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Arizona's defensive backs will have one last hurrah at Casino Del Stadium Saturday morning, when the Wildcats face the Baylor Bears for the final home game of the season. 

Stukes and Johnson headline 28 seniors who will participate in Senior Day festivities on Saturday.

The leaders of Arizona's defense are different from the rest of the seniors: they're the only ones who started and finished their collegiate careers at UA.

Both Johnson and Stukes played at Arizona during a revolutionary era of college football. 

Stukes, a Litchfield Park, Arizona, native and Millennium High School product, began his UA career as a walk-on during the pandemic-influenced season in 2020. Stukes' first game as a Wildcat was a 28-27 loss to USC at Arizona Stadium, when he was a special teams contributor. The first time he played multiple drives for Arizona's defense was the Wildcats' 70-7 loss to Arizona State, the final game of head coach Kevin Sumlin's tenure in Tucson. 

Just days after Arizona's nightmarish loss to ASU, Johnson signed with the UA's 2021 recruiting class. He's the only member of that '21 recruiting class still at Arizona — and both Johnson and Stukes are the last Sumlin-era players at Arizona. 

Johnson, a Katy, Texas, native, never took an official visit to Arizona and only saw the UA from a computer screen. His only form of communication with Arizona's coaches were over the phone and Zoom. Johnson recalled "someone asking me, 'Where is the University of Arizona at? What part of Arizona?' I couldn't even tell them, but here we are in Tucson. I know now."

Stukes, who earned a scholarship in 2021, became a mainstay and captain in Arizona's defense after the Wildcats hired Jedd Fisch and played both cornerback and nickel back. Stukes suffered a season-ending knee injury against Utah last season, but he preserved another year of eligibility with a medical redshirt.  

Johnson primarily played special teams his first two seasons before becoming a starter for Arizona's 10-win team that won the Alamo Bowl in 2023.

Johnson and Stukes had integral roles in safety Gunner Maldonado's momentum-shifting 87-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl. Johnson's hit of an OU receiver popped the ball up, Maldonado grabbed it, and Johnson and Stukes were lead blockers for the touchdown — one of the most celebrated plays in program history. 

Stukes has had five defensive coordinators at Arizona: Paul Rhoads, Don Brown, Johnny Nansen, Duane Akina and Danny Gonzales. Johnson played for Brown, Nansen, Akina and Gonzales. Johnson and Stukes have played a combined 4,671 defensive snaps at UA. They've totaled a combined 461 tackles, nine interceptions and 34 pass breakups (26 for Stukes) and six forced fumbles. Johnson is on pace to lead Arizona in tackles for the second year in a row.   

If the Wildcats win the remainder of their games this season, they could reach 10 wins for the fifth time in program history — the second time with Stukes and Johnson. 

In between their first and last home games at Arizona, Stukes and Johnson saw the birth of NIL, the transfer portal and revenue sharing. For Stukes, he went through a season impacted by COVID-19 and became a scholarship player.

It's conceivable both Johnson and Stukes could experience two 10-win seasons and a 20-game losing streak when their Arizona careers wrap up — the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.   

"Both of those players are just everything that's right about college football," said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. "They work their tails off, they get good grades, they do the right thing, they're leaders on the football team. That part of it is what we want a University of Arizona football player to be all about." 

Gonzales is "so proud of those guys" for their careers at the UA. 

"We need to get them in front of all of the true freshmen we're recruiting and explain to them their journey — and the lifelong friends they have because of that journey," Gonzales said. "The University of Arizona has been really good to both of those kids."

The UA — the program and player-led culture — is what led left guard Chubba Maae to stay after transferring from UC Davis last year. Just two weeks after signing with the Wildcats, Fisch accepted the same position at Washington. Maae was one of three players from the transfer portal to stay, along with defensive back Jack Luttrell and right guard Alexander Doost.  

"My decision to stay was the main reason I chose to come here in the first place, the people here," Maae said. "For those couple of hours, it just felt like I was at a cousin's house or a friend's house. The family atmosphere here is unlike any other. It's real when we say we have a family here."

Stukes and Johnson, among several other standout players, opted to stay for the 2024 season, but entered the transfer portal after Brennan's first disastrous season at the helm. After an official visit to Washington to potentially reunite with Fisch, Stukes, Johnson and safety Genesis Smith chose to stay in Tucson.

"It was always the right choice, at the end of the day," Johnson said. "We believe in what Coach B is doing and what he put together. He believed in me and what more can you ask for? These are my brothers here. I fell in love with the U of A. I've been here for five years and I just want to go out the right way and give back to the city of Tucson and repay what they've done for me and that's with a good season." 

Added Stukes: "Throughout the couple of times we had a chance to go anywhere else, we talked a lot. No matter what decision we made, it would be the right one. Eventually, it led to us to keep repping the 'Block A'. We trusted the coaching staff and these are my dogs for life. I wouldn't want to do it with anybody else. I definitely made the right choice." 

Johnson noted Arizona's upset win over Oregon State in 2023 as his favorite home game in Tucson. Stukes said his favorite memories at Arizona Stadium (now Casino Del Sol Stadium) are the 2022 Territorial Cup, where the Wildcats ended a five-game skid to ASU, and the home finale against Utah in 2023. 

Johnson said he's planning to eschew feeling the emotions of his final time taking the field in Tucson. 

"I'm going to be too dialed in, to be honest, because we still have a game and that's still the main thing," he said. "It's about getting this team to where we want to be and that's 10 wins. It'll probably hit me afterwards, for sure. ... Grateful for the U of A."

Stukes said he'll "probably take a minute to take a deep breath as I come out of the tunnel. It will hit me in that moment that it'll be the last time I take the field. I'll definitely refocus on the game and try to put a good one together." 

Gonzales said, "All of those guys that chose each other and chose Tucson, they need to be celebrated on Saturday."

Brennan said, "It's important for people to support that and show up for that, because when I think about those guys that are walking out, they chose to stay when things were really hard here or they're players that chose to come when things were really hard here. That speaks to the quality of the University of Arizona, our athletics department, the coaching staff and the people here on our football team.

"Whether they've been in Tucson for a year," like running back Ismail Mahdi or defensive tackle Deshawn McKnight, or they're a sixth-year senior like Stukes, "they've all made an important contribution to our program and to the university and the community here," Brennan said.

"I think it's important we respect that and honor that the right way on Saturday," he added. "Everybody contributed in a meaningful way to get us to a place we're at today."