The early signing period would begin in a few hours, and Jedd Fisch felt restless.
Fisch was on the verge of signing his first full class as coach of the Arizona Wildcats. But nothing is official until the paperwork arrives. He was confident most of the 20 or so prospects who had committed to Arizona would honor their pledges. Still, he was nervous.
“That Tuesday night I didn’t sleep very well,” Fisch said. “You wanted to make sure that those commitments all held true. Which they did. And then it was a matter of, ‘All right, is T-Mac going to be an addition or not?’”
That was the question on everyone’s minds in Tucson; Eugene, Oregon; and Orange County, California. Would star receiver Tetairoa McMillan, one of the top recruits in the country, stick with his commitment to Oregon? Or would he follow his teammates from Anaheim’s Servite High School to Arizona?
Even those closest to McMillan weren’t sure what he would do — perhaps because McMillan wasn’t certain either.
“He was truly torn,” said Winnona Fifita, the mother of Arizona-bound quarterback Noah Fifita, McMillan’s best friend.
McMillan had been committed to Oregon since Aug. 16. But on Dec. 6 – nine days before the start of the three-day early signing period — Ducks coach Mario Cristobal left for Miami. That 11th-hour development opened the door for Arizona, which had hosted McMillan on an official visit in June and never stopped recruiting him.
The first day of the early signing period came and went. Servite held a signing-day ceremony. McMillan attended it with his teammates but delayed his decision. He wasn’t ready to make the call. He knew he had two more days.
About 9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 17, McMillan phoned Fisch. The supremely talented wideout had changed his mind. He would sign with the Wildcats.
McMillan instantly became one of the highest-rated recruits ever to sign with Arizona. The Cats’ class ascended into the top 25 nationally. Landing McMillan was a monumental achievement for Fisch and his staff — especially coming off a 1-11 season.
This is the story of how it happened.
‘Humble Hammah’
McMillan grew up in Hawaii before moving to Southern California. Oregon was his dream school because of Marcus Mariota, the quarterback from Honolulu who would become a Heisman Trophy winner for the Ducks.
“He wanted to follow in his footsteps,” said Rudy Cambero, Servite’s NCAA recruiting liaison and co-offensive line coach. “He always loved Oregon.”
So it came to be in mid-August, when McMillan committed to the Ducks. He picked Oregon over USC and Arizona. Fifita had committed to the Wildcats in April. Another Servite player, tight end Keyan Burnett, had flipped from USC to the UA on Aug. 1.
“It was a really tough decision,” McMillan told 247Sports.com at the time. “I had to follow my heart, and that led me to Oregon. Growing up, that was my favorite school. ... Everything just felt right for me.”
At that point, Fisch and his staff had a decision of their own to make: Should they continue to pursue McMillan? And if so, how should they approach his recruitment?
Since Arizona was a finalist for McMillan — and two of his high school teammates had committed, with another, linebacker Jacob Manu, joining them in October — it made sense to keep recruiting him.
“You stay involved to the point that it’s at least understood that ... you’re still interested in him. You don’t necessarily take it much (further) than that,” Fisch said. “Our situation was a little bit unique because we had three of his teammates committed to us. So the people that were most involved were his teammates. It was (made) very clear to all of them that we would be extremely interested if he changed his mind for one reason or another.”
Fisch added that it’s important to respect the wishes of the recruit and his family. You can send the wrong message by coming on too strong — especially with someone like McMillan, whom those close to him describe as private and introverted. (Attempts to reach McMillan for this story were unsuccessful.)
McMillan and Fifita bonded as eighth-graders on a youth team, the Orange County Buckeyes. They discovered they had similar personalities.
“‘T’ and Noah are the same person,” Winnona Fifita said. “They don’t play that recruiting game. They really only return each other’s calls. They’ll be upset if I’m talking about them. They don’t like that social-media popularity thing.”
On his Instagram account, which features only a handful of posts, McMillan refers to himself as “Humble Hammah.”
“He’s a very laid-back type of kid,” Cambero said. “He wasn’t going to change for anyone, any coach or any program. He’s just that kind of cat. There’s a time and a place for everything when it comes to ‘T.’”
Burnett described McMillan as “one of the funniest kids I know.” But he doesn’t open up with just anyone.
“It’s a trust thing,” Burnett said. “When you’re around him a lot, he’s able to let loose.”
Recognizing that, Fisch and his staff kept in touch with McMillan — yet also kept their distance. Fisch said most of the correspondence after McMillan had committed to Oregon consisted of “Good luck this week” texts.
“He doesn’t like to do interviews. He’s not a big social media guy,” said Greg Biggins, a national recruiting analyst for 247Sports who’s based in Southern California. “I think that helped out Arizona. They were able to low-key it with him.”
Fisch summarized Arizona’s message as follows: “If something changes ... we’re here for you.”
‘Bigger than football’
Something changed in December. Cristobal left Eugene. Five days later, Oregon hired Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as its new head coach. McMillan had a lot to think about.
He gave no indication, at least publicly, that he was wavering. The Fifitas — his extended family — remained supportive. Winnona and Noah would tease McMillan on social media from time to time. But as close as they were to Tetairoa and his mom, Shawny, Noah and Winnona didn’t know what would happen as the week of the early signing period began. Burnett said he and his friend group made sure to give McMillan space.
Winnona started to get some vibes that Tuesday night. McMillan slept over at the Fiftas’ home in Huntington Beach. Even though he wasn’t planning to sign the next day, McMillan jokingly asked Winnona, “Auntie, did you print my paper?” He also asked her to make a sweater for him. The red garment would feature a Block A and the words “Our Family” along the bottom.
Although he didn’t sign the next day, McMillan told reporters that he would by the end of the week. At that point, Arizona’s outlook changed.
“Now you’re in it,” Fisch said. “Now you’re fully in the fight. ... Now you’re in a full-court press.”
Jedd Fisch never gave up on Tetairoa McMillan in recruiting, and the star receiver ended up choosing the Wildcats.
While McMillan’s other finalists were in the midst of staff changes — USC hired Lincoln Riley in late November to replace interim coach Donte Williams — Fisch could sell stability. He also had three aces up his sleeve: Fifita, Burnett and Manu.
They weren’t the only Southern California standouts to join Arizona’s class. The Wildcats also inked four-star defensive end Sterling Lane, four-star cornerback Ephesians Prysock and three-star receiver Kevin Green Jr., among others. The latter two previously had been committed to USC.
“When he started seeing that there were guys that he’s grown up playing against that were signing (with) Arizona ... that was a huge thing for us,” Fisch said. “When you start seeing that all these guys are turning down top programs to come with us, I think it made him feel good about coming with us also.”
McMillan, Fifita and their friends play basketball regularly, including that Friday night when McMillan finalized his decision. At one point he told the group, “If I make this basket, I’m going to Oregon. If I miss, I’m going to Arizona.” He then hoisted what Winnona Fifita described as an “exaggerated air ball.”
Clearly, McMillan’s mind was made up. He showed his once and future teammates — Noah Fifita, Burnett and Manu — an application to Arizona on his phone.
“We all jumped off the bench,” Burnett said. “We were running around the gym going crazy.”
The word had spread, at least among McMillan’s inner circle, by the time Noah Fifita returned home that night. When he saw his mother, he said: “Mom, Bear Down, huh?”
“I never lost faith,” Winnona Fifita said later. “Just because I see how they are together.”
On the morning of Saturday, Dec. 18, after McMillan and the UA had made his signing public, Winnona tweeted a video montage of on- and off-field moments featuring her son and his best buddy. The lead-in consisted of three simple words: “Bigger than football.”
