When he took over as Arizona’s head coach, Jedd Fisch knew that rebuilding the Wildcats would take time. He knew, even with the advent of the transfer portal, that all of their problems couldn’t be fixed in one recruiting cycle.
So Fisch and his staff formulated a multistep plan. After a 1-11 season in which Arizona struggled to score points, the coaches targeted the offense for immediate improvement. The UA was able to add quarterback Jayden de Laura and receivers Jacob Cowing and Tetairoa McMillan, among others, and scored almost two more touchdowns per game.
“We made a decision that the best way to build this team after the 2021 season was to find ways to score points,” Fisch said. “Our attendance went up 10,000 people per game. We were more fun to watch. We needed to get more players to want to be a part of our program. We needed to develop what I thought would be a top offense in the country, a top offense in the Pac-12, and that’s what we did.”
Step 2: Address the defense. Arizona did that in a major way Wednesday, signing 16 defensive players as part of a 26-player haul on Day 1 of the early signing period.
“Our thought was this: If you’re a defensive player, you want to be on a team that scores points,” Fisch said. “You don’t want to be on a team that you have to win games 17-13.”
Arizona has overhauled and fortified a defense that ranked 11th in the Pac-12 in yards and points allowed this past season – and lost several of its best members to graduation or the portal. The Wildcats signed 11 high school defenders, four portal transfers and one junior-college transfer Wednesday.
“We set out to fix our defense,” Fisch said. “All those guys are defensive players that we project to make a big difference.”
The headliner is linebacker Justin Flowe, a former five-star prospect and top-10 national recruit who spent the past three years at Oregon. Flowe missed most of his first two seasons because of knee and foot injuries and has yet to fulfill the promise he showed at Upland (Calif.) High School. Fisch believes Flowe can rediscover his form in Tucson.
“Justin Flowe will be the highest-ranked player from high school ever on campus — one of the highest-rated players, period,” Fisch said.
“He’s 100% healthy. He’ll be here in January, ready to roll for the first day of classes, for spring ball, for everything we could possibly ask for there. (He will) be in our strength-and-conditioning program, our training room, all those things.
“I would expect him to be the type of player that we saw when we played them. And the type of player that we saw in high school, which is an elite linebacker. You watch him run and hit. He’s as physical and forceful a player as you’ll see on a college field. His energy, the passion he plays with, is incredible.”
Flowe had four tackles against Arizona on Oct. 8. He had a career-high 35 stops in 10 games during the 2022 season.
Flowe is one of 15 players signed Wednesday who are expected to enroll in January. If he’s able to stay healthy, Flowe should be part of a defensive lineup that could feature eight or nine new starters.
Half of Arizona’s defensive signees are tackles or edge rushers. They all have height, bulk or both. That was the UA’s secondary theme Wednesday: Go big or go home.
“When in doubt, we’re going to be a line-of-scrimmage-centric program,” said Matt Doherty, the Wildcats’ director of player personnel. “If we’re going to miss, we’re going to miss on size. Not that we’re OK with missing; that’s just the mantra we live by.
“We’re always going to want to err towards big bodies and having them in large quantities.”
Tyler Manoa is one of a handful of transfers to sign with the Wildcats.
That philosophy was evident across the class. Twenty-two of Arizona’s 26 signees are listed at 6-2 or taller. Transfer defensive tackles Bill Norton and Tyler Manoa are listed at 300-plus pounds, as are incoming offensive linemen Raymond Pulido and Elijha Payne.
Arizona landed nine players who rank among the top 1,000 in the country, per 247Sports. Fisch said he expects to add “a few more” by the Feb. 1 winter signing day. One possibility is four-star linebacker Leviticus Su’a of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. Su’a is down to three finalists: Arizona, Stanford and UCLA. He said he will announce his decision during the Polynesian Bowl on Jan. 20.
Fisch predicted that Arizona would finish with a top-30 class, which could be a stretch. As of Wednesday evening, the Wildcats were ranked 44th nationally by 247Sports.com and 46th by Rivals.com. They finished 25th and 21st, respectively, for the Class of 2022.
“I think we’re in a spot right now where our build is progressing,” Fisch said. “We are evolving.”
Arizona has gotten bigger. How much better can the Wildcats get next year?
“The evolution from one win to five wins was hard,” Fisch said. “I believe five wins to nine wins will even be harder, whenever that other four-game jump will be.”
Extra points
Arizona was on both sides of receiver flips Wednesday afternoon. Trech Kekahuna of Las Vegas, who announced his commitment to the UA on Saturday, ended up signing with Wisconsin. Not long after, the Wildcats inked Sacramento, California, wideout Carlos Wilson, who had been committed to Utah.
Arizona ranked seventh in the Pac-12 in 247Sports.com’s combined recruit and transfer rankings as of Wednesday evening. The top six: Oregon, USC, Utah, UCLA, Washington and Colorado, which surged on signing day under new coach Deion Sanders.
Two former Arizona defensive tackles have landed at new schools. Paris Shand has committed to LSU, while Dion Wilson Jr. has committed to New Mexico State. Shand had 41 tackles, including five sacks, in 23 games at Arizona. Wilson had 31 tackles in 20 games. Both were members of the 2020 signing class.
Former UA offensive lineman Shontrail Key announced that he’s transferring to Grambling State. Key, who began his college career as a defensive lineman, did not appear in a game in two seasons at Arizona.
FPB editor Mike Szvetitz takes a look at the next 21 bowl games through Friday, Dec. 30.
