Sophomore safety Jared Tevis has been part of five turnovers in four games. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Back in spring, the three players who now form the Arizona Wildcats group of starting safeties were a walk-on, a guy on suspension and somebody the former coaching staff kept on the bench for half a season.

All sophomores, Jared Tevis, Tra’Mayne Bondurant and Jourdon Grandon have been the cornerstone of the Cats’ new 3-3-5 defense.

“It’s probably the most productive part of our defense,” coach Rich Rodriguez said of the safeties.

Start with Tevis.

The walk-on from Canyon del Oro High School played last season on special teams and he impressed the new UA coaches in the spring, but it would have been impossible to predict his fast start to the season:

Thirty-nine tackles in four games, five pass break-ups, three forced fumbles and two interceptions.

“I had big goals coming into this season,” said Tevis, who was put on scholarship this summer. “I had a lot of goals in my mind that people wouldn’t have even been thinking of before the season.”

Now, he never leaves the field, also playing on special teams.

“That kid the other night played 90 plays (against Oregon),” safeties coach Tony Gibson said of Tevis.

“And he was playing as hard as he could from play 1 to play 90. He was wearing out wideouts. He was knocking helmets off. He’s just a tough-ass kid who does everything we ask him to do. He plays with a chip on his shoulder.”

Tevis plays the “Bandit” safety position, which is something like a strong safety spot. Bondurant is the “Spur” safety, more of a hybrid safety/linebacker who gets to be a disruptive force in the backfield. He leads the team with 6.5 tackles for loss.

“They are doing a heck of a job right now, and they should in this defense,” Gibson said. “In this defense, we kind of highlight these guys to make those plays.”

Based on what we saw last season, we knew Bondurant could be a playmaker. He got his first extended chance as a true freshman in 2011 after Mike Stoops was fired at midseason.

Interim coach Tim Kish put Bondurant into the starting lineup against UCLA, and he responded with eight tackles. Playing as a linebacker/nickel back, Bondurant went on to earn honorable mention All-Pac-12 honors while essentially playing half a season.

“You would look at him on the street and wouldn’t think he’s a great football player by any means,” Gibson said.

“But he has a knack for the ball. Knows where he’s at. He maneuvers his body in ways you can’t even coach. It makes my job a lot easier.”

The only things big about Bondurant (5-10, 207) and Tevis (5-10, 197) are the chips on the shoulders. They play with a certain edge, combined with smarts and uncommon instincts. Rodriguez credits these two, plus junior linebacker Jake Fischer, as being able to quickly diagnose plays and get to the ball.

“A lot of the better players as you go through time, whether it’s Ray Lewis or Ed Reed or Tedy Bruschi or Chuck Cecil, I bet all those guys had that one genetic gene that allowed them to trigger things in their mind a step quicker than the average guy,” Rodriguez said.

Grandon, the free safety, falls under the tutelage of cornerbacks coach David Lockwood. Grandon came back from a spring suspension for his part in an off-campus fight and claimed the starting spot in fall camp. He has four pass break-ups.

Grandon played cornerback and safety last season, starting four games.

“He’s a tough guy,” Rodriguez said.

“He’s a physical guy who is a very good athlete. He’s still learning. We’ve moved him around a little bit, but I think we’ve found a home for him and he’s pretty solid there.”

Rodriguez is in one-game-at-a-time mode, so he’s not thinking of how this trio of sophomores could all grow up together in the next couple of seasons. What’s more, cornerback Jonathan McKnight is a sophomore. The other cornerback, Shaquille Richardson, is a junior.

There’s a promising future in the secondary, with Tevis and Bondurant, in particular, manning those playmaking safety positions.

“Jared probably could have been our player of the week in every week so far,” Rodriguez said. “He and Tra’Mayne, they just have a feel for the game.”

Tramayne Bondurant sacks Washington quarterback Keith Price. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona Wildcats true freshman defensive back Tramayne Bondurant will be playing in his first Arizona-Arizona State game. He doesn’t really know what the rivalry is all about. He doesn’t need to.

If there is one player on defense you can count on to be playing hard, to be inspired no matter the circumstances, it’s Bondurant.

“I know it’s important to all of the players and a lot of the alumni who came here, and some of the coaches who actually played here,” Bondurant said of the rivalry.

“But it gets me fired up to play any game, this game especially. I have a lot of friends that go there, so that makes it more interesting.”

Bondurant, from Fairfield, Calif., has been the most interesting development of the post-Mike Stoops era. Hard to believe this guy was stashed away on the scout team and special teams units for the most of the first half of the season.

