All spring, Arizona’s defenders have been gravitating to a small practice field south of the beach-volleyball courts at the Dick Tomey complex — a spot the team has nicknamed “South Beach.” There they run through a variety of full-speed contact drills designed to sharpen tackling technique without putting players through constant live collisions.
Work on South Beach often features stand-up tackling bags and donut-shaped pads that defenders must strike and drive through. Some drills force players to change direction and engage at an angle, while others emphasize finishing through the target. Senior linebacker Taye Brown described the mentality the staff wants: treat the bag like a human target and aggressively drive through the contact.
Senior linebacker Chase Kennedy said the daily repetitions matter even if the work isn’t against a live opponent. The team cycles through launching drills, redirect-and-screen work and other high-intensity movements so the body learns to react the same way it would in a game. That habit, he said, helps produce the rapid, swarm-the-ball pursuit that the staff expects when the action is live.
Longtime assistant and former standout safety Chuck Cecil has taken part in the pregame and practice bag work, demonstrating the same physical approach he was known for as a player. Linebackers coach Josh Bringuel said the variety of bag-based exercises reflects an effort to simulate the game’s physicality while limiting repetitive, hard collisions that can add up over time.
Bringuel put it simply: football is inherently violent, so coaches aim to train that violence creatively. Bags and other soft-contact tools let players go full speed and experience impact without the cost of repeated player-on-player hits. That balance has become more important as programs manage the health of athletes in an era when players are compensated by their schools.
One of the spring’s flashpoints came from a defensive stunt that produced a highlight last season. In the win over Baylor, Jabari Mann, Brown, Kennedy and Riley Wilson executed an unusual look at the line — two players stepped back into coverage while two rushed — a call the group nicknamed “Red rover! Red rover!” The sequence began as a midseason practice experiment and a bit of locker-room humor, but it turned into a game-changing pick-six when Mann undercut a route and returned an interception 34 yards.
Bringuel laughed about being teased by the staff for green‑lighting the stunt, but said the play illustrates another point: if a creative call can get the defense after the quarterback and produce results, the staff will embrace it. He also urged the players to bring energy and passion to the field; that intensity was visible on the play, he said, with Kennedy rushing like he’d been “shot out of a cannon.”
The Wildcats wrapped up their fourth week of spring practice Saturday at Davis Sports Center and the Tomey fields. Linebackers had a strong day — freshman Dash Fifita and transfer Everett Roussaw each recorded tackles for loss in a mid-practice team period, while Kennedy added a sack. Several skill players who have been limited in earlier sessions returned to more activity: freshman receiver RJ Mosley and running back Kedrick Reescano took part in drills, and redshirt junior Tre Spivey caught a corner‑route touchdown from Noah Fifita.
Other notable plays included redshirt freshman quarterback Luke Haugo throwing a 55-yard touchdown to transfer DJ Jordan, and transfer Rodney Gallagher scoring on a jet sweep and making a highlight falling-out-of-bounds grab. The practice concluded with an “overtime” sequence near the red zone: Spivey made a contested high-point catch before redshirt sophomore Nela Taliauli intercepted reserve quarterback Sawyer Anderson to end the day.
Arizona also used Saturday to host visitors. Ten recruits were on campus for unofficial visits — among them defensive lineman Khing Thibodeaux, linebacker Davon Smith, running back Braylon Rayford, cornerbacks Jordan Slye and Bryant Robinson — and the program welcomed more than 50 university professors and academic advisors who have ties to current players. A handful of former Wildcats, including Ortege Jenkins, Lamont Lovett and Kyle Quinn, were in attendance as well, watching the next wave of the program take shape.
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