Leading up to Arizona’s spring football practice schedule, which begins on Tuesday and ends with the UA’s spring game on April 27, the Star is previewing how the Wildcats stand heading into the first season under new head coach Brent Brennan. Part III: Offense.
Key returners: QB Noah Fifita, WR Tetairoa McMillan, OL Jonah Savaiinaea, OL Raymond Pulido, C Josh Baker, LG Wendell Moe, WR Montana Lemonious-Craig, TE Keyan Burnett, TE Roberto Miranda, RB Rayshon Luke, RG Leif Magnuson
Key departures: LT Jordan Morgan, RB Michael Wiley, WR Jacob Cowing, TE Tanner McLachlan, RB DJ Williams, RB Jonah Coleman, QB Jayden de Laura
Key additions: RB Quali Conley, OL Alexander Doost, RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt (arriving in summer), WR Brandon Phelps, RB Jordan Washington
On the rise: OT Joseph Borjon, WR Kevin Green Jr., WR AJ Jones, WR Malachi Riley, TE Dorian Thomas, TE Tyler Powell, OT Rhino Tapa'atoutai, RB Brandon Johnson
Coaches: Dino Babers (offensive coordinator), Alonzo Carter (running backs), Bobby Wade (wide receivers), Matt Adkins (tight ends), Josh Oglesby (offensive line)
The rundown: Arizona's offense could've looked drastically different than the group that helped the Wildcats go 10-3 and win the Alamo Bowl.
For starters, the Wildcats lost potential first-round pick and left tackle in Morgan, Wiley, Cowing and McLachlan to the NFL Draft.
Then former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch bolted for Washington, opening the transfer portal window for Wildcats looking to either follow Fisch to Seattle or land elsewhere. With a plethora of UW players either declaring for the draft or transferring, the national runner-up Huskies had several spots open for any Arizona player looking to follow him, including Fifita and McMillan.
Fifita, who took over the starting role at the start of conference play and won Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year, told McMillan, his longtime best friend, "‘I think I’m going to Washington with coach Fisch,’ he said in the “Unfinished Business: Nalo and Kolo” documentary on the “Game Network“ app.
"That’s what we talked about, that we’re in it together. ... My initial thought was that it was a no-brainer to follow him,” Fifita said. “From the team meeting on, I wanted to stay. Everything in my heart was telling me to stay.”
Arizona offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea (71) hoists the cup after the Wildcats won the the 97th Territorial Cup with a 59-23 road win over rival ASU on Nov. 25, 2023, in Tempe.
Ditto for McMillan, Lemonious-Craig and the four starting offensive linemen, among others, who opted to return for 2024. And then they announced their return during an Arizona-UCLA men's basketball game at McKale Center.
“To be honest with you, as soon as I heard the news, my heart immediately told me to stay. ... I think we started something good over here. We engraved our talents over here, we engraved the culture over here,” McMillan said. “So as soon as I heard the news, even after (Fisch) spoke to the team about leaving to U-Dub, my mind never changed with what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go.
“We decided to stay loyal because that’s just the way we grew up. Loyalty means everything, family is everything and without them, you can’t find happiness.”
Fifita, who was the Football Writer’s Association of American National Offensive Freshman of the Year, enters his second season as Arizona’s starter after passing for 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 72.4% of his pass attempts in his first season. The Huntington Beach, California native is the only UA quarterback in program history to complete over 70% of his passes in a season.
Fifita went 7-2 as the starter, which included a seven-game winning streak to end the season; the two losses to Washington and USC were by a combined nine points. Fifita stamped his breakout regular season with a school- and Territorial Cup-record 527 yards through the air along with five touchdowns in a blowout win over rival Arizona State in Tempe.
McMillan ended his sophomore campaign as a third-team Associated Press All-American and second-team All-Pac-12 selection and recorded the second-most receiving yards (1,402) in a season by a UA receiver. McMillan’s career-high happened in the 2023 Territorial Cup game, an 11-catch, 266-yard, one-touchdown performance in the win over ASU.
