Arizona Wildcats redshirt sophomore quarterback Noah Fifita was added to two more preseason award watch lists. The latest watch lists for the star UA quarterback: Manning Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm watch list had 63 college football quarterbacks. The Manning Award — named after Super Bowl winning brothers Peyton and Eli, and their NFL quarterback father Archie — was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Fifita also received preseason Davey O'Brien Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year nods. Fifita is also a preseason Athlon Sports All-American and a third-team All-American by Phil Steele.
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. 21 Arizona kicks off the 2024 season against New Mexico at Arizona Stadium on Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.
The Star's Justin Spears and Michael Lev break down notable stories and observations from Arizona Wildcats football training camp with the season about two weeks away. Is Arizona's No. 21 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 fair? Plus, the guys answer your Twitter mailbag questions and discuss position battles and rising players for the UA.
