For Brent Brennan, “Bear Down Brotherhood” has been more than a slogan since he got to Tucson. It’s one of the standards he’s leaned on to build trust inside the Arizona program, and now that idea is showing up in a very real way: the Wildcats have three pairs of brothers on the roster.
The most visible of those pairs are the Fifitas. Freshman linebacker Dash Fifita has stepped into the program with the kind of family spotlight that comes with being the younger brother of fifth-year quarterback Noah Fifita, and the two have already given coaches a few moments to smile about. Brennan said he told Noah, “Hey man, you and Dash are not trying to run each other over,” and Noah’s answer was immediate: “Coach, if he’s there it’s happening.”
That mindset is exactly why Arizona’s staff has been so direct about keeping Dash away from Noah in live situations. Linebackers coach Josh Bringuel said, “I made it very clear, ‘Dash, you do not touch Noah in the open field, I don’t care if he’s your brother.
You do not touch him.’ Dash did a great job with that, and they do have some fun going back and forth,”
Even with that instruction in place, the brothers still found a way to create a moment. During a recent practice, Dash got a shot to compete against Noah and picked off one of his passes. For the younger Fifita, it was a moment he’ll remember.
“It was amazing to even go out there against him and just compete against him,” said Fifita. “When he threw that ball, it felt like a surreal moment.
Our childhood memories, all the conversations we had about playing with each other rolled through my mind while I was in the air, and as I came down with it, it just felt good. I didn’t know how to react.
I was just running to the end zone, looking for him. I didn’t know how to celebrate, but the boys were with me, and it was a surreal moment.”
Dash knows Noah wants the chance to test him in the open field, but he doesn’t sound worried about how that would play out.
“I’m sure in the open field, he for sure wants that to go down, but I don’t think it would end too positive for him,” said Fifita.
Noah, for his part, said the urge to go after his little brother is just part of who he is.
“I think that’s just the competitor side of me, the big brother side of me,” said Fifita. “I’ve never been able to play with my little brother, so for this opportunity, it’s something that we’ve been kind of manifesting and dreaming our whole life.
So, yeah, I don’t think Coach Brennan will allow it. There’s definitely respect there, but I like to mess around.”
The Spivey brothers bring a similar edge. Tre Spivey, the older of the two, made it clear he has no plans to let younger brother Kingston get the better of him.
“He’s not tackling me,” said Spivey. “Kingston, nah, he ain’t got no chance.
Now Kingston can tackle. That’s one thing about him.
He’ll come down and lay it down. I won’t give him the opportunity to do that.”
Tre also pointed to the way that constant competition has shaped both of them.
“My brother, he’s three years younger than me, and he’s always been super competitive,” said Spivey. “King, he has this dog to him, this chip on his shoulder, always, because there’s times where he felt undersized or overlooked, and I feel like every time he gets an opportunity, he takes it and runs. So, when he goes up against me, he’s trying to prove something, and it’s all just brotherly love.”
Arizona’s third brother duo is Jake Griffin and Jaxon Griffin, and unlike the other pairs, these two are in the same meeting room as offensive linemen. Their path to Tucson lines up with the Spiveys in a few interesting ways: both sets are from Arizona, both pairs went to the same high school, the older brothers are transfers, and the younger brothers came straight to Arizona.
The Spiveys attended Hamilton High School in Chandler. The Griffins went to Red Mountain High School in Mesa.
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