A year later, 'No Fefe' tribute still hits home for Arizona football assistant Lyle Moevao

Arizona offensive assistant coach Lyle Moevao fought back tears when he reflected on the Wildcats’ win over 10th-ranked Utah last season.

Despite Arizona’s tumultuous four-win season last year, the Wildcats won in Salt Lake City for the first time in a decade — and made history by winning their first-ever conference game in the Big 12.

Arizona was powered by “No Fefe,” which is Samoan for “No Fear,” a rally cry Moevao’s late mother, Sheila Alofaituli, often told him during his quarterback-playing days.

The week prior to Arizona beating Utah, Moevao’s mother died, so the grieving UA assistant coach was detached from the program for a week to be with family. To support Moevao in a time of struggle and pay tribute to his mother, UA staffers and players, including quarterback Noah Fifita, had white T-shirts with “No Fefe” emblazoned on the chest. Fifita also had “Sheila” Sharpied on his wrist tape.

Moevao was in Oregon the week of Arizona’s win over Utah, and the night before the Wildcats beat Utah, the Moevao family was “on a fun family outing while we were together to get our mind off of things.”

Arizona defensive backs coach Chip Viney and running backs coach Alonzo Carter texted Moevao pictures of them wearing the “No Fefe” shirts. The gesture “gets me a little choked up,” Moevao said.

“It was special, man,” Moevao said. “I didn’t know it was going to happen. ... When I was with my family, I was like, ‘OK, they’re getting ready for a big game against Utah. The last thing they’re worried about is me and my situation back home,’ because the coaches gotta worry about the game plan, the players gotta worry about the game plan.”

He added: “That’s the real deal. Family and football.”

Moevao first heard “No Fefe” in 2008, when he was the starting quarterback for the Oregon State Beavers.

Before Oregon State’s upset win over top-ranked USC — which was coached by Pete Carroll, quarterbacked by Mark Sanchez and featured a defense littered with NFL players — in Corvallis, Moevao’s mother met him at the team bus the previous night and said to him: “’Son, this is a David-and-Goliath battle. Not too many people believe in you guys — rightfully so.’

“’As long as you guys believe in yourself and you take the field knowing you are the best team in the world, anything can happen,’” his mother said.

“No Fefe means ‘no fear,’” he said. “You respect everyone, but you fear no one. ... You win that game off of that message, that’s going to do wonders as far as carrying that message on. It’s something I keep in the back of my mind when I take the field, even as a coach.”

Moevao was Arizona’s quarterbacks coach last season, but is now working alongside Carter with the running backs, with Doege as the primary quarterbacks coach.

Moevao’s “biggest concern daily is making sure I’m taking care of these dudes,” he said.

“I’m coming to work with the right mindset and the right energy to be able to make sure the guys I’m working with, anyone I’ve come in touch with, anybody I have a conversation with, I make sure they’re better by the time they leave that facility that night,” Moevao said.

“That’s my focus every single day.”

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Monsoon moves Cats indoors

One change to Arizona’s training camp structure this season is night practices under the lights at Arizona Stadium.

Last year, the Wildcats strictly practiced in the morning to accommodate players’ class schedules and rehabilitation treatment for injuries. Plus, early-morning practices encourage players to begin sleeping at a reasonable hour the night before.

This year, for every two practices in the morning, the Wildcats have an evening practice at Arizona Stadium, because “we play all of our games at night in that stadium, so we want all of our players to be exposed to playing in there, the lights, the heat, all of it,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

“We didn’t do that a year ago and I think after the first game, I talked about it with (chief of staff) Ben Thienes and some of the other coaches, ‘Hey, man, we need to practice in the stadium at night,’” Brennan said.

Evening practices in the heart of monsoon can be risky and unpredictable, which Arizona discovered on Friday, when nearby lightning forced the Wildcats to hold their first evening practice of training camp at the Davis Sports Center.

Here are a few notes from Arizona’s practice under the Friday night (indoor) lights:

Arizona’s first offensive line unit featured Texas Tech transfer Ty Buchanan, redshirt junior Michael Wooten, Ka’ena Decambra, Alexander Doost and Tristan Bounds. The second unit was freshman Louis Akpa, Albany transfer Chance Roberts, Grayson Stovall, Portland State transfer Isaac Perez and redshirt freshman Matthew Lado.

In a 7-on-7 period, Fifita threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Chattanooga transfer wide receiver Javin “Nunu” Whatley. Montana transfer linebacker Riley Wilson recovered a fumble in the same period. Portland State transfer running back Quincy Craig also had a 35-yard touchdown. Craig is arguably Arizona’s top pass-catcher at running back.

Kickers Michael Salgado-Medina and walk-on Tyler Prasuhn exchanged reps in a field goal period. Salgado-Medina made all four of his attempts, including a 36- and 38-yard field goal. Prasuhn was 3 of 4 and missed a 30-yarder.

Redshirt sophomore defensive back and Hawaii native Gavin Hunter has started at slot cornerback the first three practices. In place of the rehabbing Treydan Stukes, who’s practicing, Hunter and West Virginia transfer Ayden Garnes are the top nickel backs.

Even though most of Arizona’s punts hit the ceiling of the Davis Sports Center, Australian punter Isaac Lovison had a booming punt to end the period. It’s conceivable Lovison starts at punter, while Salgado-Medina starts at placekicker.

Extra points

– Moevao said Arizona’s offense has “a lot of similarities to last year’s offense, but there’s a different mentality” under Doege. Added Moevao: “The guy is all about his business and he expects everybody else to be all about theirs — and that’s from top to bottom, staff and players included. ... Obviously, the change of tempos, the variation of personnel and formations and shifts and motions. There is definitely a lot more variety in the ways of doing it. The mentality that has been set forth by our offensive coordinator and carried out by the assistants, it’s definitely different. It feels different.”

– Moevao said Fifita “has become more of a vocal leader this year.” Added Moevao: “(Tetairoa McMillan) has now gone on to the NFL, which was obvious that was going to happen. Now, I think he realizes, ‘OK, now I’m the guy. I’m the go-to guy,’ even though he was already. ... It’s awesome to see.”

– Arizona defensive back Genesis Smith was one of 116 players added to the Wuerffel Trophy preseason watch list. The Wuerffel Trophy is given annually to a college football player who exemplifies excellence in community service, academics and performance. In the last year, Smith started his own foundation and began a holiday campaign, “Christmas Cats,” to donate gifts to families in Tucson and Phoenix during the holiday season. Smith also hosted a three-day camp at Doolen Middle School in the spring. Campers attended the Arizona spring showcase in April and toured the UA football facilities.