The college football season is still a few months away, but Arizona Wildcats star quarterback Noah Fifita is among multiple players receiving offseason buzz to contend for the Heisman Trophy.
Multiple sportsbooks list Fifita as one of the top 15-to-20 favorites to win college football's most prestigious award.
Draft Kings gave Fifita the 14th-best odds to win the Heisman at +3,000; Georgia quarterback Carson Beck is the favorite at +900. Caesar's Sportsbook has Fifita with the ninth-best odds (+1,600); Beck is the favorite (+750).
Fifita has the 17th-best odds (+3,100) on FanDuel, while his top passing target, Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, has the 48th-best odds (+15,000) to win the Heisman.
Beck, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who transferred from Oklahoma, after opting out of the Sooners' loss to the Wildcats in the Alamo Bowl, are wide favorites to win the Heisman Trophy.
Fifita, who was also the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and Football Writer’s Association of American National Offensive Freshman of the Year, concluded his first season as Arizona’s starter with 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 72.4% of his pass attempts. The Huntington Beach, California native is the only UA quarterback in program history to complete over 70% of his passes in a season.
After taking over for the injured Jayden de Laura during Arizona’s come-from-behind win at Stanford to begin Pac-12 play last season, Fifita went 7-2 as the starter, and led the Wildcats on 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 ASU in Tempe.
In Arizona’s win over Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl, Fifita passed for 354 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, the second-most passing yards in a bowl game in program history.
No Wildcat has ever won the Heisman Trophy. Former UA running back Ka'Deem Carey had the 10th-most votes in 2013, after rushing for 1,885 yards and 19 touchdowns. The following season in '14, linebacker Scooby Wright received the ninth-most votes after recording 164 tackles (100 solo); he was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. The last Wildcat to receive preseason Heisman buzz was quarterback Khalil Tate, who was a Sports Illustrated cover athlete entering the 2018 season.
Arizona Wildcats quarterback Khalil Tate made one of four regional Sports Illustrated covers.
Arizona kicks off the season against New Mexico on Aug. 31 at Arizona Stadium.
