Arizona football training camp preview: linebackers

Following a 9-4 season last year, the Wildcats kick off the 2026 season against in-state rival Northern Arizona on Sept. 5 at Casino Del Sol Stadium. Arizona begins fall training exactly a month before the season opener on Aug. 5 — next Wednesday. 

Leading up to fall training camp, the Star is providing a position-by-position preview of the Wildcats. We recently evaluated the offensive side of the ball and did an overview of Arizona’s quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive line. 

Now, the defensive side of the ball, with the defensive line starting off.

Position coach: Josh Bringuel

Departures: Max Harris, Riley Wilson, Blake Gotcher

Returners: Taye Brown (Jr.), Chase Kennedy (R-Sr.), Myron Robinson (So.), Jabari Mann (R-So.), Leviticus Su'a (R-Jr.), Nela Taliauli (R-So.), Coleman Patmon (R-Fr.), Brandon Craddock (R-Sr.), Dominic Hanger (R-Jr.), Carter Jones (R-Fr.), Jacob Buggie (R-So.) 

Newcomers: Everett Roussaw (Sr.), Cooper Blomstrom (Sr.), Dash Fifita (Fr.), Jaden Parker (Fr.)

The rundown: After losing Max Harris and Riley Wilson, Arizona's leaders at linebacker have become seniors Taye Brown and Chase Kennedy. 

Harris' leadership "inspired me to step out of my shell," Kennedy said in the spring. Now, he's paying it forward. 

"We do the best we can to bring the guys along — young guys, new guys, freshmen and even guys who've been here," Kennedy said. "The longer you've been in the program, the more comfort and trust you get with people. We try to bring that juice and energy any time we can." 

As Spider-Man once said, with great power comes great responsibility. 

"When those guys make mistakes, I'm significantly harder on those guys than the others, because I expect them to be perfect at everything they do and we're always chasing perfection," Gonzales said on the Star's "Wildcast Podcast" earlier this month. "When your best players make mistakes and you coach them hard, everybody else tries to live up to that expectation."

Kennedy, a Dallas native who started his career at Utah and transferred to Arizona in 2024, was a defensive end prior to switching over to an off-ball linebacker last season. In his linebacker-edge rushing role last season, Kennedy had 42 tackles, four sacks and seven quarterback hurries. 

The 6-3, 230-pound Kennedy "has all the tools to be successful," said Arizona linebackers coach Josh Bringuel, who's going into his second season with the program.

"He has all the physical attributes and the work ethic to back that up," Bringuel said of Kennedy.

Kennedy, "from when he got here as a transfer from Utah to where he's at now, it's almost like two different players," Gonzales said.

"When you have that leadership, the experience and the success from last year, we have a dangerous duo there," Gonzales added. 

Brown is entering his third season as Arizona's starting middle linebacker after being a backup during the Wildcats' run to the Alamo Bowl in 2023.

After a mild sophomore season, Brown had a career-high 93 tackles last season — the second-most tackles behind Las Vegas Raiders safety and All-Big 12 selection Dalton Johnson. The 6-2, 228-pound Brown has 168 tackles, 12.5 stops for loss, four sacks, five pass deflections, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception in his UA career.

"Taye Brown is one of the best linebackers in the Big 12, if not the best," Gonzales said. "I've tried my tail off to out-recruit him, and I can't. That is fantastic."

Brown said Gonzales is "always trying to motivate me and push me to be my best and not let me get comfortable.”

"It started last year with the guys he brought in," Brown said. "We brought in really good guys, like Max Harris and Riley Wilson. (Gonzales has) pushed me to be my best every day. We brought in some new guys this year, like (Memphis transfer Everett Roussaw and Georgetown transfer Cooper Blomstrom), they're good, as well. He pushes me to be my best or else I'm going to get my spot taken." 

Bringuel said Arizona's senior linebacker "is the ultimate display of process."

"Taye is a good football player and a good athlete," Bringuel said. "As a good coach, you always want to out-recruit your players. ... He knows this stuff and he's teaching the young guys."

Brown and Kennedy will have veteran reinforcements this season via the transfer portal between Blomstrom and Roussaw, who Gonzales called "a really pleasant surprise in the spring." 

The 6-2, 235-pound Roussaw started his career at UAB in 2023 and played two seasons for the Blazers. At UAB, Roussaw played in 23 games and made eight starts as a true freshman. He recorded 125 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four sacks and two fumble recoveries. 

The Atlanta native transferred to Memphis and had 64 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, four pass breakups and an interception in his lone year with the Tigers.

"Everett Roussaw is a far better off-the-ball football player than I anticipated because a lot of the stuff that he did (previously) was up on the line of scrimmage, like the way Riley (Wilson) was at Montana," Gonzales said. "What he's been able to do off the ball is fantastic."

The 6-2, 235-pound Roussaw "plays with violence" and "he's done some things schematically and natural as a football player," said Gonzales, who added, "he's a neat young man. He comes in every day with a smile, he wants to get better, he approaches everything like, 'I'm going to beat your tail in it.'" 

Blomstrom, a 6-2, 245-pound Dover, New Hampshire, native, played in 31 games over three seasons at Georgetown and recorded 117 tackles, 27 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, five forced fumbles and an interception. Blomstrom combined for 15 sacks his last two seasons for the Hoyas. 

"He runs full speed, downhill at you," Kennedy said of Blomstrom. "Nobody wants to be in front of that. He's physical, he wants to learn. Coop can do a lot of things for us. I just saw him run down the field with the receivers."

Other key returners at linebacker include Jabari Mann, Myron Robinson and Leviticus Su'a, among others. Su'a, a former highly touted recruit from Mater Dei and Trinity League Defensive MVP, "is finally what everyone thought he was going to be out of high school" after enduring injuries over the last three years, Gonzales said. 

"He's finally healthy and in the spring, he was able to show that," added Arizona's defensive coordinator. "If he can continue to stay on this path and stay healthy, we've got added depth."

Robinson, a 6-1, 231-pound San Antonio native, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second half of the Wildcats' road win over Cincinnati. Robinson's status for fall training camp and the start of the season is to be determined.

Mann, who converted from running back a year ago, had a pick-six in the fourth quarter of Arizona's home win over Baylor last season — when Arizona used the "red rover" linebacker package with four linebackers holding hands pre-snap. 

Arizona signed two linebackers for its 2026 recruiting class: Dash Fifita and Jaden Parker, who arrived this summer. Fifita, the younger brother of Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, is listed at 5-7, 186 pounds, but the undersized Jacob Manu-esque linebacker from Huntington Beach, California, flashed as a potential breakout player in the future — making tackles in the backfield and bull-rushing offensive linemen this spring.  

"His background and knowledge of football with his brother and his family, he understands football so well and plays with tremendous effort," Bringuel said of the younger Fifita. "It's been fun to see him step into that and attack it. He's got unbelievable knowledge of the game." 

Fifita "has excelled faster than I thought he would, especially for his size. He's such a competitive, tough (player)," Gonzales said. 

"I mean, he's a Fifita," Gonzales added. "With that, he's a Fifita, so there's a lot of pressure behind that, because Noah doesn't screw anything up. Dash has high expectations to live up to, and the whole family is all about it. In the front seven, we're deeper and better than we were last year." 

A season after Arizona had one of the top passing defenses in college football, the Wildcats' defensive reputation could be formed on the defensive front in 2026.