As he looked back at the 2022 season and looked ahead to what’s next, Arizona coach Jedd Fisch revealed the dichotomy of the Wildcats’ rebuilding project.
Arizona exceeded expectations this season, going from 1-11 to 5-7 in Fisch’s second year on the job. But the Wildcats are nowhere close to what they can become if they keep improving and stockpiling talented recruited classes.
“I believe we’re probably on the first floor of the build. I'd like to go a lot higher than this,” Fisch said Monday. “But I do think that we have gotten better. And that has shown from some of the results.”
Arizona’s five victories included four against teams that defeated the Wildcats the previous season: San Diego State, Colorado, UCLA and Arizona State. The Bruins were ranked ninth in the AP Top 25 when the Cats upset them at the Rose Bowl. Arizona’s 38-35 win over ASU on Friday came less than two years after the Sun Devils embarrassed the Wildcats 70-7.
“To take a jump from being 1-23 over a 2½-year span, to get it to five wins this year, beating a top-10 team on the road, winning the Territorial Cup, winning the opening-day game (at SDSU), beating a team like North Dakota State ... there's a lot of positives this season,” Fisch said.
“With all that being said, I would just say that we are just getting started.”
Fisch noted that several programs that “were in tough places or tough times” like Arizona didn’t enjoy winning seasons until Year 4 under the current coaches. He cited Kentucky, Oregon State and UCLA as examples.
“Our hope is to be able to expedite that by a year and do everything we possibly can to not have to wait four years for that,” Fisch said.
Fisch described himself as “the least patient person in the world.” But he acknowledged — as he has many times before — that building Arizona into a consistent contender will take time.
“We all want it now,” he said. “We all want to see roses, and we all want to be able to win championships. But I also believe that the process is the most important thing.”
Portal needs
Fisch said he expects a “pretty substantial” roster turnover for the second straight offseason, although it probably will fall a bit short this past year, when Arizona added 51 players.
The UA will continue to use the NCAA transfer portal as a supplement to its high school class, which currently consists of 20 known commitments. The new transfer window opens next Monday and closes Jan. 18. There is a second, smaller window in May.
How many players Arizona will pursue, and at what positions, depends in part on the decisions several draft-eligible players make in the coming weeks. Starters who still have eligibility but could declare for the draft include tailback Michael Wiley, receiver Jacob Cowing, offensive tackle Jordan Morgan, defensive tackle Kyon Barrs, cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace and safety Jaxen Turner.
“All those positions become either a position of need or a position that’s safe and secure,” Fisch said
He added that none of those six players had informed the staff of their plans as of Monday afternoon. Coaches will meet with players this week.
“There are no third-year players on our team that are looking to leave,” Fisch said. “But if you're a fourth-year player making that decision at this point in time, we're still trying to collect information for them.”
Some areas of need are already known. The Wildcats are losing one of their offensive tackles (Paiton Fears), both starting defensive ends (Hunter Echols, Jalen Harris), their middle linebacker (Jerry Roberts) and one of their safeties (Christian Young).
“Those positions are always ones that we look at, but I really like our young guys,” Fisch said. “I like our depth. Our defense got a lot better throughout the year the more we played more players.
“We're gonna look at all of it, though, and see where we can improve. We're gonna look everywhere to improve everywhere.”
Poaching problem
One area of concern for college teams as NIL deals proliferate is the concept of poaching — a deep-pocketed program inducing a player to transfer to cash in on a lucrative NIL opportunity.
Arizona has made a concerted effort to compete in the NIL space, including the Friends of Wilbur and Wilma program, but it’s still possible that up-and-coming players could be lured away.
“The poaching thing is such a shame (if) that's actually going on,” Fisch said. “It's really not what it's meant to be. That's not what we're looking for in terms of NIL opportunities. The idea is to be able to help the players on your team — not (to) be enticed to leave for some other reason.
“I think that our family atmosphere, our program, is built in a way that people want to be a part of Arizona football. We have a good (NIL) collective. We have good sponsors in Tucson. We have people that want to help our players the right way.
“Our players have benefited from NIL, and I think they'll continue to benefit from NIL. Our boosters and our donors have made sure that our collective stays strong and that we can compete with anybody on the West Coast.
“I hope that nobody leaves our program for what we would consider a better option financially.”
JC or not JC?
Arizona’s acquisitions won’t be limited to high school recruiting and the transfer portal. Fisch said the UA also will look at players from the junior-college ranks.
But Fisch tends to be more cautious when it comes to JC players. It also has become a less prevalent path for transfers since the advent of the portal.
“How they got to junior college is really the biggest thing for me,” Fisch said. “What made somebody a juco? Was it that they were a transfer and they needed a place to land and then they wanted to get back? Was it because of academics? What made you go to junior college?
“The other part of it, I would say, is because of the portal it's a lot harder to go to a juco (player) when you could probably find a very similar guy that just played in a Power Five program.”
Arizona has added only one junior-college player since Fisch arrived: tackle Joseph Borjon from Mt. San Antonio College.
Bowl still possible?
Because there aren’t enough teams with 6-6 records or better to fill all the postseason bowl slots, some 5-7 squads are expected to receive bids. Arizona is not in that mix.
Pac-12 presidents passed a rule in 2018 that prevents teams with 5-7 records from going to bowl games. Besides, the priority goes to programs with the highest APR scores, and Arizona would fall short there as well — despite improving academically every semester since Fisch arrived.
Fisch would have accepted a bowl bid if it were a possibility.
“I would love to,” he said. “Nothing better than practicing 15 more days.”
Extra points
- Tailback Drake Anderson has put his name in the transfer portal. Anderson transferred to Arizona from Northwestern. The Chandler product rushed for 387 yards in 11 games in 2021. He did not appear in a game this season.
- Fisch reiterated that he expects 16-18 newcomers to enroll in January. That total encompasses both high school recruits and transfers. Early singing day is Dec. 21. Fisch said he expects 95% of the 2023 class to sign that day.
- Fisch said that Jayden de Laura enters the offseason as the No. 1 quarterback and that Noah Fifita, who will be a redshirt freshman next year, is the “clear-cut” No. 2. Fisch added that veteran Gunner Cruz “is probably going to move on to other things,” which could include becoming a graduate assistant for the Wildcats. The expectation is that Will Plummer, who has three more years of eligibility, will transfer.
- Fisch said he hasn’t talked to freshman running back Rayshon Luke about whether he’ll participate in track in the spring. Luke was one of the top high school sprinters in California. “If that's what he was planning on doing, then yes,” Fisch said. “He's also planning on really focusing on getting bigger, stronger, faster as a football player and getting his health up to 100%.”
- Fisch demurred when asked about Arizona State’s hiring of Kenny Dillingham as head coach. “I don't know him,” Fisch said. “I don't know the guys that they've hired. I don't know really much about what they've done or why they've done (it). We're really trying to focus everything we can on Arizona and what we need to do to get to a bowl game.”
