Noah Fifita, Jayden de Laura have handled Arizona's QB situation 'fantastically well'

It was business per usual for Jedd Fisch, as the Arizona head coach sat down wearing a white "It's Personal" shirt on the mini stage for his Thursday news conference ahead of the Wildcats' matchup with No. 20 UCLA — the fifth straight game for the UA against a Top 20 opponent. 

Fisch said Arizona's health is in top shape and "I don't expect any injuries."

"Nothing has changed and everyone is good to play. Maybe everyone will play," Fisch said. "So we'll see what that all looks like and go from there." 

Wait, does Fisch really mean everyone, including former starting quarterback Jayden de Laura? When Fisch was asked about not publicly declaring Noah Fifita, who won three straight Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards in October, and how de Laura, who started 16 games for the Wildcats between last year and this year, the Arizona coach said, "Noah has started the last four games. That's the only change that's occurred."

"Jayden was 3-1 the first four games of the season. Noah is 2-2 in his games," Fisch said. "Now we're sitting here and we're going to continue to figure out each week who we want to play." 

One of those wins Fisch is crediting to de Laura's came after Fifita helped lead the Wildcats to a come-from-behind win over Stanford in the Pac-12 opener. 

In 17 quarters since taking over in the Stanford game following de Laura's ankle injury, Fifita has completed 75% of his passes for 1,199 yards, 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. Fifita is now Arizona's season leader in passing yards (1,221), attempts (157), completions (119) and passing touchdowns (11). His 75.8% completion rate is fourth-best among FBS quarterbacks — second in the Pac-12 behind Oregon quarterback Bo Nix.

De Laura has 1,069 yards on a 69% completion rate, nine touchdowns and five interceptions in his second season at Arizona, before sustaining an ankle injury. 

De Laura has been active and dressed for the last two games, but Fifita, who will most likely start on Saturday, started ahead of the fourth-year quarterback in wins over de Laura's former team Washington State and most recently Oregon State. Fisch said Fifita and de Laura "have handled it fantastically well, the very tough situation."

"They have continued to support one another, root for one another, share reps at practice, coach one another up," Fisch said.

Later added Fisch: "They both have managed to take care of their business off the field, they're doing great in school and they're both sitting in a spot where they're both preparing like the starter every single week, and that is what their job should be."

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Fisch said he'll communicate with the quarterbacks on who's starting "at 7:35 (p.m.)."

Said Fisch: "I'll let them know who's going to take the first snap."

Fisch focused on the Bruins

Arizona's future Big 12 opponents for the next four years were unveiled on Wednesday, and the Wildcats are set to have home games against Arizona State, Colorado, West Virginia, Houston and Texas Tech in 2024; the road matchups are against BYU, Utah, TCU and UCF in Orlando next season.

"It looked like a good schedule," Fisch said.

"Didn't notice much different. It's about playing UCLA this week," Fisch said. "The rest of it was good-looking games in the future, but we gotta focus on the Pac-12 this year and let the Big 12 happen at the end of the season."

Extra points

• In partnership with Desert Takeover, Arizona football's NIL collective group, Arizona fans can have lunch with former UA stars Rob Gronkowski, who will be the honorary captain during the game, and Scooby Wright at Sands Club inside Arizona Stadium on Friday for an NIL fundraiser, "which is a fantastic opportunity for our fans to interact with (Gronk)." Tickets for the fundraiser start at $200 for the buffet that runs from 11 a.m.-noon. The private lunch session from noon-2 p.m. is $2,500 per ticket. Said Fisch: "NIL is a huge part of college football these days. The community needs to rally behind football programs when it comes to having success with NIL. So we will certainly take advantage of having a guy like Rob in town." Tickets can be purchased here.

Fisch said 237 UA football alumni are expected to be in town for homecoming weekend.  

• Arizona sophomore linebacker Jacob Manu was voted the Lott IMPACT Trophy Player of the Week this week following his nine-tackle performance against Oregon State. Manu edged Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, Oregon defensive back Tysheem Johnson, Ole Miss defensive end Jared Ivey and and Penn State safety Jaylen Reed for the weekly award. IMPACT is an acronym for integrity, maturity, performance, academics, community and tenacity, and is an award for "character as well as athletic performance from a defensive college player."

• The Wildcats have sold roughly 45,000 tickets for Saturday night, so there's still about 5,000 seats open for Arizona's homecoming game. Said Fisch: "Not sure how that's possible, but we do, so hopefully we can sell the rest of them. If we don't sell them, then hopefully the students come in mass droves. ... Hopefully we'll be packed. A packed house will be really, really good for this game against a really good opponent."