Arizona Wildcats Superstar Wide Receiver Still Held Out of Practice
College football season is right around the corner, and the Arizona Wildcats are going to embark on their campaign led by new head coach Brent Brennan that sees them join the Big 12 conference for this inaugural year.
With the calendar officially flipped to August, the Wildcats have roughly 30 days before they host New Mexico for the season opener on the last day of the month.
When Jedd Fisch took over the head coaching job at the University of Washington this offseason, there was major concern that Arizona's star players would depart in the transfer portal, making things extremely difficult for Brennan in his first year.
However, he was able to hold onto their stars, getting elite wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and quarterback Noah Fifita to stay with the program.
Having these two in the mix will allow things to look much better on the field, no matter what the wins and losses result ends up being. Brennan will then be able to sell his vision to recruits and start building this program just like he did at San Jose State.
But as the Wildcats have taken the field for preseason work, McMillan is still being held out of practice.
The projected first round pick in the 2025 NFL draft got a surgical procedure done during the spring on an undisclosed part of his lower leg that kept him from participating in the Spring Game. His injury has caused Arizona to be cautious with him on his road to recovery, not putting any extra pressure on him to be practicing at this point in time.
Instead, he worked out on the side, shuffling around, doing some different hops, and running with his helmet and cleats.
"We're always going to do what’s best for T-Mac. We'll always do what's best for the player in that situation. We don't want to rush a player into playing. Those decisions are not coaching decisions, ever. Those are medical decisions and player decisions, family decisions," Brennan said according to Michael Lev of Tuscon.com.
When McMillan is cleared to return, he'll be in the mix.
There has been no timeline revealed about when the star wide out will be back practicing with his teammates, but Brennan did say he expects him to be a "version of full-go" back during media days in mid-July.
That hasn't happened yet, but there has also been no setback.
So for now, McMillan will be on the sideline, working his way back into the mix so he can deliver another monster season for the Wildcats.
BRAD WAKAI