LOS ANGELES — Jedd Fisch understands the current perception of Arizona football. At Pac-12 Media Day on Friday, he relayed an anecdote that illustrates it — and how he’s gone about trying to change it.
“I’ve heard a lot of (opposing) coaches tell our recruits that we’re an offseason team,” Fisch said from the main stage at the Novo Theater. “I would say this: We have had a great offseason, and I appreciate them recognizing that.
“I also believe that we’re going to be a really good in-season team. As we’re building our program, it was really important for all of us to make sure that, on Nov. 26 last year, when our season ended, we needed to get better — we needed to get better in every way.”
There is no disputing that Arizona has added significant talent to its roster. The Wildcats have upgraded at multiple positions and improved their depth at key spots. Whether that will translate into immediate success is to be determined. It’s the one question even Fisch can’t definitively answer.
“We’re a better football team,” Fisch said. “The players that were on our roster last year that are on our roster this year have improved. They’ve committed to being better in the weight room. They’ve committed to being better in film study. They’ve committed to being better fundamentally.
“We brought in some good football players. What it looks like come Saturday, Sept. 3, (for the season opener) is very different than how I feel right now.
“We’ll have to see. We’ll have to see if our team can come together in this training camp and how well we can play as a team.”
The view from outside the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility hasn’t changed much, if at all. The media picked Arizona to finish 11th in the Pac-12. If divisions didn’t exist last year, the Wildcats would have finished 12th.
Again, Fisch gets it.
“Why wouldn’t they?” he said of the press corps’ preseason prognosticating. “They don’t watch us practice. They haven’t seen a lot of success out of Arizona football for the last five years.
“It was not surprising to me. Nor was it anything that I was worried about. We’ve got to just get better. We truly are a team that is going to get better. How much better? I don’t know.”
“We’re a better football team,” UA coach Jedd Fisch said. “The players that were on our roster last year that are on our roster this year have improved.”
2022 = Year 1
The way Fisch sees it, 2022 is “the first year of the rebuild.”
Not that 2021 didn’t count. The games happened. Arizona lost all but one.
Context must be taken into consideration, though.
Fisch got the job on Dec. 23, 2020. The early signing period had come and gone. Fisch and his staff had little opportunity to change the roster in any meaningful way.
Their first recruiting class — the class of 2022 — exceeded expectations, ranking among the top 25 in the nation. The Wildcats also added quarterback Jayden de Laura and receiver Jacob Cowing, among others, through the NCAA transfer portal.
Asked how he and his staff were able to bring in those players on the heels of a 1-11 season, Fisch said: “I think they saw that where we were is not where we’re headed.”
Cowing said he could sense excitement about the program — or at least its future — the moment he arrived from UTEP.
“As soon as I stepped foot on that campus, I always just felt this high energy, this positivity,” Cowing said. “You can just feel it in every teammate, their face and their vibe and how they’re walking around.
“Everybody is super excited to get to work. We’re super excited to put the past in the past. You can’t change it.
“(But) everyone has a clean slate. Everyone has the right mindset to turn the program around.”
Cowing lauded the chemistry that’s been built during summer workouts. He noted, though, that the process actually began in January, when more than 20 midyear additions enrolled.
“When I first got there, Coach Fisch made it known that he wanted us to get to know each other on a personal level,” Cowing said. “So as soon as I got there, I was at one of my teammate’s houses or we were at Coach Fisch’s house having (a) big barbecue or at the bowling alley trying to get 10 strikes in a row.
“I love this process, just getting to know my teammates on a personal level and being able to cherish those moments.”
Wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan highlights a freshman class that’s among the best in program history.
‘Show the nation’
As good as he feels about the revamped roster and the direction the program is headed, Fisch knows Arizona faces a daunting challenge.
The freshmen who arrived in January impressed — but they’re still freshmen. Even receiver Tetairoa McMillan — the centerpiece of the ’22 class — will endure growing pains, Fisch acknowledged.
“He’s a really good player and a great kid,” Fisch said. “When you have that marriage of a great person with extremely high character, with physical talent, it gives you your best chance to be good.
“Now, he’s going to be a freshman and he’s going to take some lumps. We understand that and recognize that. Bu what you know is, if he’s going to be a hard worker, if he’s going to be committed, and if he’s got the raw talent, it gives you some hope — really a great feel moving forward that he’s going to be able to impact our team.”
Barring injury, McMillan will start. So too, most likely, will freshman guard Jonah Savaiinaea. Several of their classmates are expected to have sizable roles as well.
Can a program make a major leap in one year with that much youth?
It won’t be easy. Arizona opens at San Diego State, which went 12-2 last season, including a 38-14 thumping of the Wildcats. Next comes Mississippi State, which earned a bowl berth playing in what’s widely considered the best division in college football, the SEC West. Then Arizona hosts North Dakota State, the FCS national champion last season — the Bison’s ninth title in 11 years.
Fisch often has cited Baylor, under Matt Rhule, as an example of a program that quickly rose from the cellar to respectability. The Bears went 1-11 in Rhule’s first season, 2017. They were picked to finish ninth in the 10-team Big 12 the following year — and finished 7-6.
“Personally, I’m cool with people being asleep on us,” senior safety Christian Young said. “Our first game is Sept. 3 against San Diego State. The whole nation is gonna be watching that game (which is on CBS) to see what we gonna do. We gonna show the nation.”
