Breaking Down Arizona's All-Quarter-Century Team Quarterbacks

Arizona football has entered its bye-week, which means we will be putting together our Arizona Wildcats On SI All-Quarter Century Team.

Sept 2, 2006; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback (7) Willie Tuitama looks to throw against the Brigham Young Cougars during the second quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-US Presswire Copyright Rick Scuteri | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

Welcome! To another edition of the Arizona Wildcats Insiders Podcast featuring your host Troy Hutchison, who will be delivering a daily podcast discussing everything happening surrounding Arizona athletics giving you an inside look  at all the programs on campus.

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years with his coverage spanning all-across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats excelling outside of Tucson.

So far in the Brent Brennan era of Arizona football, the Wildcats have had their struggles on the road with four-straight losses dating back to last year. UA has lost those games by an average of 28 points and have fallen behind by double-digits in all four games.

Dec 20, 2008; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Willie Tuitama (7) throws a pass during the Wildcats' 31-21 victory over the Brigham Young Cougars in the Las Vegas Bowl at Sam Boyd Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Arizona (4-3, 1-3 Big 12) was able to get things going early by striking quickly as quarterback Noah Fifita hit receiver Tre Spivey for a 70-yard touchdown pass, which seemed to set the tone early for the offense.

Despite the fast start, Arizona found itself trailing 21-14 to Houston (6-1-,3-1) at the half thanks to defensive struggles in the second quarter. And once again, the Wildcats lost the middle eight of the game, which resulted in a Cougars 31-28 win over the Wildcats.

Although Arizona fell on Saturday against Houston and has lost two-straight games, the program is clearly moving in the right direction and has improved drastically from a season ago.

Oct 10, 2009; Seattle, WA, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles (8) passes against the Washington Huskies during the first quarter at Husky Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

Now with the Wildcats in the bye-week, we at Arizona Wildcats On SI have decided to roll out our All-Quarter-Century Team breaking down the top players at every position over the last 25 years of Arizona football.

Today we are taking a look at what the top two quarterbacks would be over the last 25 years that have stood out from the rest.

Top Quarterbacks

2. Willie Tuitama (2005-08)

Oct 13, 2007; Los Angeles, CA; USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Willie Tuitama (7) drops back to pass during 20-13 loss to Southern California Trojans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

During the mid-2000’s Arizona football was working its way back from one of the darkest era’s in program history following the end of John Mackovic’s time as head coach. Mike Stoops took over the program and built it back up ending a 10-year bowl game drought during the 2008 season.

A massive part of getting the program back on track was quarterback Willie Tuitama, who took over the starting job in late October going 2-3 as the starter with a 52-14 win over then-No. 7 UCLA.

In his senior season, Tuitama led the team to a 8-5 finish with a win in the Vegas Bowl delivering a 31-21 result over No. 17 BYU.

Throughout his career, Tuitama finished with 9,211 passing yards (No. 2), 67 passing touchdowns (T-1) and 8,727 of total offensive yards. He did all this despite going through several injuries as he set a standard for quarterbacks in Tucson.

1. Nick Foles (2009-11)

The gold standard of Arizona quarterbacks is clear and that man is Nick Foles, who transferred into the program after spending time at ASU and Michigan State. Foles started his UA career as the backup to  Matt Scott before taking over the job three games into the season.

Oct1, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Arizona Wildcats quarterback Nick Foles (8) during the second half of the game against the against the USC Trojans at the Los Angeles Coliseum. against the USC Trojans won 48-41. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

During his time with the Wildcats, Foles had numerous memorable games and moments that live in the minds of all Arizona fans. The one that tops them all was UA’s 34-27 win over No. 9 Iowa where he passed for 303 yards and two touchdowns against the Hawkeyes.

Although NFL career shouldn’t count towards college rankings, Foles did cement his legacy in the pros by going on a historic playoff run with the Eagles that was capped off with a Super Bowl 41-33 win over the Patriots. Not only did his team get the win but he won the MVP becoming the first WIldcat to win the award.

At the end of his career, Foles finished 1st in passing yards (10,011), passing touchdowns (67) and total offense (9,712) while completing 67% of his passing attempts.

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