Analyzing Arizona’s defense vs. Washington via Pro Football Focus (2024)

The Arizona Wildcats hosted the Washington Huskies and came very close to a win. UA, however, was unable to close out the game with the help of a few mistakes.

Let’s take a look through the Pro Football Focus lens, in conjunction with my analysis, to see how Arizona’s defense performed against UDub.

As a reminder, see the grading scale below:

Defensive line

This game was one of the best showings for the group in some time. Well, Oregon was another great game, but the d-line really showed great penetration and pass rush against the Huskies.

Jalen Harris, arguably, played his best game of the season. He was disruptive. He looked fast as he ever has. He was aggressive and successful in pressuring the QB. Hopefully, we’ll see more of this type of play from him.

Mo Diallo also played his best game of the season, and as a Wildcat. He was extremely active, racking up four tackles for loss and one and a half sacks. He looked more comfortable and complimented Harris well.

Trevon Mason continues to produce. The best play of the night for him was his sack. He did a great job on a DL crossover stunt and attacked the left tackle. He managed to shed the block with ease and made a b-line for the QB’s blind side, getting the sack. Mason will play on Sundays.

Leevel Tatum III saw extensive action with Kyon Barrs out with an injury. He played pretty well, however, he had a costly offsides penalty that ended up hurting the team more than expected. I’ll talk more about that later. But Tatum did build off the momentum he obtained against Colorado. If Barrs is unable to go against USC, Tatum will see more action again.

Dion Wilson Jr. was also fairly productive. He go more push than he ever has since arriving in Tucson and showed excellent use of his hands to shed blocks and limit running plays.

Paris Shand also saw time but didn’t record any stats. I will say, he has a high motor and there were quite a few times he was right behind a teammate who was making a tackle.

STAT LINES

• Mo Diallo: 8 tackles, 4 TFL, 1.5 sacks
• Leevel Tatum III: 5 tackles
• Jalen Harris: 4 tackles, 1 PBU
• Dion Wilson Jr.: 4 tackles, 0.5 TFL
• Trevon Mason: 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
• Paris Shand: N/A

SNAP COUNTS

• Jalen Harris: 58
• Trevon Mason: 56
• Mo Diallo: 51
• Leevel Tatum III: 43
• Dion Wilson Jr.: 14
• Paris Shand: 7

OVERALL

• Highest: Jalen Harris (72.3)
• Lowest: Paris Shand (57.9)

TACKLING

• Highest: Jalen Harris (76.8)
• Lowest: Leevel Tatum III (28.8)

PASS RUSH

• Highest: Jalen Harris (70.6)
• Lowest: Paris Shand (56.3)

RUN DEFENSE

• Highest: Jalen Harris (73.7)
• Lowest: Trevon Mason (57.5)

COVERAGE

• Highest: Mo Diallo (60.9)
• Lowest: Jalen Harris (60.0)

Linebackers

The backers had a better game than they did against Colorado.

Anthony Pandy played his best overall game of the season. He played very well against the run and flew to the ball. He was also a major issue for the QB as he accumulated two hurries. Like Tatum did against the Buffs, let’s see if Pandy can build off of his performance against UDub.

On the opposite side, Christian Young played his worst game of the season. He missed his second tackle of the season and wasn’t that strong against the run like he has been all year. He did make some good plays in man-to-man against tight end Cade Otton though. I think PFF ranked him low, especially since he didn’t allow a completion. Though he did get called for holding Otton before the pass was thrown in the end zone. The thing was the pass was over thrown and would’ve caused UDub to go for a FG. Instead they scored the next play.

Jerry Roberts got the nod at MIKE again and did a better job than he did against Colorado. He looked more comfortable and had a good play on a delayed blitz for a sack. He did miss two more tackles, so he’ll need to shore that up.

Kenny Hebert returned to his old self and had a good game. He didn’t miss any tackles and did a great job creating pressure on the QB and playing the run.

Rashie Hodge Jr. had a solid game overall. He recorded his first part of a sack this season and really showed that he can rush the passer effectively.

