Jedd Fisch didn’t have the benefit of time. He became Arizona’s coach on Dec. 23 — exactly six weeks before National Signing Day. He had to act fast to fill out the remainder of the Wildcats’ 2021 signing class.
Given that constraint — plus the fact that Fisch had been in the NFL the past three years — the move that made the most sense was to pursue players in the NCAA transfer portal.
The portal was teeming with possibilities, with about 1,500 players having entered it since Aug. 1. Meanwhile, Fisch discovered, only about 15% of committed FBS prospects hadn’t signed with schools the week prior to his hiring. (That number was actually closer to 13%, per 247Sports’ database.)
“So the strategy was,” Fisch said Thursday, “are you going to attack the 15% and see what you can bring in with a team you don’t know and relationships you’ve never built? Or are you going to attack the transfer portal, where these kids have no relationships with anybody anyway, and start building it fast? We decided to go (with) the latter.”
Arizona added 10 players during National Signing Day on Wednesday, including seven from the portal. Six of those players have multiple years of eligibility remaining.
“Our coaches did a phenomenal job in a very short period of time to make sure that we were able to get what we needed,” Fisch said in a video news conference with Tucson media. “And it’s not over yet. We still have some opportunities here.”
Fisch said the UA still has three scholarships available. But there’s no rush now. He and his staff can fill those spots anytime before training camp, and they could elect to see how spring practice plays out before reentering the portal, which is still overflowing with players. Spring ball is set to start March 23.
Although the portal might have been Fisch’s best and only option, it has its advantages. For one thing, all of those players have spent time on college teams and in college weight programs. And many of them still have four years of eligibility. Fisch equated that to “bringing in a high school kid that had a year of training.”
Only one newcomer, linebacker Treshaun Hayward, is a graduate transfer with one year left.
“That’s how the grad-transfer world usually works,” Fisch said. “But we didn’t want to build our team on that. We didn’t want to sit there and say we’re gonna have to redo this again a year from now.”
Fisch was willing to make an exception for Hayward, the 2019 Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Western Michigan. Defensive coordinator Don Brown, who held the same post at Michigan, was familiar with Hayward and believed he could make an instant impact.
Fisch said Hayward is “truly a plug and play” type of player. Fisch also views cornerback Isaiah Rutherford, a former four-star prospect who transferred from Notre Dame, as a “huge get” who could “compete pretty quickly ... to be a starting corner for us.” Rutherford is one of four portal additions who already are on campus.
For the most part, Fisch said, players who transfer want to be closer to home or want an opportunity to develop their talent. Rutherford is from Northern California. Four transfers are from Arizona. All should have opportunities to compete for significant roles.
Arizona did add three high school players Wednesday. They join the 14 (out of 16 total recruits) who signed in December.
Fisch and his staff approached those additions selectively and strategically. In the cases of “Viper” Isaiah Taylor and cornerback/receiver Anthony Simpson, Fisch and Brown had relationships with their high schools. Cornerback Jakelyn Morgan, a longtime UA commit who didn’t sign in December, possesses the length they’re seeking to play in Brown’s scheme.
“We understand what this class was. This was a final sprint,” Fisch said. “We arrived, our staff wasn’t really completed until a couple weeks ago, three weeks ago maybe, and we just went pedal to the metal.”
QB update
One of Fisch’s biggest priorities was to supplement the quarterback room. Half of Arizona’s scholarship quarterbacks transferred, and high school prospect Clay Millen decommitted.
Fisch and his staff succeeded in that regard by signing a pair of transfers: Gunner Cruz (Washington State) and Jordan McCloud (South Florida).
“That was a very important part of our strategy,” Fisch said. “We needed to find a way to have more scholarship players, more depth, more competition in the quarterback room. We wanted to bring a bunch of players into that room to go compete. And that’s what we did.”
McCloud won’t be able to join the group until after spring practice. He’s working to finish his degree and won’t be done until May, Fisch said.
He is “hopeful” that Cruz will be able to participate in spring. Cruz isn’t enrolled as of now, but there might be a mechanism for him to enroll in March.
“We’re working through that right now,” Fisch said.
As for the competition itself, which also features holdovers Will Plummer and Kevin Doyle, Fisch made it simple: “We’re gonna roll the balls out, and may the best man win.”
Bruschi via Belichick
Former UA All-American Tedy Bruschi joined the staff earlier this week as senior advisor to Fisch. Their relationship began through a mutual acquaintance.
Fisch had been working for the New England Patriots, Bruschi’s former team, before taking the UA job. Patriots coach Bill Belichick introduced them to each other via text message.
Fisch called Bruschi the night he accepted the job. Fisch then invited Bruschi to his home for coffee. They mostly talked about the UA program and the city of Tucson. Fisch also mentioned that “a lot of teams have begun to create an advisor-like role in a program where you’re not required to put too much time in, you can do your other job full time, you’re able to be a resource or reference, and then also be able to impact the kids in a lot of different ways.”
“Would that be something that you’d have interest in?” Fisch asked Bruschi.
“Yeah, let’s continue to talk about it,” Bruschi replied.
They did, and it came together this past weekend. Bruschi will aid Fisch while continuing his duties as an NFL analyst for ESPN.
Bruschi and his family live in Massachusetts. Fisch isn’t sure how often Bruschi will be in Tucson.
“Hopefully we’ll start with the spring game,” Fisch said.
It’s scheduled for April 24.
Extra points
- Fisch’s first spring session will run for five consecutive weeks. The Wildcats will practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Fisch wants the practices to be open to fans, but it remains to be seen if that’s feasible amid the coronavirus pandemic.
- Although he and his staff spent most of their time working on new recruits, Fisch didn’t ignore the players who signed in December. He set up a Zoom call with each player and their parents to “let them know that, whether we were there to recruit them or not, they are Wildcats … and they’re a huge, important part of our class.”