But then interim head coach Tim Kish inserted Bondurant into the starting lineup for the UCLA game in week 7 … and good luck getting him out of there for the next three years.

This is what Bondurant said after last week’s 48-29 loss at Colorado, in which he provided a rare Arizona highlight with a 29-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter.

“I told my teammates and coaches that I’m going to try and be a captain,” he said.

“I just want to make sure everyone’s on the same page and that we as a unit can go out and play. When this team gets back on track I’m going to be one of the leaders.”

Bondurant, even at a mere 185 pounds, has been playing a hybrid linebacker position. He’s often the flexed defender when Kish has deployed its double-eagle flex scheme to try to stop the run.

That flex position makes Bondurant an X-factor on defense, able to rush the passer or play close to the line of scrimmage in run support or drop into coverage, which is what he did when he stepped in front of a pass for the interception last week.

“I don’t think the quarterback even saw him,” Kish said.

Bondurant has 28 tackles, a sack, an interception and two pass break-ups in the past four games.

Kish was asked this week who will be the Wildcats’ best players next season, and he said this:

“I know one: Definitely, Tramayne Bondurant,” Kish said. “He has tremendous talent. He has a tremendous passion for the game. I think he’s a leader right now as a freshman.”

A leader?

Why not? Especially if, as Kish and some players suggested after last week’s loss, some of the Cats have checked out emotionally, mentally and physically.

Perhaps just playing rival Arizona State will cure the Wildcats of their blahs.

Tramayne Bondurant tries to bring down Washington receiver Kasen Williams. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Bondurant seems to need no extra motivation.

“I think I have a lot of energy to give,” he said. “I just try to be a leader any way I can — by being loud or making plays or keeping people’s heads up when things are going down. I think I can be a leader for these next two games.”

And into next season — whatever that will bring.

But think of a secondary that revolves around this: Passionate and hard-hitting safety Adam Hall, returning from an ACL injury; feisty Jonathan McKnight, who was the team’s best cornerback in camp before tearing an ACL; and the playmaking Bondurant at the nickel back spot. Kish called him “tough as nails.”

Add in a pair of returning starters — safety Marquis Flowers and cornerback Shaquille Richardson. Include a couple of sophomores-to be — cornerback Cortez Johnson and safety Jourdon Grandon. Don’t forget about safety Josh Robbins, who has sat out this season because of injury.

Some lucky position coach is going to inherit all that talent in the secondary — and none of those players will be a senior in 2012.

“I’m excited to see what’s next for my sophomore year,” Bondurant said.

He’s also excited for his first Territorial Cup showdown.

He said assistant coaches Jeff Hammerschmidt and Joe Salave’a — both former Arizona players — talked to the team Tuesday about the rivalry.

“They talked about how important it was to them and how real the rivalry is,” Bondurant said. “We’re going to go out there and get it done.”

Tramayne Bondurant tries to bring down Washington receiver Kasen Williams. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Halfway through the season, you don’t expect suddenly to be talking about a two-star freshman recruit who didn’t have any other Pac-12 scholarship offers.

You don’t expect to be talking about a two-star freshman recruit who is mostly learning a new position in college.

You don’t expect to be talking about a two-star freshman recruit who hardly played in the first six games.

Hey, let’s talk about the Arizona Wildcats’ Tramayne Bondurant.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound freshman has been a revelation in the past two games, as in “Where has he been all season?”

No more worries about that.

As interim head coach Tim Kish said Monday, “He won’t come off the field the rest of the year.”

Bondurant was mostly buried on the secondary depth chart in the first half of the season, although he played on special teams. Then Kish decided to deploy Bondurant in a playmaking rover position when the coaches decided to use the old run-stuffing double-eagle flex scheme against UCLA.

Bondurant had eight tackles, one for loss.

He started last week at nickel back against Washington, again making eight tackles, including a sack, and breaking up two passes.

Even Bondurant, who will be the nickel back against Utah on Saturday, said he wasn’t expecting to be playing this much.

“I knew my opportunity would come,” he said after Monday’s practice.

“I just had to wait it out. I just had to stay working hard in practice and stay focused. I tried not to get frustrated. When my opportunity came I was happy I got my chance.”

Bondurant was a standout quarterback at Fairfield (Calif.) High School, finishing last season with 1,906 passing yards and 1,011 rushing yards. He accounted for 37 touchdowns. He also made 102 tackles last season, mostly as a linebacker.

Arizona coaches saw him at their skills camp in the summer of 2010, and immediately liked him as a cornerback, prompting a scholarship offer.

