Talk to Antoine Cason and Wilrey Fontenot for a few minutes, and you half expect them to show off WWDBD bracelets.
You know, "What Would Darrell Brooks Do?"
Fontenot and Cason are expected to anchor the Wildcats' defense in place of Brooks, the UA's popular and intense safety who is expected to be selected in this month's NFL draft.
Brandon Tatum and Michael Johnson have the unenviable task of trying to replace Brooks at safety.
But it is Cason and Fontenot, the UA's cornerbacks, who will be expected to lead on the field. They both started all 11 games as sophomores last season, and combined for five interceptions.
"It's a challenge, but we've been playing the last two years under this system and, you know, we have to step up," Cason said.
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"It's our time to step up and play like we're All-Americans."
UA coaches believe the Wildcats' secondary is capable of doing just that.
Johnson was second on the team with 60 tackles in 2005. Fontenot was third with 51 tackles, and Cason was fourth with 50.
"That's both good and bad," said Mark Stoops, the UA secondary coach and defensive coordinator.
"There are times they had to step up and help stop the run at the line of scrimmage. We're not pleased with our statistics and numbers from last season."
But UA head coach Mike Stoops and his brother agree that the defense's success starts with the secondary, the Wildcats' last line of defense against a pass-happy conference.
Part of it stems from the Stoops' history with the position.
Mike Stoops led the Big Ten Conference in interceptions in 1983 while at Iowa, and started coaching the position for the Hawkeyes in 1988.
He was hired by the UA after serving five seasons as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Oklahoma.
Like his older brother, Mark Stoops played at Iowa and has been coaching defensive backs on the high school and college levels since in 1992.
As a result, both pay extra-close attention to the Wildcats' secondary.
"We feel like we coach those guys the right way. We demand they play to perfection," Mark Stoops said.
"We have not reached that level yet. We're going to keep on pushing them and driving them to do better."
Added Mike Stoops: "Our secondary has to be the glue behind everything we do."
Cason and Fontenot both said they are ready for the challenge. They believe Brooks, the Wildcats' former leader, would expect nothing less.
"I think we can beat every team this year," Fontenot said. "We're a motivated team; we just have to work on being more consistent."
● The UA football team is hoping its experience on defense — notably in the secondary — can help the Wildcats improve on back-to-back 3-8 seasons. Arizona returns eight of its top-10 tacklers from last season. Returning players are in bold:
Darrell Brooks, safety 93 2 2
Michael Johnson, safety 60 4 0
Wilrey Fontenot, cornerback 51 2 0
Spencer Larsen, linebacker 51 0 0
Antoine Cason, cornerback 50 3 0
Marcus Hollingsworth, linebacker 41 1 0
Copeland Bryan, defensive end 39 0 1
Dane Krogstad, linebacker 38 0 0
Ronnie Palmer, linebacker 38 0 0
Sean Jones, linebacker 32 0 0
