NFL preseason schedule kicks off with over a dozen former Arizona Wildcats in the league

It’s a busy week in the professional football world for former Arizona football players.

Jedd Fisch-era quarterback Jayden de Laura is leading the Vegas Knight Hawks in the IFL’s Western Conference championship against the San Diego Strike Force.

If the Knight Hawks win, de Laura will be back in Tucson on Aug. 23 for the IFL championship.

It’s also the official start of the NFL preseason schedule this week, which begins Thursday — and ex-Arizona kicker Tyler Loop could literally kick off the first week of the league-wide preseason schedule, when the Baltimore Ravens face the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday at 4 p.m. on NFL Network.

Loop recently impressed Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh after he made a 56- and 60-yard field goal at MT&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

“He passed that test with flying colors,” Harbaugh said of Baltimore’s rookie kicker. “I’d say A+++, and onto the next one. ... I’m not surprised, but certainly very happy.”

The Cincinnati Bengals have a trio of former Wildcats: tight end Tanner McLachlan, who was a rookie last season, and running backs Gary Brightwell and undrafted rookie Quali Conley. The Bengals face the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Friday’s preseason slate has three games with ex-Wildcats. UA legend and first-round wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan will make his Carolina Panthers debut against the Cleveland Browns at 4 p.m. on NFL Network, which starts at the same time as the Detroit Lions and former UA defensive tackle Roy Lopez squaring off with the Bijan Robinson-led Atlanta Falcons.

Seventh-round running back and Washington Commanders rookie Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who’s had a strong training camp, will make his pro debut against the New England Patriots on Friday at 4:30 p.m.

Here’s a full list of ex-Wildcats currently on NFL rosters:

Gary Brightwell, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

Quali Conley, RB, Cincinnati Bengals

Jacob Cowing, WR, San Francisco 49ers

Jacory Croskey-Merritt, RB, Washington Commanders

Tony Fields II, LB, Los Angeles Rams

Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, LB, New York Giants

Nick Folk, K, New York Jets

Tyler Loop, K, Baltimore Ravens

Roy Lopez, DT, Detroit Lions

Tanner McLachlan, TE, Cincinnati Bengals

Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers

Jordan Morgan, OL, Green Bay Packers

Bill Norton, DT, Los Angeles Rams

Christian Roland-Wallace, DB, Kansas City Chiefs

Jonah Savaiinaea, OL Miami Dolphins

Brenden Schooler, DB, New England Patriots

J.J. Taylor, RB, Houston Texans

UA assistants gain NFL experience

The Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship has exposed minority coaches from the high school and college ranks to the NFL since 1987.

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The NFL-founded program is used to increase the number of full-time minority coaches the NFL.

Arizona had two coaches selected to the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship: offensive assistants Caleb Moore (Green Bay Packers) and Greg Stewart (Los Angeles Rams).

It was the second time Moore was selected to the program to be with the Packers.

Moore played high school football at Brophy Prep in Phoenix, before signing to play quarterback at Lake Forest College, a Division III program in Illinois, in 2018. After tearing his labrum just before the 2020 season, Moore medically retired and was thrusted into a coaching career, which was also the family business.

His father, Thurmond Moore, was Hall of Fame defensive end Dwight Freeney’s position coach at Syracuse. The older Moore was also on the UCLA staff when former UA offensive coordinator Dino Babers was the Bruins’ wide receivers coach.

Caleb Moore instantly started his coaching career at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater as a running backs coach.

“With my ultimate goal being coaching since I was a little kid, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, so I had to jump at that and leave my playing career in the past,” Moore said.

The connections he made at Lake Forest “got me in touch with (Packers head coach Matt LeFleur) and I went down there before I had even coached a season, so I guess I made the right impression on the right person and they invited me back this year,” said Moore.

“I had the opportunity to go up there, work with those guys and learn from their coaches,” Moore said. “They’re obviously a very successful organization, and they just poured into me and gave me everything I asked for. ... It’s just about developing coaches and giving guys opportunities, when maybe they wouldn’t have one otherwise. It was a really good opportunity and I was very fortunate.”

After a season as a graduate assistant at Arizona State in 2023, where he worked with current Arizona wide receivers coach Bobby Wade, he joined Brennan’s staff last season as an offensive assistant with the UA wide receivers.

The biggest disparity between coaching NFL and college players?

“NFL guys, that’s their job,” Moore said. “That’s how they put food on the table for their families and how they created the life for themselves. They take their job very seriously, and they’ve also been around the block. They’re not 17-year-old freshmen coming into college and kind of being green to everything, not knowing what’s going on.

“You get more maturity from (NFL players) and they have experience. But at the same time, with the transfer portal and everything, you have to have a professional relationship with the guys and they have to know that you truly care about them for them to buy into what you’re teaching them. There are similarities, but I would say the biggest difference is the experience of those NFL guys. You’re not really talking down to them, you’re working with them to come up with a plan and coach them through things.”

Emulating NFL players and adopting their mindset is “something we’ve always preached to our guys” at Arizona.

The longterm plans for Moore in the coaching realm is to become a coordinator and head coach in the NFL. Moore said it has “always been my dream to coach in the NFL because I didn’t get the opportunity to play in the NFL.”

“I was really appreciative to get the opportunity to go up to Green Bay,” he said. “I try to stay mission-focused where I’m at right now. We have a lot going on right now and we’re trying to make sure we get things right this season.”

Family affair

Another Brennan has joined Arizona.

Brennan’s son, Scotty, is a walk-on wide receiver for the Wildcats following a quarterback career at (ironically) Los Gatos High School in Northern California, where he threw for 4,132 yards, 41 touchdowns and 13 interceptions for the Wildcats.

The only game Brent Brennan attended last season was Los Gatos’ win over the Mountain View High School Spartans — the Wildcats versus the Spartans, the two mascots of Brennan’s most recent coaching stops.

Brennan’s journey as a college football coach started well before Scotty Brennan was born, so “I haven’t coached him ever,” Brennan said. While Scotty Brennan played youth football and other sports in the fall, Papa Brennan was coaching college football.

“Just the nature of this job,” Brennan said.

The younger Brennan was also a standout basketball player for Los Gatos. The 6-4, 177-pound Brennan averaged 15.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game as a senior.

The opportunity to coach his son sunk in during the first team meeting before training camp, when Brent Brennan addressed his team about expectations for training camp and the upcoming season.

“Every now and then, I’m picking up his face in the crowd,” Brennan said. “I’m used to that face being 9 years old. It’s fun. I’m excited for him. ... Having him out there, I’m excited for his process as a college football player.”

Extra points

– Moore, on Arizona’s receivers: “Having a great player like (Tetairoa McMillan) last year, it’s hard to replace someone like that. I think we did a really good job of building depth in the room, adding speed and even experience. ... Adding some experience on top of the talent we already have, even with those young guys like Gio (Richardson) and Isaiah (Mizell), I think they’re all meshing well together and working well together. I’m really excited to see how they complement each other on Saturdays.”

– Folk is the oldest former UA player in the NFL at 40 years old. Folk is the only Mike Stoops-era player that is currently active in the NFL, and recently signed with the Jets, a team he kicked for from 2010-16. Folk has made 403 of 478 field goals (84.3%) in his NFL career. The Jets play against Morgan and the Packers on Saturday at 5 p.m. on NFL Network.