Five burning questions for the Arizona Wildcats ahead of Pac-12 Media Day in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Arizona will take the main stage at Resorts World in Las Vegas for Pac-12 Media Day on Friday.

It’s the first time Pac-12 Media Day will be held in Las Vegas. The previous years were held in Los Angeles.

Each team in the Pac-12 is surrounded by burning questions entering the upcoming season. Heck, the Pac-12 in general and its media rights deal — or lack thereof — is an item of information every media member in attendance will be clamoring for.

Regarding Arizona, which went 5-7 in head coach Jedd Fisch’s second season in 2022, here are the five burning questions the Star has entering Pac-12 Media Day:

1. How transparent will Arizona QB Jayden de Laura be?

The UA’s representatives at Pac-12 Media Day include Fisch, nickel back Treydan Stukes and quarterback Jayden de Laura. News of De Laura allegedly settling a civil lawsuit for a sexual-assault case stemming from 2018, when the UA star was attending St. Louis High School in Honolulu, recently became public.

The plaintiff accused de Laura and Wisconsin safety Kamoi Latu, who was de Laura’s teammate at St. Louis, of sexually assaulting her following a high school football game in Hawaii.

Using the Hawaii Circuit Court, the civil complaint was filed in December of 2021, a month before de Laura transferred from Washington State. The alleged settlement was for an undisclosed amount.

The UA released a statement in May, two days after de Laura’s involvement in this case became public and said his status “remains unchanged” with the program.

“In the fall of 2022 after a civil complaint was filed against football student-athlete Jayden de Laura, the University of Arizona first became aware of a 2018 incident involving de Laura which occurred while he was in high school in Hawaii,” the UA statement read. “After reviewing the matter, the determination was made to allow de Laura to continue as a student-athlete and his status remains unchanged.”

A statement sent to the Star in May from de Laura attorneys Philip Miyoshi and Thomas Otake combats the claims made in the civil suit.

“Reports from certain media outlets involving Jayden de Laura are inaccurate and have inflicted unnecessary duress and reputational harm to numerous individuals and entities," the statement said.

De Laura will speak to reporters for the first time since Arizona’s spring game in April, so Friday will mark the first moment de Laura may face questions publicly on the case.

2. Can Arizona stop the run?

Stop us if you heard this before: Arizona’s rushing defense was abysmal last season.

During the 2022 campaign, the Wildcats surrendered an average of 209.1 rushing yards per game and finished 10th in the Pac-12 ahead of Stanford (224.4) and Colorado (245.1).

Arizona has finished in the top half of the Pac-12 in rushing defense just once since 2012. The Wildcats haven’t finished higher than 10th since the 2018 season, when Arizona was eighth and allowed 162.5 yards per game.

The Wildcats addressed the front-six unit in the offseason, and seven of their eight signees in the transfer portal are either defensive linemen or linebackers, including inside linebackers Justin Flowe (Oregon) and Daniel Heimuli (Washington), edge rushers Orin Patu (Cal) and Taylor Upshaw (Colorado), and defensive tackles Tyler Manoa (UCLA), Bill Norton (Georgia) and Sio Nofoagatoto’a (Indiana).

Despite starter Kyon Barrs transferring to USC, the transfer portal additions married with budding underclassmen in defensive tackles Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei and Jacob Kongaika, and edge rushers Russell Davis II and Sterling Lane. Former UCLA transfer Tiaoalii Savea, who blocked a field goal in Arizona’s win over No. 12 UCLA at the Rose Bowl along with a fumble recovery in a Territorial Cup win over Arizona State, will contend for a starting role this season.

Manoa, Norton and Nofoagatoto’a all weigh over 300 pounds. In the spring, Manoa and Norton showed their ability to clog gaps and allowed Flowe and second-year starter Jacob Manu to make tackles at the line of scrimmage.

3. How will the offensive line shape up?

Arguably the most essential offseason victory for the Wildcats is the return of left tackle Jordan Morgan, who enters the season as a Second Team All-Pac-12 selection.

