In sync with the rest of the Big 12, the Arizona Wildcats announced their player participants for the inaugural 16-team Big 12 Media Day presented by Totino's next week at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Along with first-year head coach Brent Brennan, Arizona will send quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, linebacker Jacob Manu and safety Gunner Maldonado as player participants for the two-day event from July 9-10.
Arizona State, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech and Utah kick off Big 12 Media Day on July 9, then Arizona, Baylor, BYU, UCF, Colorado, Houston, Kansas and West Virginia will go on July 10.
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.
McMillan, who is the highest-rated signee in Arizona football history in the modern recruiting era, will enter his third season as a mainstay in Arizona's offense.
McMillan ended his sophomore campaign with 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 a 36-point win over Arizona State. McMillan was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection and received third-team Associated Press All-American honors.
This offseason, McMillan has garnered preseason Athlon Sports All-American honors and was named a preseason All-American by Phil Steele. During spring practices, McMillan suffered a leg injury and "had a little procedure", according to Brennan, but is now "moving along and progressing great," Arizona's head coach recently told the Star.
Manu led the Pac-12 in tackles (116) and was named to the All-Pac-12 First Team and Associated Press All-Pac-12 First Team. Manu was the first Wildcat to lead the Pac-12 in tackles since Scooby Wright III in 2014. Manu was recently named a fourth-team preseason All-American by Athlon Sports.
Maldonado was third on the team in tackles (81) last season to go along with a team-high three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles as Arizona's free safety. Maldonado evolved into a productive and reliable defender for the Wildcats, and had an 8% missed-tackle rate, according to Pro Football Focus, which is the second-best amongst Arizona's starters behind cornerback Tacario Davis. Maldonado's 87-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Oklahoma, which sparked the Wildcats' comeback to beat the Sooners, is one of the top plays in program history. Maldonado earned defensive MVP honors for the Alamo Bowl.
Television coverage of Big 12 Media Day will be on ESPNU and Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Starting at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 10, Brennan and a selected player will join ESPNU; Brennan will hold a press conference on the field at Allegiant Stadium at 1:20 p.m. to end Big 12 Media Day.
Here's complete look at the player participants for Big 12 Media Day:
Arizona
QB Noah Fifita
DB Gunner Maldonado
LB Jacob Manu
WR Tetairoa McMillan
Arizona State
DB Xavion Alford
OL Leif Fautanu
RB Cameron Skattebo
DL Clayton Smith
Baylor
WR Ketron Jackson
LB Matt Jones
RB Richard Reese
LB Keaton Thomas
DB Carl Williams, IV
BYU
DE Tyler Batty
OL Connor Pay
DB Jakob Robinson
WR Darius Lassiter
WR Chase Roberts
UCF
QB KJ Jefferson
RB RJ Harvey
WR Kobe Hudson
DT Lee Hunter
LB Deshawn Pace
Cincinnati
DB Derrick Canteen
P Mason Fletcher
RB Corey Kiner
OL Luke Kandra
Colorado
ATH Travis Hunter
QB Shedeur Sanders
S Shilo Sanders
P Mark Vassett
Houston
OL Tank Jenkins
DB Latrell McCutchin, Sr.
LB Jamal Morris
QB Donovan Smith
Iowa State
DB Beau Freyler
WR Jayden Higgins
WR Jaylin Noel
DL J.R. Singleton
Kansas
QB Jalon Daniels
DB Mello Dotson
RB Devin Neal
DE Jereme Robinson
Kansas State
QB Avery Johnson
OL Hadley Panzer
LB Austin Moore
DE Brendan Mott
DB Marques Sigle
Oklahoma State
QB Alan Bowman
RB Ollie Gordon II
LB Nick Martin
LB Collin Oliver
TCU
WR Jack Bech
DL Caleb Fox
QB Josh Hoover
OL Mike Nichols
LB Namdi Obiazor
Texas Tech
RB Tahj Brooks
QB Behren Morton
LB Bryce Ramirez
LB Jacob Rodriguez
OL Caleb Rogers
Utah
TE Brant Kuithe
LB Karene Reid
QB Cameron Rising
DT Junior Tafuna
West Virginia
DB Aubrey Burks
QB Garrett Greene
DL Sean Martin
OL Wyatt Milum
