Star Arizona Wide Receiver Finds Himself High on Vaunted 'Freaks List'
There is a lot of excitement, and maybe even some expectations, surrounding this Arizona Wildcats team as they head into this new era of Big 12 play led by new head coach Brent Brennan.
With multiple holdovers from the previous year, this group is poised to make some noise if they are able to continue performing at a high level on offense and stop some different schemes on defense than what they've seen in the past.
For that to happen, they will need their superstar wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan to get healthy this month and start working his way back onto the field during preseason practices.
So far, Arizona has been cautious during his recovery, smartly easing him into drills so they don't reaggravate whatever injury caused him to miss the spring game.
When McMillan is cleared for full team activities, the Wildcats will have one of the best weapons in the country catching passes from their star quarterback, hopefully building upon his 1,402 yard and 10 touchdown output in 2023-24.
Consistently listed as one of the best wide receivers in college football and a potential first round draft pick, he has also found himself highly-ranked on Bruce Feldman's vaunted "Freaks List."
Put together every year starting in 2005, Feldman highlights the athletic freaks of nature who are current student-athletes. Schools, coaches, teammates, parents, NFL scouts, combine trainers, and agents all give him a heads up about who is turning heads in the weight room and on the field athletically.
This edition for The Athletic has 101 names on the list, with McMillan coming in at No. 23.
"T-Mac is probably the biggest freak that I've ever been around," Arizona's former head coach Jedd Fisch told Feldman. "He doesn't have that great a vertical, but it's his coordination that is freakish. He has great hand-eye coordination. He's the best athlete I've ever seen."
Considering Fisch has spent roughly 12 years in the NFL in various roles, that is quite the high praise.
Despite McMillan's lack of vertical leap, his 6-foot-4 frame allows him to make contested catches in traffic where he goes up and gets the ball over defenders. Even with that size, he's been able to increase his speed, topping out at 21.8 mph during his two seasons at Arizona.
Feldman asked the Wildcats star about his leaping ability, and the talented junior wasn't shy when discussing this topic.
"My vertical is not as good as you think. I'm gonna tell you right now I don't have the best vertical in our receiver room. People would really be surprised. It's around 33 or 34 inches. When I came out of high school, it was about 31," he said.
Maybe that should highlight just how good of an athlete he is, getting ranked at No. 23 on this vaunted list despite having a vertical leap that isn't considered "freaky."
BRAD WAKAI