New Arizona football coach Brent Brennan appears to be making positive first impression

It's inevitable Arizona is going to lose a few — perhaps several — players to the transfer portal with its coaching change. 

From the time former UA coach Jedd Fisch signed his seven-year contract with the Washington Huskies on Sunday, UA players have the option to enter the transfer portal immediately for a 30-day window, despite the portal otherwise being closed until the spring. 

The Wildcats have seen multiple players enter the portal between Fisch's departure to UW and new head coach Brent Brennan's hiring at Arizona on Tuesday.

Arizona cornerbacks Ephesians Prysock and Tacario Davis, offensive lineman Raymond Pulido, incoming freshmen quarterback Demond Williams, running back Adam Mohammed and wide receiver Audric Harris, Indiana transfer defensive back Jordan Shaw, tight end Dorian Thomas and running back Jonah Coleman have entered the transfer portal this week.

To quote college football pundit Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend!"

Just because players are in the transfer portal, it doesn't mean they won't return to Arizona. When Fisch was initially hired just over three years ago, several players, including wide receivers Jamarye Joiner and Stanley Berryhill III, explored their options before opting to stay at Arizona.

Although Coleman, who led the Wildcats in rushing in 2023, is exploring his options, the star running back sat courtside at McKale Center for UA men's basketball's win over USC, along with fellow Arizona teammates in quarterback Noah Fifita, wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and linebacker Jacob Manu — and Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant.

The Arizona football players were accompanied by Southern Arizona real estate magnate Humberto Lopez, a University of Arizona graduate and founder of HSL properties. Lopez is a longtime booster of UA sports programs.

During the second media timeout, Brennan walked to the center of Lute and Bobbi Olson court with a microphone and was met with a standing ovation. Brennan told the McKale Center crowd he's "expecting the same kind of juice at Arizona Stadium this fall."

"We can’t wait to get to work," Brennan said, "and build a consistent program that we can be proud of here every day in Tucson."  

Maybe "juice" was an intentional message for Fifita, McMillan and Manu, who all hail from Orange County — or "Juice County," as they've coined. The status of Fifita and McMillan staying to play for the new regime remains unknown. 

“We don’t got too much to say on the topic. We know a lot of people are wondering how we’re feeling about this," Fifita said earlier this week on the "Island Time" podcast he co-hosts with McMillan on the Game Network App. "Like (McMillan) said, we don’t take the easy way out. We’re going to lock arms, hunker down and face it head-on."

McMillan and Fifita are widely considered a package deal. They're either most likely staying at Arizona together or both leaving. That's how Arizona landed the Servite High School (Anaheim, California) teammates in 2022, Fisch's first official recruiting class.  

A positive sign for Arizona's chances in keeping Fifita and McMillan: the quarterback and wide receiver took a photo with Brennan during halftime at McKale Center. Fifita also sat on the back of a golf cart with Brennan's wife, Courtney, a UA alumna, as the cart drove them away from Arizona Stadium following Brent Brennan's introductory team meeting on Tuesday.

"It was great to stand in front of the team and present coach," Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke said. "They're excited and I know it was a really positive environment and I know I've had a lot of good feedback." 

Brennan said he "was just really honest with them" in the meeting.

"That's how I operate. I get it, they're a little bit hurt (by Fisch leaving Arizona)," Brennan said. "It's tricky like that, and the reason I can say that is because I just did that to a team yesterday. Like, yesterday morning before I got on the plane to come down here, I had to meet with the team at San Jose State. It was really, really hard; really, really emotional. If you do build it right and if your team is connected on a level that gives you a chance to be successful on Saturdays in the fall, they're going to be super connected, so when a piece of it leaves, there's going to be some fallout.

"I was just honest with them. I just asked them to give me a chance to earn their trust and treat each other with respect and the trust will be earned over time, and I promised them I'll surround them with a great coaching staff and people that care about their development and who they are as men." 

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Brennan understands the nature of modern college football. Even multi-year coaches face the task of re-recruiting their own players to stay at their programs in the world of the transfer portal and name, image and likeness.

But like Brennan's mentor Dick Tomey once said, Brennan's focus is on the team, the team, the team. 

"My priorities since I've gotten here is a balance of trying to get to know this team and spend some time around this team and meet one-on-one with some of the players, because I'm just trying to get to know them," Brennan said. "But more importantly I'm trying to give them a chance to know me because, like I mentioned, they're in a tough spot. With the way the rules are now, anyone can leave at any time. That's just the nature of college football, so how quickly can I start to get to know them? How quickly can they get to know me?

"We can build a connection and I believe the best way moving forward is right here at the University of Arizona." 

Veteran assistant Akina a likely to join Brennan's staff

The former right-hand man for late Arizona football coaching icon Dick Tomey is likely to return to Tucson, Brennan revealed during his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

Duane Akina is a "decent commitment" to join Brennan's staff at Arizona, after the defensive backs assistant accepted an analyst role at Texas, where former UA defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen is now the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

"Just the teacher he is, the person he is, the leader he is, I'm excited about that," Brennan said.

The 67-year-old and fiery Akina assisted Nansen in elevating an Arizona defense that rose from 125th nationally in total defense to No. 50 in the last two seasons. Akina helped implement the double-eagle flex defense against run-heavy teams, which was deployed during Arizona's 38-point win at Washington State.

Akina was initially hired by Arizona as a senior analyst in '23, but was elevated to an on-field coaching role while defensive line coach Ricky Hunley recovered from leg surgery.

Akina has also held roles as a defensive coordinator, offensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at the UA during the celebrated "Desert Swarm" era under Tomey from 1987-2000; Brennan was a graduate assistant at Arizona for one season in 2000. After Tomey's firing in 2000, Akina was promoted from defensive backs coach to defensive coordinator under new head coach John Mackovic, but left for Texas.

Akina briefly coached Arizona's defensive backs in 2011 under Mike Stoops, but returned to Texas to coach defensive backs after Jerry Gray became the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator. Akina mentored three Jim Thorpe Award winners between his time at Arizona and Texas: Darryll Lewis (Arizona), Michael Huff (Texas) and Aaron Ross (Texas). At Texas, Akina coached the Longhorns from 2001-13 and helped UT win a national championship at the Rose Bowl against USC in 2006.

Prior to his second stint at Arizona, Akina coached defensive backs at Stanford under David Shaw from 2014-22. Akina now appears headed back to Tucson to work for a fifth head coach at Arizona between Tomey, Mackovic, Stoops, Jedd Fisch and now Brennan.

Brennan revealed on Wednesday that Arizona is also hiring former San Jose State director of football operations Ben Thienes, who was a graduate assistant at Washington and Boise State, his alma mater. Before SJSU, he was a linebackers coach and director of player personnel at Portland State.

Extra points

• Former Arizona All-American linebacker Scooby Wright was in Tucson and took a photo with Brennan, which was posted on X (Twitter) by UA coordinator of alumni and high school relations Brandon Sanders.    

• Four-star 2024 quarterback and former Chandler Basha High School star Demond Williams, who previously signed with the Wildcats, scheduled an official visit to Washington for Friday, according to 247Sports.com.  

• Former Arizona left tackle and potential first-round NFL Draft pick Jordan Morgan announced that he signed with Wasserman Group, a renown talent and marketing agency that also represents Fisch.