“They have that relationship where they know what the other guy wants to do. T-Mac knows what Noah wants him to do,” Babers said. “Noah knows what T-Mac is going to do. That relationship makes him dangerous.”
Wade, a UA great entering his first season as wide receivers coach, was an analyst for the Sun Devils when McMillan had his jaw-dropping outing in Tempe.
"Those are tough feelings," Wade said. "It was tough, because I'm on one team and we're getting slaughtered, but then I'm watching this kid hold down the brand. He's playing hard, lighting it up, breaking records. That's always good to see and I'll always encourage that. It was tough to be on the other sideline because you want to be loyal and present, but you're also secretly proud of him and happy for the guy."
A year after not even receiving a nod for the preseason Biletnikoff Award, the 6-5, 210-pound McMillan is likely entering his final season at the UA and will eventually become one of the top choices at receiver in next year's NFL Draft.
Wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig had 28 catches for 296 yards in his first season with Arizona last year.
"He needs to make sure he stays present," Wade said of McMillan. "What's happening right now is the most important thing to him. He's not worried about what's to come, because those are only predictions. When people look ahead, they lose focus on what actually got them there. We're going to talk about the discipline, the technique, and I'm going to challenge him to being a better leader on the field, vocally. Some guys just lead by example, which is great, but sometimes it takes a little bit more from a leader who is on a pedestal. You need to be able to rally guys and bring them together."
For the second straight year, Arizona had a top-10 passing offense nationally, and now returns one of the top passing tandems in college football in Fifita and McMillan — and while Arizona has a foundation, the Wildcats will incorporate fresh faces in the pass-catching rotation, like Green, Riley and Jones, who all flashed potential in spring ball and training camp last season. Green was expected to start at slot receiver, while Cowing worked at "Z" receiver until Lemonious-Craig transferred in from Colorado.
"It's a great group to have," Wade said. "There's definitely some room for improvement, but the shape it's in now, it allows me to pick up and take them to the next level instead of having to start from the beginning. That's a tribute to the prior coaching staff. I thought they did a great job and left it in good shape, but there's definitely room for improvement."
While Arizona will have four returning offensive linemen between Savaiinaea, Moe, Baker and Pulido, it'll have to fill a Morgan-sized hole at left tackle and the Wildcats will have a new starter at left tackle for the first time since 2019. Pulido, who started at right guard as a true freshman, started at left tackle in Arizona's win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl and will get reps at tackle once again this spring; Magnuson played right guard to end the game after Savaiinaea initially started there before moving back to right tackle.
"It's a next-man-up mentality," said Oglesby. "There's a ton of talent in our room that are viable options to replace (Morgan)."
Added Oglesby: "The group is awesome. It's not just those four. The room, top to bottom, is fun to be a part of. Each guy has their own personality and I'm seeing those personalities grow. I'm super excited about where this group can go and make the subtle improvements to expand on what is a really, really, really good group."
Oglesby said "there is no depth chart" for Arizona's offensive line in the spring "because I'm coming into this with no pre-conceived notions or anything like that."
"I want these guys to compete and put their best foot forward."
The position that loses the most production is running back, after departures from Wiley, Coleman and Williams, three mainstay backs over the last two seasons — five for Wiley. Luke, Conley, Johnson and Washington will be the featured running backs this spring before Croskey-Merritt arrives in summer.
The senior Conley transferred to Arizona from San Jose State after finishing seventh in the Mountain West with 842 yards and nine touchdowns this past season. Luke is the only returning running back who played an offensive snap for the Wildcats a year ago.
If the running backs produce at a similar rate as the previous group, Arizona's offense could be one of the most explosive groups in the Big 12 and college football.
Arizona offensive coordinator Dino Babers met with reporters leading up to UA's spring football practices, which starts on Tuesday. Video by Justin Spears / Arizona Daily Star