Kish said Bondurant caught the coaches’ eyes in fall camp, when they tried to find a place for Bondurant.

“We had him at nickel. We had him at corner. I always wanted to put him at linebacker, especially because of the (lack of) depth that we had,” Kish said. “But it was just too early there in the beginning of the fall to do that.”

Bondurant now joins the discussion in what could be a stellar secondary in the near future, even after the loss of senior cornerback Trevin Wade and senior safety Robert Golden.

Consider this lineup for next season. Cornerback: Shaquille Richardson, Jonathan McKnight, Cortez Johnson. Safety: Adam Hall, Marquis Flowers, Josh Robbins, Mark Watley. Cornerback/safety/nickelback: Jourdon Grandon, Bondurant.

Among that group, only Watley will be a senior next season.

Tramayne Bondurant

In the meantime, Bondurant will soak up as much experience as he can handle the rest of this season.

“I just try to have fun out there,” he said.

“Playing hard makes you have a good edge on the field. My teammates vibe off me and the energy, even in practice. … “You just have to be focused and not have a negative attitude. That’s when you have a lot of mistakes.”

Although he does have a background of playing high school defense, he credits being a quarterback with honing his instincts.

“I know how a lot of people react on that side of the ball to certain things,” he said. “That helps reading receivers and covering. When I see the ball I just go. It’s an instinct thing. I don’t hesitate because you can lose a lot of plays in hesitating.”

Those instincts have helped make him a playmaker in the past two weeks for a UA defense that has been in need of playmakers all season.

It looks as if Bondurant — whose primary recruiter was special teams coordinator Jeff Hammerschmidt — will be a nice present the current staff leaves behind for a new head coach.

“He has a passion to play the game of football,” Kish said.

“He wears it on his sleeve. He’s excitable. He’s young. He doesn’t know any better, and I love that. That’s great stuff. He competes on every play. He is a playmaker.”

Starting cornerback Trevin Wade might not see a lot of passes his way with so much inexperience at the other corner. Photo by Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona interim head coach Tim Kish will have a short-handed secondary against Washington with four defensive backs suspended for at least half of the game, a result of their participation in Thursday night’s brawl against UCLA.

Kish reviewed video of the incident, talked to Pac-12 officials, and said Monday he agreed with the decision for the conference to hand down additional sanctions a day after the game.

“As I mentioned to the team after the game and at halftime, discipline is the cornerstone of where we’re at right now, and that was a lack of discipline. It was a little bit of a selfish reaction.

“You have to understand the bigger purpose — what’s best for the team. It’s unfortunate. From my opinion, it’s the right thing to do from the commissioner’s standpoint. It is something we’re going to have to deal with.”

The biggest issue is at cornerback. Starter Shaquille Richardson — who was ejected late in the first half against UCLA for fighting — is out for the Washington. His replacement, Lyle Brown, is suspended for the first half.

Arizona lists true freshman Cortez Johnson and sophomore Derrick Rainey as co-starters on this week’s depth chart. Johnson has been out for the past couple of weeks with injury, but is available, Kish said. Johnson looked good in fall camp, but almost all of his playing time has been on special teams.

With nickel back Jourdon Grandon suspended for the game, and backup safety Mark Watley out for the first half, look for true freshman Tramayne Bondurant to start at nickel back. Bondurant (5-10, 185) made his first start last week as a linebacker, when he was used a rover in a newly-installed flex defense.

The scheme put Bondurant in position to make plays — and he led the team with 10 tackles.

“Just the competitiveness he plays with,” Kish said, asked what he likes about Bondurant.

“He has some fire. He has great instincts. He can play a lot of positions for us … He had a heck of a job for just a week of practice understanding what was expected of him. We probably hid him away too long.”

Kish said he will considering moving a couple of offensive skill players to defensive back to help out in emergency situations, although he declined to specify which ones.

Arizona, which uses its nickel package the majority of the time, will have three starters available — cornerback Trevin Wade and safeties Robert Golden and Marquis Flowers.

Arizona will be going against Washington sophomore quarterback Keith Price, who has been excellent in his first season as a starter, replacing departed Jake Locker.

Price has completed 141 of 206 passes (68.45 percent) for 1,713 yards, with 22 touchdowns and five interceptions.

“I think the coaches up there would say he is actually running the offense better than what Locker did. I have heard that comment made several times” Kish said.

“He’s having a tremendous year. He throws the ball well. He moves well in the pocket. He doesn’t get himself in trouble. They have some real talent on that side of the ball.”