Arizona Wildcats Star Quarterback Tied to Award Named For NFL Legend
Arizona Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita was selected to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List on Wednesday, the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, Inc. announced via release.
The award is named for Unitas, the 18-year NFL legend and Hall of Famer who threw for more than 40,000 yards in the professional ranks. He played his college football at Louisville.
This is the first time the quarterback, a redshirt sophomore, has been named to this watch list.
A total of 63 quarterbacks were listed. The award is given to the top senior or upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with their class. Last year it was presented to LSU star Jayden Daniels.
No Arizona quarterback has won the award.
Fifita is no stranger to watch lists.
He was also named to the Davey O'Brien Award Watch List and the Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch List. He was named Athlon Sports Preseason All-American and Phil Steele Third-Team All-American.
Fifita, a native of Huntington Beach, Calif., is coming off one of the best seasons in Arizona history after he set the program record for single-season completion percentage at 72.4 percent. Against Arizona State, he threw for a single-game record 527 yards, followed by a 354-yard performance against Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl.
That game was the second-best passing game in Arizona bowl history and wrapped up a seven-game winning streak to end the year.
Fifita led the Wildcats to a 10-3 season, but coach Jedd Fisch left for Washington after the year. Arizona replaced him with Brent Brennan. Fifita opted to stay with the Wildcats as opposed to transferring.
Fifita threw for 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2023 as he earned the FWAA Offensive Freshman of the Year Award.
2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Watch List
Joey Aguilar, App State
Drew Allar, Penn State
Luke Altmyer, Illinois
Rocco Becht, Iowa State
Carson Beck, Georgia
Alan Bowman, Oklahoma State
Max Brosmer, Minnesota
Byrum Brown, South Florida
Hudson Card, Purdue
Thomas Castellanos, Boston College
Brady Cook, Missouri
Jalon Daniels, Kansas
Ashton Daniels, Stanford
Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
Kyron Drones, Virginia Tech
Billy Edwards Jr., Maryland
Quinn Ewers, Texas
Noah Fifita, Arizona
TJ Finley, Western Kentucky
Dequan Finn, Baylor
Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, Colorado State
Brett Gabbert, Miami (OH)
Dillon Gabriel, Oregon
Ethan Garbers, UCLA
Garrett Greene, West Virginia
Seth Henigan, Memphis
Will Howard, Ohio State
KJ Jefferson, UCF
Athan Kaliakmanis, Rutgers
Mikey Keene, Fresno State
Haynes King, Georgia Tech
Cade Klubnik, Clemson
Riley Leonard, Notre Dame
Grayson McCall, NC State
Kyle McCord, Syracuse
Cade McNamara, Iowa
Fernando Mendoza, Cal
Graham Mertz, Florida
Jalen Milroe, Alabama
Behren Morton, Texas Tech
Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
Andrew Peasley, Wyoming
Cameron Rising, Utah
Will Rogers, Washington
Kurtis Rourke, Indiana
Kaidon Salter, Liberty
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
Brayden Schager, Hawai’i
Blake Shapen, Mississippi State
Tyler Shough, Louisville
Donovan Smith, Houston
Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati
Preston Stone, SMU
Payton Thorne, Auburn
DJ Uiagalelei, Florida State
Tyler Van Dyke, Wisconsin
Brock Vandagriff, Kentucky
Nicholas Vattiato, Middle Tennessee
Cam Ward, Miami
Conner Weigman, Texas A&M
Hayden Wolff, Western Michigan
Nate Yarnell, Pittsburgh
Jacob Zeno, UAB
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