STAT LINES

• Jerry Roberts: 8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
• Anthony Pandy: 7 tackles
• Christian Young: 3 tackles
• Kenny Hebert: 3 tackles
• Rashie Hodge Jr.: 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 0.5 sack

SNAP COUNTS

• Christian Young: 64
• Anthony Pandy: 57
• Jerry Roberts: 49
• Kenny Hebert: 32
• Rashie Hodge Jr.: 17

OVERALL

• Highest: Anthony Pandy (74.5)
• Lowest: Christian Young (48.2)

TACKLING

• Highest: Kenny Hebert (74.8)
• Lowest: Rashie Hodge Jr. (42.5)

PASS RUSH

• Highest: Anthony Pandy (86.1)
• Lowest: Jerry Roberts (61.4)

RUN DEFENSE

• Highest: Anthony Pandy (79.5)
• Lowest: Rashie Hodge Jr. (50.7)

COVERAGE

• Highest: Rashie Hodge Jr. (72.9)
• Lowest: Christian Young (43.5)

Cornerbacks

The group had an inconsistent game. While they were very good in the first half, that was not the case for the second.

Christian Roland-Wallace had an uncharacteristic game. It was probably one of his worst games as a Wildcat. He gave up a few big plays down the field in the second half and gave up his first touchdown of the season. He did continue his strong tackling and has yet to miss a tackle this season. It’ll be interesting to see how he bounces back against USC.

Isaiah Rutherford, who had his worst game against Colorado, bounced back nicely. He didn’t allow a completed pass and did a fantastic job tackling. He also played well against the run.

Treydan Stukes did not have that great of a game. He was called for a pass interference that wouldn’t have been called had he turned his head around. What’s more, he had great coverage on the play. He just needs to learn to turn his head. Other than that he was pretty good at times, and not-so-good at others.

STAT LINES

• Christian Roland-Wallace: 5 tackles
• Isaiah Rutherford: 3 tackles
• Treydan Stukes: N/A

SNAP COUNTS

• Christian Roland-Wallace: 65
• Isaiah Rutherford: 60
• Treydan Stukes: 16

OVERALL

• Highest: Isaiah Rutherford (63.6)
• Lowest: Treydan Stukes (47.4)

TACKLING

• Highest: Christian Roland-Wallace (80.3)
• Lowest: Isaiah Rutherford (77.9)

RUN DEFENSE

• Highest: Isaiah Rutherford (71.7)
• Lowest: Treydan Stukes (60.0)

COVERAGE

• Highest: Isaiah Rutherford (60.6)
• Lowest: Treydan Stukes (47.4)

Safeties

The safeties had a better game against the Huskies than they did against the Buffs.

Jaxen Turner had his best game of the season. He did a great job of tackling and had a pretty good game in coverage as well. He almost had an INT in the first half but he was out of bounds. Unfortunately, he had an actual INT wiped out due to Tatum’s offsides penalty (mentioned above). Turner did get burned once later in the fourth quarter on UDub’s go-ahead drive.

Jaydin Young, who was filling in for the injured Gunner Maldonado, had a good game with one really bad play. He was great tackling most of the night except for one play. Right after Tatum’s offsides and subsequent non-INT INT for Turner, Young whiffed on an open field tackle that allowed UW to get a first down. All Young had to do was wrap up but he didn’t. A few plays later he had about as good of coverage as you can legally have but Terrell Bynum just out-muscled him for a touchdown. Young will need to work on his open field tackling to keep drives like that from happening.

STAT LINES

• Jaxen Turner: 8 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 1 PBU
• Jaydin Young: 7 tackles

SNAP COUNTS

• Jaxen Turner: 65
• Jaydin Young: 62

OVERALL

• Highest: Jaxen Turner (72.0)
• Lowest: Jaydin Young (63.8)

TACKLING

• Highest: Jaxen Turner (82.8)
• Lowest: Jaydin Young (66.8)

PASS RUSH

• Highest: Jaxen Turner (60.0)
• Lowest: Jaydin Young (55.9)

RUN DEFENSE

• Highest: Jaydin Young (68.7)
• Lowest: Jaxen Turner (68.3)

COVERAGE

• Highest: Jaxen Turner (72.1)
• Lowest: Jaydin Young (61.6)