Arizona Football: Wildcats starting from scratch under new coaching staff

Defense will be much more aggressive under new coordinator Don Brown

One of the better offseason coordinator hires in my view was Arizona snatching up Don Brown after he was let go from Michigan. Brown has been known to be very aggressive on the defensive side of the ball and has had some very good defenses everywhere he has been. The question is if he will have any talent in Tucson for that to make any difference.

The defensive line is going to be returning a good bit of experience in 2021. Jalen Harris, Trevon Mason, and Kyon Barrs are back to lead the way up front and senior JB Brown is going to be the other starter.

Arizona football had only two sacks on defense last season, so this unit needs to be better in 2021. The linebackers are going to be led by Anthony Pandy, but keep a close eye on Western Michigan transfer Treshaun Hayward.

Hayward was one of the top transfers in the portal and he was the 2019 MAC defensive player of the year after having 142 tackles that season. Christian Young is the other projected starter at linebacker.

The secondary is going to be led by Christian Roland-Wallace and Notre Dame transfer Isaiah Rutherford at the cornerback position. Jaxen Turner is back to start at safety and he will be joined by freshman Jaydin Young.

This defense has was horrendous last season and I think that having Brown in to be the coordinator will be a boost overall, but this is still going to be a bad defense in 2021.