Arizona Wildcats football: Where does defense stand entering 2023?

What if Arizona had a better rushing defense last season? How much better would the Wildcats have been compared to their 5-7 campaign in 2022?

Is a better rushing defense really worth one game?

With a high-powered offense and a stable special teams unit both back again this year, it shouldn’t take long into the 2023 season — a schedule that begins Sept. 2 at Arizona Stadium — to learn the answers to each of those defensive-centric questions.

In 2022, Arizona finished 10th in the Pac-12 in rushing defense, allowing 209.1 rushing yards per game. The Wildcats have only finished in the top half of the Pac-12 in rushing defense once since 2012.

Last season, Arizona surrendered more than 300 rushing yards in three games: Cal, Oregon and Utah — except one of those was unlike the other two.

The Wildcats led Cal in the second half of their game in Berkeley before Golden Bears freshman running back Jaydn Ott did his best Bo Jackson-Tecmo Bowl impression, rushing for 274 yards and three touchdowns; Cal had 354 yards on the ground as a team. Arizona also had 86 missed tackles last season stopping the run, according to Pro Football Focus; that’s an average of 7.2 per game — and again, that’s stopping a rush.

The good news for Arizona is that the Wildcats’ high-level offense, which finished sixth in FBS in passing, drew enough attention to attract the pieces on defense that UA needs to put it in bowl contention. To go along with its cast of returning underclassmen, Arizona dove into the transfer portal and signed inside linebackers Justin Flowe (Oregon) and Daniel Heimuli (Washington), edge rushers Orin Patu (Cal) and Taylor Upshaw (Colorado), and defensive tackles Tyler Manoa (UCLA), Bill Norton (Georgia) and Sio Nofoagatoto'a (Indiana). Arizona also signed four-star middle linebacker and Mater Dei High School star Leviticus Su’a, who was the Trinity League Conference MVP last year.

“For us, it was a matter of saying, ‘OK, now that the offense is in a good place, what can we do defensively?’" UA coach Jedd Fisch said at Pac-12 Media Day in Las Vegas.

“In that case, what we did was we committed to both the portal and playing young. ... I think that will make a huge difference in our defense.”

Key returners: Linebacker Jacob Manu, cornerback Ephesians Prysock, defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea, defensive lineman Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei, safety Isaiah Taylor, defensive end Russell Davis II, safety DJ Warnell.

Key departures: Defensive end Jalen Harris, safety Christian Young, defensive end Hunter Echols, cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace, defensive tackle Kyon Barrs, defensive lineman Paris Shand, safety Jaxen Turner, cornerback Isaiah Rutherford.

The numbers game: 12 (fumble recoveries in ’22), 4 (interceptions in ’22, worst in the Pac-12), 16 (hurries by Manu, which was second on the team, according to Pro Football Focus), 21 (scholarship defensive players Arizona signed in ’23).

The rundown: Fisch said earlier in the month that “the most important thing (the Wildcats) can do is have continuity.” He cited the stable staffs at Utah under the direction of Kyle Whittingham, Florida with Steve Spurrier, and the New England Patriots dynasty under Bill Belichick.

For the first time since 2019, the Wildcats will have a returning defensive coordinator with Johnny Nansen.

“We’re going to have Coach Nansen for his second year in a row, and our defense is really going to benefit from that,” Fisch said.

Cornerback-converted-nickel back Treydan Stukes said, “It feels really nice to be in the same (4-2-5) system again.”

“I feel very comfortable, even having to switch position recently,” said Stukes. “That continuity can only benefit us as a defensive unit.”

Stukes is one of the mainstays in Arizona’s secondary, along with Prysock, Taylor, cornerback Tacario Davis, Warnell, strong safety Gunner Maldonado, true freshman safety and Chandler native Genesis Smith, junior-college transfer Charles Yates Jr. and former UCLA safety Martell Irby. Taylor was among the top interceptors for the Wildcats during spring ball.

Arizona’s defensive line featured four true freshmen in pinches last season and was bolstered in size and experience in the offseason, especially the interior line with Manoa, Norton and Nofoagatoto’a — who all weigh over 300 pounds. Patu, who registered a sack against Arizona last season at Cal, and Upshaw, the son of former NFL defensive lineman Regan Upshaw, will contribute to the Wildcats’ edge-rushing group.

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Manu started his UA career by matching up against the offensive starters in practice, then he ascended Arizona’s depth chart last season and replaced Kolbe Cage as the Wildcats’ starting “Will” linebacker. Manu, a one-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week recipient last season, helped Arizona’s defense in wins over No. 12 UCLA and Arizona State. In the Territorial Cup victory, Manu (who changed his jersey number from 59 to five this year) pressured ASU quarterback and Marana native Trenton Bourguet, forcing him to fumble, which was recovered by Savea. During ASU’s final possession, Manu knocked Bourguet’s arm on a pass that was intercepted by Taylor to seal the win.

Manu will lead Arizona’s defense alongside Flowe, a former five-star inside linebacker from Chino Hills, California who played the last three seasons at Oregon — and arguably the most impactful transfer of the group Arizona signed in ‘23.

“It’s our best team,” Fisch said. “We’re not going to shy away from that. I don’t know what that means in regards to wins, but I do know what it means in regards to the type of players we have, the quality of players we have, the talent we have.

“Our guys are going to go out there and play at a very, very high level. If they play at the level that I think we’re going to play at, I think we’re going to win a lot of games this year.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona football: What to know as UA begins 2023 training camp