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Bad news: Arizona senior defensive end Tre Smith suffered a season-ending injury, and the Wildcats are now without arguably their best edge rusher. Smith suffered a leg injury in Arizona's win over Weber State, which sidelined him for the Kansas State and Iowa State games.  

"Tre Smith is a vital part to what we do defensively because he's so physical," said Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales.  

The good news: Since Smith only played in three games this season, Arizona is in the process of getting him a medical redshirt so he can preserve a year and return next season.

"God's plans are bigger than ours," Gonzales said. "Tre Smith has not gotten into a season the last two years without something."

Gonzales revealed Smith had shoulder surgery in the spring, "so he missed a majority of summer weightlifting, recovering from that."

After transferring from San Jose State last season, Smith endured an ankle sprain and shoulder injury, "so we were trying to get him from game to game every week with minimal practice, which hurt his development," Gonzales said.

"He has such a physical presence, we tried to get him to Saturday," added the Arizona defensive coordinator.

With Smith sidelined, the Wildcats had "more three-linebacker personnel" with Riley Wilson and Chase Kennedy playing a combined 84 snaps in an edge rusher-space linebacker role, alongside Taye Brown and Max Harris.

Arizona senior defensive end Malachi Bailey has ascended into a leading role and had a season-high five tackles against BYU. Ditto for third-year defensive end Dominic Lolesio. The Wildcats are also relying on freshman defensive end Mays Pese, a 6-3, 271-pounder from Santa Barbara, California. Pese prepped at Bishop Garcia Diego High School and signed with the Wildcats over Michigan State, Boise State, Washington State and Oregon State, among others. 

Pese has seven tackles and the sixth-best tackling grade (79.1) for the Wildcats this season. His 110 defensive snaps are the most by any freshman at Arizona this season. 

Pese could conceivably be one of 10 defensive linemen to return next season — a batch of players that also includes junior college transfers in Leroy Palu, Zac Siulepa — a 6-6, 389-pound New Zealand native who is expected to have an elevated role in the second half of this season — and Ezra Funa, who is redshirting this season.

If Arizona returns the 10 scholarship defensive linemen who have played this season, the Wildcats would be returning 738 defensive snaps at the halfway point of the season. The 6-5, 262-pound Smith is in position to headline a potentially deep and experienced defensive line in 2026.    

"If we can get Tre Smith healthy, with a full year and a half of development under (defensive line coach Joe Salave'a), I'm super excited for what that can do for our front next year," Gonzales said.