What a difference a year makes. The Wildcats are coming off a 1-11 season last year and have been dismal for quite a while, 124th nationally in scoring last year and dead last in forced turnovers. Athlon Sports points out in its preview that; Arizona has experienced such depths that boosters from rival Arizona State paid to erect a billboard on the freeway near Tucson with the words: “No Pity for the Kitty.” In spite of that, Athlon reports that a tenacious Jedd Fisch, in his 2nd year as head coach; “recruited so fiercely and with such unexpected force that Arizona’s Class of 2022 was ranked No. 1 in the Pac-12 by Rivals.com and to say that was totally unexpected is a gross understatement. On top of that it is expected that Fisch will have about a 60% turnover on the team. Fisch is a coach with a lot of experience having been QB Coach for the New England Patriots, Assistant Offensive Coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams and held numerous coaching positions for Jim Harbaugh at the University of Michigan—getting his start as a graduate assistant for the Florida Gators under Steve Spurrier while also having stints with the Texans, the Ravens, the Broncos and the Seahawks. It is said that he spends as much time motivating and creating a positive atmosphere as he does concentrating on football specifics.
After going through four different QB’s last season Fisch was able to attract last year’s PAC-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, Washington State’s QB Jayden de Laura, who hit the transfer portal and landed in Arizona. This change matches up with the strength of their offense which is in the receiving corp. According to Athlonsports.com preview; “Elite [WR] recruit Tetairoa McMillan, who turned down Oregon to play for the Wildcats, is the most heavily recruited Arizona offensive player since Rob Gronkowski almost 15 years ago. Dorian Singer, who emerged late last season, is expected to join McMillan and UTEP transfer Jacob Cowing on the first unit.” Freshman RB Jonah Coleman and Florida State transfer D. J. Williams should be the standouts in their rushing game. They have a strong secondary to go along with a new more tranditional Defensive Coordinator in Johnny Nansen.
Based upon their first outing against a good San Diego State team playing at home in their brand new stadium, I would say they are definitely headed in the right direction and had to feel pretty good about their 38-20 win on the road against the team that beat them in their home opener last year. In the air de Laura connected on 22-of-35 for 1 click shy of 300 yards and 4 TD’s with 1 interception while the Aztec QB’s connected on just over 40% of their passes for a mere 62 yards. The rushing game was pretty even between the two with San Diego State outpacing Arizona by just 8 yards, 170-162. But it was the Wildcats who found the end zone on a 10 yard touchdown run by Senior RB DJ Williams early in the 4th Qtr to push the score out to where it would stay. The Wildcats out-paced the Aztecs 25-14 in first downs and 461 to 232 in total yards.
Interesting match-up for the Wildcats next week as they will face Mississippi State who is coached by none other than Mike Leach who recruited de Laura to Washington State.