Arizona Wildcats spring football preview, Part I: Offense

Leading up to Arizona’s spring football practice schedule, which begins on Tuesday and ends with the Red-Blue Spring Showcase on April 19, the Star is previewing how the Wildcats look heading into the second season under head coach Brent Brennan. Up first: Offense. 

Quarterbacks

Coach: Seth Doege, Lyle Moevao

Key returners: Noah Fifita (R-Jr.), Cole Tannenbaum (R-Jr.)

Key departures: Brayden Dorman, Anthony Garcia, Adam Damante

Key additions (previous school): Braedyn Locke (Wisconsin), Sawyer Anderson (The Parish Episcopal School in Dallas), Luke Haugo (Gilbert Higley High School)  

The rundown: Fifita enters his fourth season at Arizona with a fresh slate — and a new number, going from No. 11 to No. 1.

Fifita no longer has his favorite weapon and longtime teammate in NFL-bound Tetairoa McMillan, and the Wildcats enter their first season under new offensive coordinator Seth Doege, a former play-caller at Marshall and one of the top passers in Texas Tech history. 

Under the direction of former play-callers Dino Babers and Matt Adkins, Arizona’s offense dropped from 18th nationally in total offense in 2023 to 115th in 2024. After producing 53 touchdowns in 2023, the Wildcats only scored 30 this season and had 15 red-zone touchdowns. 

A year after Fifita was the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and Football Writers Association of America Freshman of the Year, Fifita’s touchdown-to-interception ratio dropped from 23:5 to 18:12.

Fifita is the only Wildcat in school history to have a completion rate (73.6%) higher than 70%, but his completion rate dropped to 60.5% in 2024. He also had the most throwaways (37) in college football this season, according to Pro Football Focus.

Doege looks to fix that. 

After Doege was hired by Arizona, Fifita told the Star, “there’s a different mentality” with the UA offense.

“One, that we expect to score every time we touch the ball,” Fifita said. “It’s a great mindset from our leader. He’s confident, he knows his scheme, he was very successful as a player and successful as a coach in his short time. We look forward to learn from him and build the offense with the pieces we have from the portal and the pieces we have returning.”

As for Fifita's backup, several quarterbacks will be in the mix, including Tannenbaum, who was the backup last season, along with Locke, Haugo and Anderson, who is the all-time passing yards (14,674) leader in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

“I think the pieces we added there are going to help,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. “There’s a mix of young and experience in the quarterback room and I think that’s good.”

Running backs

Coach: Alonzo Carter

Key returners (year): Kedrick Reescano (R-So.)

Key departures: Quali Conley, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, Rayshon Luke, Brandon Johnson 

Key additions (previous school): Ismail Mahdi (Texas State), Mike Mitchell (Utah), Quincy Craig (Portland State) 

The rundown: After losing four running backs to graduation and the transfer portal, the Wildcats revamped their running backs room with five scholarship additions. Arizona is adding Houston-area native Wesley Yarbrough and Dallas product Cornelius Warren III in the summer. 

Reescano, a powerful runner at 6-foot, 214 pounds, is the only returning scholarship running back this spring after rushing for 359 yards and a touchdown in his first season at Arizona.

Mahdi could potentially emerge as a starter for Arizona following an uber-productive career at Texas State with 406 rush attempts for 2,322 yards and 14 touchdowns. Mahdi also had 31 kick returns for 760 yards and a touchdown.

The additions look to boost a rushing offense that was second-to-last in the Big 12 in 2024. 

Wide receivers

Coach: Bobby Wade

Key returners (year): Chris Hunter (R-Jr.), Jeremiah Patterson (R-Sr.), Devin Hyatt (R-So.)

