Offensive Players to Watch as Arizona Wildcats Face New Mexico Lobos
New Arizona Wildcats coach Brent Brennan is looking for his first win as head coach of the program when they host the New Mexico Lobos on Saturday.
For Brennan, the opportunity to coach the No. 21 Wildcats is a personal one. He was a graduate assistant for legendary Arizona coach Dick Tomey and worked for him again when Tomey led the program at San Jose State. Eventually, Brennan took over SJSU and is now taking over his mentor’s second program. Tomey was also a head coach at Hawai’i.
New Mexico has its own call-back, as former BYU and Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall is back in the game after a three-year absence. He spent part of his career as an assistant coach with the Lobos, as he served as the team’s defensive coordinator from 1998-2002.
Here are three offensive players to watch for each team.
Arizona
QB Noah Fifita
Former Arizona coach Jedd Fisch’s best decision in his final season was flipping the starting job to Fifita. He led the Wildcats to seven straight wins to end the season. He set the program record for single-season completion percentage (72.4%). He also set a single-game record of 527 yards passing against Arizona State.
Fifita threw for 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions in 2023 as he earned FWAA Offensive Freshman of the Year. He should be in line for a bigger year, especially with his top returning weapon on the edge.
WR Tetairoa McMillan
Brennan kept McMillan from the transfer portal, too, though the fact that Fifita and McMillan went to the same high school probably helped keep both in Tucson. But McMillan is a star on his own, and at 6-5 he’s one of the tallest targets in college football. He led Arizona with 1,402 receiving yards and was second with 10 touchdown catches. He also caught 90 passes.
Somehow, he was only All-Pac-12 second team and earned second- and third-team All-America honors. That sounds like the sort of thing that could motivate McMillan to have a phenomenal campaign.
OL Jonah Savaiinaea
He’s so good he’s on the Lombardi Award preseason watch list. He was an All-Pac-12 honorable mention selection a year ago and was the second-highest graded offensive lineman on the team per Pro Football Focus. The junior has been a starter since he stepped on campus in 2021 and as he goes, the offensive line goes.
New Mexico
QB Devon Dampier
The true sophomore drew the start in the Lobos’ opener against Montana State. He threw for 172 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another 35 net yards and a score. It’s not on him that the Lobos blew a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter.
This will be his first full season as the starter. He was primarily the backup last year (he made one start) and threw for 525 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions. He still hasn’t thrown a collegiate interception, a good omen going into Saturday’s game.
RB Eli Sanders
Getting Sanders in the transfer portal from Iowa State, where he played for two seasons and redshirted for another, was a boost for the Lobos’ running game. He was primarily a backup for ISU, as he rushed for 703 yards and four touchdowns. Joining New Mexico gets him closer to his hometown of Chandler, Ariz.
In his Lobos debut last week he rushed for 87 yards on 16 carries. He didn’t score. But he showed he could be relied upon in the run game.
WR Luke Wysong
The attention will be on Caleb Medford, who is one of the Lobos’ top returning receivers. But Wysong was the player that had the big receiving game against Montana State. He caught six passes for 95 yards with a long of 53.
He missed most of last season with an injury, but in 2022 as a sophomore he led the Lobos with 34 receptions. A resurgent season from Wysong, combined with Medford, would give New Mexico a real boost in conference play.
MATT POSTINS