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However, if the Wildcats learned anything from the 2024 season, it's to stay ready because a second-stringer is a twisted ankle 鈥� or in Arizona's case, an ACL injury 鈥� away from becoming a starter.

Luttrell transferred to Arizona in December 2023 after redshirting his freshman season at Tennessee.

Luttrell was primarily a special teams player until Arizona's injury-riddled defense, including season-ending knee injuries to Treydan Stukes and Gunner Maldonado, cleared the path for the Tennessee transfer to contribute in the defensive secondary.听

Genesis Smith, who is expected to start ahead of Luttrell at free safety and be one of Arizona's top defensive players this season, moved into Stukes' role at nickel back while Luttrell was the high-post safety. Smith and Luttrell tied for a team-high three interceptions last season. Luttrell had two interceptions in a 34-7 loss to Colorado. He also finished the season with 39 tackles and a forced fumble.听

When Luttrell was in the transfer portal in 2023, Smith hosted Luttrell at Arizona for his official visit in 2023 and "ever since, he's been a role model in the building and someone I can ask questions, bounce ideas off of," Luttrell said.

In his first action as a college football player, "I just learned how to be a team player, be there for the guys and show up every single day with a smile on my face, whether I wanted to or not," Luttrell said.

"I learned more about college football," he added. "I was a redshirt freshman, so now it's just growing on that."

Last season at this time, Smith wasn't slated as a starter, but embraced learning multiple positions in the defensive secondary and became one of the top playmakers on Arizona's defense.

Arizona safeties coach Brett Arce point of emphasis to Luttrell this spring is "just keep working."

"You never know when your time is ready," Arce said. "I'm putting him in a lot of different situations, multiple positions again. Similar thing to Genesis, if someone goes down, you don't know what's going to happen. It's a great luxury to have because iron sharpens iron. If someone isn't on their A-game that day, then we're going to put that other guy in front. If you're not doing things right on and off the field and carrying yourself to our standard, then we're going to play the next guy, because we have some guys that showed they're capable.

"I think Jack is going to continue to get better. He's got some great models in the room, he's got some experience under his belt now, so I'm excited to see his trajectory and where he goes."

UA 'super impressed' with Frausto-Ramos聽

Another safety waiting in the wings is Stanford transfer Jshawn Frausto-Ramos.

Frausto-Ramos was a former four-star recruit at St. John Bosco High School in Southern California and signed with Stanford in 2023, when former UA defensive backs coach Duane Akina was an assistant for the Cardinal.听

Frausto-Ramos and St. John Bosco competed in the nationally renowned Trinity League, which also has football powers Mater Dei and Servite, the school that produced Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and NFL-bound wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.听

"It was always fun going against Noah and T-Mac and all them," said Frausto-Ramos, who played cornerback at St. John Bosco and often defended McMillan in pass coverage.听

At Stanford, Frausto-Ramos had聽40 tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and a pass deflection in two seasons before he entered the transfer portal.听

When Frausto-Ramos explored his options, his connection to Akina and Arce, who "took (Frausto-Ramos) under his wing" during USC football camps, brought him to play for the Wildcats. Frausto-Ramos said, "Coming here was a no-brainer for me."

"When I entered the portal, Coach Arce was here," Frausto-Ramos said, "so I checked it out and I liked it."

Through nearly three weeks of spring practices, Arce has been "super impressed with Jshawn." Arce had positive expectations for Frausto-Ramos while observing offseason workouts. The 6-foot, 213-pound Frausto-Ramos looked the part of a contributor this season, "but you never really know until you get on the grass," Arce said.

"Since we've been on the grass and played football, he's a football player," Arce said. "He has really impressed me and is learning multiple positions as we like to do with our guys. He's been put in those positions and showed up and made some plays. I think you guys have seen that. I'm expecting big things from him and his growth is going to be exponentially better as he gets more comfortable in this defense."

Beyond football

The UA athletic department held its annual career fair for student-athletes at McKale Center this week, which featured more than 60 local employers.听

The event started with a panel discussion led by Sofia Read, the UA's聽Tyler Family endowed assistant athletic director and leader of C.A.T.S Student-Athlete Development.听

Former UA offensive lineman Kyle Quinn, who played under head coaches Mike Stoops and Rich Rodriguez at Arizona, is now an engineering lab manager at Raytheon Technologies after "having a cup of coffee in the NFL," coaching and working at Costco. When Quinn transitioned into the non-football chapter of his life, he experienced聽"emotional struggles, because you're trying to find that drive," he said.

"You fall in love with your sport and you fall in love with the routine," Quinn said on ESPN Tucson's "Spears & Ali" Tuesday morning. "When that is taken away from you, it's hard to adjust to normal life and move on to that post-athletic career. ... You have to find things you're interested in to fill that void, because that void is very real. For some athletes, it's pretty hard to adjust to that because you've had that schedule taken away from you."

Prioritizing life after football is the main objective for "Beyond Football," a program started by UA player of development Tobruk Blaine, who helped Smith start his own foundation, which kicked off "Christmas Cats," a holiday campaign to donate presents to families in 大象APPand Phoenix.

Beyond Football brought in former players and successful business owners to share their stories with the UA football team and offer advice to players about finding their life purpose once their playing careers stop.听聽

"I tell every player I recruit and every player that plays for us, I want them to chase their NFL dream with everything that they have 鈥� absolutely everything that they have," Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. "I also want them to build this Plan B at the same time. Football is such an interesting game. If you're lucky and you play for six years (in the NFL), you've played three times the average career length of an NFL football player.

"Say you're lucky and you play six or eight years, but now you're 28-30 years old, what are you going to do for the next 50 years of your life? How are you going to find fulfillment? How are you going to contribute to society? How are you going to raise a family? That's a core part of our program, is Beyond Football. The speakers are all super impactful. We're not just educating them on job stuff, there's also a financial literacy component."

In today's landscape of collegiate athletics, where football players can earn six or seven figures between NIL and potentially revenue sharing, Beyond Football is a tool for UA football players to learn how to manage finances and budget correctly.听

"We want to make sure they're smart with that and understanding how to take advantage of the opportunity they've been given in regards to college football," Brennan said. "That's a huge part and an important part."聽聽

Extra points

鈥撀燗rizona hosted 20 recruits on Thursday from the 2025-28 recruiting classes. The 鈥�25 prospects attending Arizona's practice on Thursday were Las Vegas long snapper Andrew O'Reilly and cornerback Mark Ricks from Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, California. Seven Crean Lutheran players were in attendance, including four-star 2026 defensive tackle Tank Carrington. The visitors currently with Arizona offers are three-star 2027 Delaware running back Amar'e Glover, 鈥�27 Los Angeles-area receiver Damari Hall and Crean Lutheran defensive back Patrick Hall.听