Reshuffled Arizona Wildcats WR corps features new roles for Jacob Cowing, Kevin Green Jr.

“With the landscape of college football you never know what it’s going to look like next year.”

Considering the NFL draft and the transfer portal, that’s an evergreen statement by Kevin Cummings, Arizona’s wide receivers coach.

Cummings was hit with that reality of uncertainty after the 2022 season, when the Wildcats immediately went into roster-repair mode. It was conceivable that slot receiver Jacob Cowing, who led the Pac-12 with 85 receptions, would be a one-and-done at the UA and declare for the NFL draft, while fellow starters Tetairoa McMillan and Dorian Singer, who was second in the league with 1,105 yards, returned for another season.

“I thought everyone was staying,” McMillan said.

You thought wrong, T-Mac.

Cowing ended up returning for another season, McMillan is back for his sophomore campaign and Singer transferred to USC — the team he caught seven passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns against — in December.

“We’ve moved guys around to see what they’re best at,” Cummings said.

One of those guys is arguably Arizona’s best receiver in Cowing, who has moved from his slot role to Singer’s “Z” position. Redshirt freshman Kevin Green Jr. is taking over Cowing’s starting “F” receiver spot.

“Certain guys, you look at them and because of their body type, they have to play a certain position, but you put them at another position and they flourish at it,” Cummings said. “So that’s what we do: We try to figure out who is best at what spot, and we plug ‘em in to see what they can do.”

The change gives Cowing “flashbacks to when I was at UTEP,” when he was one of the Miners’ top playmakers on offense for three seasons. Cowing also learned Singer’s role last season as he continued to study his own position and settle into the offense that ranked sixth in college football in passing.

“Now that I have the opportunity to go to the outside, it’s like second nature to me,” Cowing said. “It’s still the same plays, it’s just about going out there and executing at the highest level I can.”

“Jacob can play all over the field,” Cummings said. “Jacob has the ability to be savvy and creative in the slot, but he’s got the top-end speed for route-running to play on the outside, too, and that’s something we’ve been looking for this next season.

“Obviously we threw the ball pretty well last year, but we were looking for that guy who could take the top off and allow us to be even more explosive, and Jacob is going to give us the ability to do that on the outside.”

With Green — a 5-11, 170-pound Los Angeles-area native — now in the starting rotation, the former USC commit is expected to be a “big factor for this offense,” Cummings said.

“Kevin is extremely smart, extremely talented and extremely crafty,” Cummings said. “That was the same thing we saw in Jacob.”

Behind Arizona’s starting receiving trio is an abundance of talented pass catchers, including AJ Jones, true freshman Malachi Riley and walk-on Devin Hyatt, who is an IMG Academy product and the younger brother of Biletnikoff Award winner Jalin Hyatt. Cowing said the younger Hyatt and Riley “have bright futures.”

“They’re young guys, but they can play,” Cowing said. “After they get this year under their belt, they’re going to be really dangerous.”

Or Riley, a 6-2, 178-pound Corona, California native, and Hyatt could be dangerous and helpful this season. Although he primarily played his starting trio last season, Cummings is not opposed to opening up the receiver rotation in 2023.

“Those guys are ready to play as true freshmen,” Cummings said. “What they have to do is learn the offense and be detail-oriented at everything they do.”

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Cummings had a message for Riley, the newbie Wildcat he’s known since Riley was just an eighth-grader:

“What I told Malachi before spring ball started was, ‘Hey, bro, if you learn this offense, like, you’ll get to play. There’s no question about the talent.’ My job is to make sure the technique is right and that they know the plays, but I don’t coach that natural talent, so I knew what was coming. Same thing with Devin. ... The talent level is there, it’s just about learning the technique. That’s all there is.”

But they gotta earn their keep if they want to see the field this fall.

“There’s no secret to our receivers. They have to prove that I can afford to have T-Mac and Jacob off the field,” Cummings said. “They gotta be out there and gotta be right, making plays, because if not, then I’m going to keep the best guys out on the field.”

Embracing special teams

Cowing has focused this offseason on what Cummings refers to as “body maintenance” — also known as adding muscle while improving speed.

“We’re going to ask him to do a lot, so him being out there taking care of his body allows him to be the best at all of those reps,” Cummings said.

Cummings added that “best-case scenario is that he doesn’t come off the field, whether it’s punt return, kick return and then obviously receiver.”

“We want our best player to be on the field at all times,” Cummings said, “so if he continues to take care of his body the way that he has, we’ll get the best out of him.”

Not only will Cowing return kicks and punts this season, he’ll also serve as “gunner” on punt coverage, the same role former Arizona star receiver Stanley Berryhill III thrived in that also helped him earn a roster spot with the Detroit Lions.

“I’ll probably get some clips of him during fall camp or something like that to see what he did at gunner and try to replicate what he did,” Cowing said. “I heard he’s pretty good at it, so I’d like to see.”

The only time Cowing won’t be on the field for Arizona this fall is during field goal, kickoff and defense.

“All of these NFL guys are saying the same thing: ‘Get on special teams. You have to get on special teams.’ ... The NFL is not just your position. You may be good at your position, but you also gotta play special teams,” Cowing said. “If me being a gunner on punt, punt returner, kick returner, that’s going to help the draft stock — that’s just how it is in the NFL.”

Extra points

Last spring and fall, McMillan often matched up against former starting UA cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace, who was among the trio to leave the Wildcats for the Trojans, along with Singer and defensive tackle Kyon Barrs. With Roland-Wallace at USC, McMillan’s go-to matchup has been with sophomore Ephesians Prysock. Said McMillan: “I think he has the potential to be a first-round guy and maybe even come out (after) next year. I try to battle him every day to make him better — make each other better. Iron sharpens iron, like they say. Me and (No.) 7 going at it every day. The sky’s the limit for both of us.”

Quarterback Jayden de Laura launched a pass Tuesday into the end zone on 4th-and-10 from the 30-yard line that was nearly intercepted by Prysock before McMillan muscled the ball away for a touchdown.

Safety Isaiah Taylor intercepted another pass during a team segment in practice Tuesday — his second against de Laura this spring. Taylor also has one against backup quarterback Noah Fifita.

Three-star 2025 quarterback Dash Beierly visited the UA on Tuesday and attended practice. Beierly is a 6-1, 205-pound soon-to-be junior at Chaparral High School in Temecula, California. As a sophomore, Beierly threw for 1,855 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also holds offers from BYU and Pittsburgh.