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The 6-6, 320-pound senior from Marana was potentially a late first-round pick or Day 2 selection in the NFL Draft, but a season-ending knee injury he suffered in the Wildcats’ upset win over UCLA kept him from participating in Pro Day and team workouts. Pro Football Focus rated Morgan as the third-best tackle nationally entering the upcoming season.

Barring injury, Morgan will man the left tackle spot this season for Arizona. Junior center Josh Baker will return for his second year as a starter. Second-year walk-on Wendell Moe will likely start at one of the guard spots. The most prominent question entering training camp is determining where Freshman All-American Jonah Savaiinaea will play. Last season, Savaiinaea started all 12 games at guard but mostly played right tackle during the spring.

“Right now with the numbers, we got to see what Jonah can do, and Jonah is playing really well at tackle,” Fisch said. “He’s a gifted offensive lineman.”

UA offensive line coach Brennan Carroll said Savaiinaea is “a good athlete, so he’s made the transition pretty well.”

“We just wanted to try a bunch of guys at different spots, kind of like we’ve always done, to have more versatility if we need to make that move,” he added.

Added Fisch: “We’ll play Jonah at the best spot for Jonah. He’s an All-American player, an NFL player, and we’ll make sure Jonah gets taken care of so that he’s able to lead us up front.”

If Savaiinaea starts at right tackle, potential starters include Moe, Sam Langi (who played guard and tackle last season), JT Hand and incoming freshman Raymond Pulido, a 6-6, 345-pound Apple Valley, California native who flipped his commitment from Alabama to the UA.

4. Will UA generate even more takeaways?

Good news for Arizona, the Wildcats improved its takeaway total from six to 16 in a year.

The bad news? The Wildcats still ranked last in interceptions (4) — two of them from safety Jaxen Turner, who’s now at UNLV. Arizona was tied for a conference-best 12 fumble recoveries in 2022. To celebrate those turnovers, Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen unsheathed a “turnover sword” to his defense.

Arizona safety Isaiah Taylor, who caught the game-sealing interception in the Territorial Cup, was among the defensive backs consistently recording interceptions during spring ball.

Said Fisch about Arizona’s defense in the spring: “I love the fact that our defense is getting better, our defense is getting bigger, getting stronger, and with that, they’re getting to a point where we have a chance to really compete at a higher level than we did a year ago.”

5. Will de Laura cut down on interceptions?

On the field, de Laura is expected to be among the top all-around quarterbacks in a conference littered with supreme stars, especially with newbies DJ Uiagalelei (Oregon State), Dante Moore (UCLA) and Shadeur Sanders (Colorado) added to a standout Pac-12 quarterback bunch that includes defending Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams (USC), Michael Penix Jr. (Washington), Bo Nix (Oregon) and Cameron Rising (Utah).

Despite quarterbacking Arizona to the sixth-best passing offense in FBS last year, de Laura isn’t considered an upper-echelon quarterback by college football pundits. De Laura also wasn’t voted for preseason All-Pac-12 honorable mention either.

“If there’s six quarterbacks in the Pac-12 that are being talked about more than Jayden, that doesn’t add up to me,” Fisch said in the spring. “But it’s OK.”

Arizona quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty said during spring practices, “I think it comes down to, you gotta win.” De Laura finished third in the Pac-12 with 3,685 yards, 25 touchdowns and 13 interceptions; he has the third-most yards in a single season by a UA quarterback.

“You gotta win on the big-time level to get that real respect in the country, and that’s what we’re after; that’s what he’s after, and he knows he has a big part in that,” Dougherty said. “That’s really the job of the quarterback is to lead us to victories. With those wins will come that respect in the country.”

De Laura’s 13 interceptions (the most thrown by a Pac-12 quarterback last season) were costly for the Wildcats, including multi-interception performances against Mississippi State and Washington State; he threw a career-high four interceptions against his former team.

One year in Arizona’s offense, de Laura said in April he wants “to show everybody that I’ve mastered this offense and that I can coach you without Coach Fisch being out here.” De Laura also added nearly 30 pounds of “body armor” since arriving in Tucson last season.

“Now I feel like we’re in a place that we can now take this program and take this team and build it to be even better, and let Jayden really, really blossom,” Fisch said.