‘Winning is Personal’ for UA football in Year 3 of Fisch era
First it was “It’s Personal.” Then it was “Make it Personal.” Now the latest rendition of the Arizona Wildcats’ motto is “Winning is Personal.”
Arizona, which began its month-long spring football practice schedule on Tuesday, went from 1-11 to 5-7 — with a win over arch rival Arizona State — in a calendar year; the Wildcats’ passing offense ranked in the top 10 nationally; and recruiting has delivered an abundance of four-star prospects and a former fivestar linebacker in Justin Flowe. If UA coach Jedd Fisch had a checklist for goals since he was hired in December 2020, he’s crossed off a lion’s share of it.
So why is everything still so “personal” with the UA football program anyways?
“Our philosophy has been, ‘How are we going to take that mentality of all of the work that we’ve invested and then turn it into wins, on or off the field?’ And that’s kind of where we’re at,” Fisch said. “We certainly feel as if we’re at a good spot football-wise. We need to be smart, we need to be tough, we need to be disciplined, and we need to get better on defense and on special teams, and continue to improve on offense, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Wildcat weapons back on offense
Compared to last season, the Wildcats won’t need to improve much on offense in 2023.
Quarterback Jayden de Laura is back under center for his second season as the Wildcats’ starter after transferring from Washington State over a year ago. Star receiver Jacob Cowing and left tackle Jordan Morgan, who tore his ACL in the Wildcats’ upset win over UCLA, declined the NFL draft to improve their pro stock in 2024. And standout second-year receiver Tetairoa McMillan returns with one year of college football experience under his belt
The other “T-Mac,” tight end Tanner McLachlan is also back after a 2022 season campaign where he had the most receiving yards by a tight end since Rob Gronkowski in 2008.
However, with Morgan’s knee recovering and Paiton Fears preparing for the NFL draft, coupled with notable freshmen such as former Alabama commit Raymond Pulido and Elijha Payne not available until preseason training camp, the Wildcats will have competition at both tackle spots. Arizona will start 6-8, 320-pound junior-college transfer Joseph Borjon at right tackle, while Sam Langi will likely start in place of Morgan at left tackle, with Wendell Moe and freshman All-American Jonah Savaiinaea at guards and Josh Baker at center. Savaiinaea, redshirt freshman Jacob Reece and early enrollee Rhino Tapa’atoutai will also rotate reps at tackle.
“I think we have a pretty good deep set of tackles, or group of tackles,” Fisch said. “We’ll have to be rotating those guys in and out to really see what the best combination is of guard and tackle there. But we’re going to use this spring time to be able to see really what that looks like and then make our decision.”
The most eye-grabbing competition on offense will be the “Z” receiver, or outside receiver, the position that “has become vacated” due to the departure of Dorian Singer, who was second in the Pac-12 in receiving yards and transferred to USC. Cowing will begin spring ball in Singer’s position, while second-year freshman Kevin Green Jr. will start at slot receiver alongside McMillan to round out Arizona’s starting trio. When Cowing returns to inside receiver, redshirt freshman AJ Jones, redshirt freshman Chris Hunter, freshman Malachi Riley and freshman Jackson Holman will be among the receivers to compete at “Z.”
‘Nonstop competition’ on defense
Regarding Arizona’s defense, “I would expect it to be nonstop competition on the defensive side to determine what that starting lineup will look like,” Fisch said.
Arizona’s substantial turnover on defense this season will be akin to the Wildcats’ overhaul on offense in 2022. The Wildcats added 18 scholarship defensive players via the transfer portal and high school ranks this year to match up with the budding underclassmen that improved Arizona’s defense in the second half of the season.
A dozen of those 18 newcomers are front-seven players, so expect “numerous rotations” on Arizona’s defensive line and at linebacker this spring.
“I like to rotate a lot of guys up front,” said defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen. “That was one of the things that we focused on right after the last game was attacking, recruiting, improving the front seven, D-lineman, linebackers and so on so on, because the games ... start from up front.”
In the secondary, the Wildcats will have to replace three starters: cornerback Christian Roland-Wallace (transferred to USC) and safeties Jaxen Turner (transferred to UNLV) and Christian Young (graduated). Sophomores Ephesians Prysock and Tacario Davis are expected to start at cornerback, and Treydan Stukes, who was the opposite cornerback of Roland-Wallace the last two seasons, will take over the nickelback role previously held by Gunner Maldonado, who will compete for one of the starting safety positions. Isaiah Taylor, who made the game-sealing interception in the Territorial Cup win over ASU, Dalton Johnson and former UCLA Bruin DJ Warnell, and freshmen Genesis Smith and Gavin Hunter, are among the names who could start at safety.
“So I think the competition is real,” Fisch said. “I think there’ll be a lot of it on defense and on special teams. And a lot of what will determine their success on defense and where they play, will be determined by how well they play special teams.”
The rise in defensive competition and depth to complement the offense could lead to a rise in victories for Fisch’s Wildcats. Then maybe Fisch can check “going bowling” off his checklist.
“When you’re able to beat a top-10 team, then there should be an expectation that you can do that more than once. When you’re able to win games on the road, there should be an expectation to do that more than once,” Fisch said. “We were able to take care of some games that I think a year ago, or two years ago, we weren’t ready to do. Now our expectation is let’s go out there and let’s see how many we can win. Let’s see how good we can play. Let’s see how good we can be. And then most importantly, see how physical we can be. We’re gonna have a really physical spring.”