what we’re in the process of building, is a program where it’s a developmental program that we’re hopefully able to fill in with high-level portal pieces, where the development of what’s there is not quite ready to play yet. And so to me, that’s how we build a sustainable, successful, winning program at University of Arizona, is doing a great job of recruiting and developing high school players that are in your program for two, three, four years, and then also finding players that want to be here, that are tough and love football, that fit our culture and fit red line.”
On Kris Hutson: “I think Kris is a player that we were hoping would have this kind of impact every week, all year. I think he’s finally healthy, and I think he’s getting really comfortable, and his chemistry with Noah is developing, like in-game, and so you’re seeing that ball start to find him more often. I’ll tell you, I don’t want him to take his helmet off. I like the touchdown, not the helmet off. But he’s an awesome young man. And I think Coach Wade, and I think our program has been a good thing for him, and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do our last two games.”
On the 2nd half shutout: “I think there’s always a little bit of feeling out process like that. But I also think coming out of halftime, the big message in the locker room at halftime was we needed to elevate our collective physicality. It had to show up in all three phases. We had the penalty after the touchdown, had to kickoff from the 20, and then I saw the returner gets sought in half. It was like, oh we’re playing. And I think when we play with that kind of physicality, it’s a lot of fun to watch.”
On Dalton Johnson: “Dalton’s one of those guys that chose to stay, and he had lots of people trying to talk him into leaving. And I think that’s really, really special. He’s an awesome Wildcat. He talks about coming here because he was signed by, or recruited by, Coach Sumlin’s guys. So he went through that transition, and he goes through the transition with me. And obviously, last year wasn’t fun, I promise you it sure as hell wasn’t fun for me, but not him, either. His choice, his belief in Coach Arce, his belief in Coach Gonzales, his belief in the U of A, he’s one of those awesome, awesome guys that chose to stay. And then here we are in Casino Del Sol stadium on Senior day, he has 18 tackles? Get out of here. That’s how it should end.”
On the haters: “I really think the nature of college football right now is, that’s just part of it. Because I’m a grown up, right? I’m not going to get caught up in things I don’t control, but it’s hard for your players. It’s hard for them when someone can hit them on Twitter. Everyone has access to our players now, so if you’re an 18-year-old freshman, or you just missed a kick, then you go get on your phone after a win, and 5,000 people are on your head telling you a bunch of nasty stuff.”
On the 2024 season impacting this one: “Did last year affect me? Of course it did, it affected all of us. But I also also think it motivated us to make the decisions and the moves we had to make to give us a chance to build this team, and that’s what I’m excited about. I’m so proud of this team, the players, the coaches, our strength staff, our recruiting staff, everybody that touches this program. It speaks to the alignment that we have at Arizona right now. And that is special. That is really special. And I promise you, that has not happened everywhere, but it’s happening here right now.”
Mahdi on the offensive line: “Those guys are truly unbelievable. They’re warriors. They grind out every day. They all love each other, they all believe in each other. One man goes down, another one comes right up.”
On his TD run: “That was a counter. I remember doing it on Thursday, repping that. We repped it twice. It went out just the way I thought it would. I didn’t have to do anything I just had to run right up the middle.”
On winning on Senior Day: “That’s what we work for. That’s what we day in and day out work for every day at practice. It’s just truly amazing for it to go our way.”
On what has helped Kris Hutson break out: “His leadership. He’s been very vocal and very intentional with his work at practices. I already knew he was going to do that when he started to be more intentional towards what his work at practices, and he’s a baller. I’m really excited to see what he’s going to do in the future.”
Stukes on his final home game: “Leading up to it, I wanted to try and focus on the game. But seeing my siblings out there before the game was nice, and try to get refocus on the game. We got the result we wanted, and now it’s hitting me.”
On his interception: “Storybook ending, if you will. Any way I can help the team team is good for everyone.”
On the 2nd half shutout: “We made some good adjustments and just trusting in your teammates, everyone doing their job, being where they’re supposed to be. Those 50/50 plays that we weren’t getting in the first half they started going our way to second half, and I think we capitalized on the momentum.”
On the 20-point 4th quarter: “We keep playing one play at a time, and when that momentum starts to build, you can feel the sideline and the crowd and everyone feeding into you and your plays are going your way. It definitely feels good.”
On the shirtless section: “That’s the biggest one I’ve seen so far. That’s pretty deep.”
On the Territorial Cup: “It’s a big time rivalry. It’s one of the oldest ones in college football. We take it very seriously here. It’s a 1-game season for us. We’re gonna dive into the preparation and make sure we can come out play our best stuff next Friday.”
On staying at Arizona: “We believed in Coach Brennan, that’s why all those people, all these transfers that came in here, they came in to a team that was 4-8. And the guys that decided to stay, we stayed with the same coaching staff.”
On Dalton Johnson: “Anyone that’s followed Arizona football knows that Dalton Johnson is a household name around here. And as the guys that see him work every single day, we know that’s no surprise. He’s one of the best tackling safeties I’ve ever met in my life. For him to have 18 is pretty crazy, but I don’t doubt it, because he sticks his nose in everywhere. He doesn’t just make a lot of mistakes in that realm. I think everyone in the locker room loves him, and the crowd, the crowd also loves him.”
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