Within the first two weeks of Jedd Fisch’s tenure as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats, he took the phrase “It’s personal” and made it the mantra of his program.
Said Fisch in January of 2021: “It’s personal for me. It’s personal for my family to be a part of this university and be a part of our program.”
Later that month, Fisch said, “When people want to take shots at us, people want to question what we’re going to do or where we’re going to be. That’s personal.”
Well over two years later, one of Fisch’s Pac-12 coaching cohorts is attempting to trademark the “It’s Personal” slogan.
Through the company “Prime Time Enterprises Inc.”, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders — nicknamed “Prime Time” from his days in the NFL and MLB — filed for multiple trademarks on Monday, including “Coach Prime,” “Prime Effect,” “Big Daddy Buck” and “It’s Personal.”
Arizona coach Jedd Fisch watches his team’s defense practice during fall camp ahead of the 2022 UA football season. Fisch and the Wildcats used the “It’s personal” mantra in prior years — the same saying that Colorado coach Deion Sanders is reportedly trying to trademark now in 2023.
Sanders popularized the “It’s personal” slogan within the Colorado football program last week, when the 19th-ranked Buffaloes faced Colorado State and Rams head coach Jay Norvell said, “When I talk to grownups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That’s what my mother taught me.”
Norvell appeared to be jeering at Sanders for his casual apparel choice. Sanders used Norvell’s comments as bulletin board material for his team and then was recorded motivating his team before the rivalry matchup.
“I’m minding my own business watching some film, trying to get ready,” Sanders said to his team. “Trying to get out here and be the best coach I can be. And I look up and I read some bull junk that they done say about us. Once again, why would you wanna talk about us when we don’t talk about nobody? All we do is go out here, work our butts off, and do our jobs on Saturday. But when they give us ammunition, they done messed around and made it, what?”
Colorado players response: “Personal.”
Continued Sanders: “It was just gonna be a good game. They done messed around and made it...”
“Personal,” the Buffaloes said.
“It was gonna be a great test, a battle of Colorado, but they done messed around and made it...”
“Personal,” his players answered.
Now Sanders is attempting to take “It’s personal” all for himself and the Buffaloes. Except there’s one issue.
“We tried to trademark that two years ago,” Fisch said during his Thursday news conference before Arizona faces Stanford for the Wildcats’ Pac-12 opener on Saturday. “There’s four active trademarks on that already, (so) we were not able to get that.”
JF Football LLC (monikered after Fisch’s initials) trademarked Arizona’s second-year slogan, “Make It Personal,” in February of 2021. In Fast and Furious-esque fashion, the Wildcats have also used “Winning is Personal,” however “Make It Personal” is “the only thing that’s trademarked out of JF Football.”
When Sanders concluded his Hall of Fame career as a cornerback with the Baltimore Ravens in 2004 and 2005, Fisch was an offensive assistant. Fisch said he didn’t think anything of Sanders’ trademark request “other than we’ve always said, ‘It’s personal.’”
“We’re not ceding anything, but we also don’t walk around and say we’re the only person allowed to say, ‘It’s personal,’” Fisch said. “We don’t walk around saying we’re the only person allowed to say, ‘We commit. We believe’ or whatever it might be.
“I love Coach Prime. You guys know that. We were in Baltimore. I think he’s great for the game, I think he’s a fantastic coach. If he wants to say ‘It’s personal’ in Boulder, and we want to say ‘It’s personal’ in Tucson, that’s just fine.”
Raymond Pulido ‘good to go’ for Arizona debut
Arizona freshman right guard Raymond Pulido, who missed the first three weeks of the season from an on-campus bicycle accident, “is good to go” for Saturday, Fisch said on Thursday.
After practicing in Arizona’s first two fully-padded practices, Fisch said Pulido is “fully cleared.”
“We’ll keep him off the bicycle tonight,” Fisch joked.
Fisch said Pulido, the 6-6, 335-pound Los Angeles-area product, “was trying to get up on a curb and him and the bike didn’t get along there for a second.” Pulido’s accident happened just before the Wildcats’ season opener against Northern Arizona. He didn’t travel the following week to Mississippi State was limited in practice for the Wildcats’ nonconference finale against UTEP last week.
Arizona offensive linemen Raymond Pulido (79) and Sam Langi (58) chat during a UA fall practice on Aug. 4, 2023. Pulido, a true freshman, already has worked his way into the starting lineup.
“We’ve asked him to walk around with a helmet, not just ride a bike with a helmet, so we’re good on both accounts there,” Fisch said. “As long as we don’t make any slip-ups, potholes or anything like that, which he might’ve caused when he fell, we definitely should be better.”
With Pulido out the first three weeks, Arizona experimented with Sam Langi at right guard against NAU, then moved right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea to right guard, a position he started all 12 games at in 2022, for the following two games, while Joseph Borjon was inserted at tackle. When Savaiinaea switched back to right tackle against UTEP, 6-5, 315-pound redshirt sophomore Leif Magnuson played 33 snaps at guard. Savaiinaea (91.8) and Magnuson (82.4) were highest-graded pass blockers in the Wildcats’ 31-10 win over UTEP, per Pro Football Focus.
“He gives us that depth that we’ve been talking about,” Fisch said of Magnuson.
“We like to talk about the defensive line depth and the ability you to have to rotate, but when you have offensive line depth that we haven’t had here in a long time,” Fisch said. “You have a chance to stay fresher, maybe get a few more guys in the rotation and be able to handle whatever obstacle goes your way.”