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Key departures: Tetairoa McMillan, Montana Lemonious-Craig, Malachi Riley, AJ Jones, Reymello Murphy

Key additions (previous school): Luke Wysong (New Mexico), Kris Hutson (Washington State), Javin Whatley (Chattanooga), Tre Spivey III (Kansas State), Isaiah Mizell (Boone High School in Orlando, Florida), Gio Richardson (Chandler Basha High School)

The rundown: Arizona lost arguably its best receiver in school history in McMillan, a projected Top 10 pick in next month's NFL Draft. To help with the McMillan-sized void in Arizona's offense, the Wildcats "aggressively attacked" speed to complement Hunter, who emerged as Arizona's second-best receiver behind McMillan. 

Wysong, Hutson, Spivey and Whatley — who all hail from track and field backgrounds — combined for 193 catches for 2,380 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2024. Mizell’s top speed was clocked at 22 miles per hour, the fastest time at the high school level in 2024, according to Reel Analytics.

Fifita won't have his best friend on the receiving end of his touchdown throws in 2025, but the added speed coupled with Doege's play-calling experience as an air-raid disciple could bring life into an Arizona offense that was often stagnant after the season opener. 

Tight ends

Coach: Josh Miller

Key returners (year): Sam Olson (R-Sr.), Tyler Powell (R-Jr.), Kayden Luke (So.)

Key departures: Keyan Burnett, Dorian Thomas, Roberto Miranda  

Key additions (previous school): Cameron Barmore (Mercyhurst)

The rundown: In back-to-back seasons, the Wildcats lost their top pass-catcher at tight end, but they return Olson, who had 13 catches for 196 yards and two touchdowns after transferring from San Jose State. The 6-7, 248-pound Powell, a Phoenix native, appeared in three games in 2024 and emerged as a backup tight end when Burnett dealt with injuries throughout the season. 

The Wildcats added Barmore, a receiver-converted-tight end transfer from Mercyhurst, an FCS school in Pennsylvania. Barmore had 73 catches for 978 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Lakers last season.

Luke, a former Canyon del Oro High School standout, is now listed at tight end after playing fullback for the Wildcats.

Offensive line

Coach: Josh Oglesby

Key returners (year): Left tackle Rhino Tapa'atoutai (R-So.), guard Alexander Doost (R-So.), tackle Matthew Lado (R-Fr.), tackle Michael Wooten (R-Jr.)

Key departures: Tackle Jonah Savaiinaea, center Josh Baker, guard Wendell Moe, guard Leif Magnuson, guard and tackle Joey Capra

Key additions (previous school): Tackle Tristan Bounds (Michigan), tackle Ty Buchanan (Texas Tech), tackle Jordan Brown (Georgia Tech), guard Ka'ena Decambra (Hawaii), center Isaac Perez (Portland State)

The rundown: Arizona deployed seven different starting offensive lines in 2024, due to the injury pileup.

Additionally, "it just felt like we weren’t quite as big as some of (the other Big 12 teams),” Brennan said.

Arizona's size — or lack thereof — and depth "was something we had to address" in the offseason, especially after losing three multi-year starters, including a potential first-round draft pick in Savaiinaea. 

“I firmly believe that games are won upfront on both sides of the ball, and I think that’s a place we had a lot of room to grow last year," Brennan said. 

Arizona signed 11 newcomers on the offensive line — five of them from the transfer portal. 

In the summer, Arizona will add Northern California tackle Louis Akpa, Hawaii guard Javian Goo, Los Angeles-area guard Sione Tohi, Bay Area guards Losipini Tupou and Peter Langi and in-state tackle Jaxon Griffin.

The Wildcats also signed Siale Uluave, a 6-5, 350-pound transfer from College of San Mateo (California), who is joining the team in the summer. 

Arizona likely won't get its answers on the offensive line until preseason training camp, when all of the pieces are in Tucson.  

After National Signing Day, Oglesby said he's “excited for the experience that we’ve added to the room, the size we’ve added to the room and the overall vibe of the room."

He added: “It’s cool to see new the additions fit in with the guys that have already been here."