Arizona Football Top Five Offensive Players
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Throughout its history, Arizona football has seen many ups and downs with the program making 22 bowl games and recording four 10-win seasons. In 1998, the Wildcats finished with a school-record 12 wins capped off with a 23-20 win over Nebraska.
As the program gears up for its 122nd season with head coach Brent Brennan entering his second season at the helm, we will be ranking the top five players at each position to get you ready for the 2025 season.
As we continue throughout this position process of breaking down the top five players of all-time and now that we are done with each position we will be breaking down the best offensive players in Arizona football history.
Top Five Offensive Players
5. QB 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.
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.
4. WR Bobby Wade (1999-02)
The gold standard for a number of years when it comes to receivers for Arizona had been Bobby Wade, who was the all-time leading receiver with his career 3,351 yards on 230 receptions for 22 years.
Wade’s best season came during his senior season where he hauled in 1,389 yards on 93 receptions. After Arizona, he had a solid six-year career at the NFL level playing for the Vikings, Bears, Titans and Chiefs. Now, he is the receivers coach for Brennan trying to turn around the program and get it in the right direction.
3. RB Trung Canidate (1996-99)
Originally listed as a receiver, running back Trung Canidate didn’t see the backfield during his freshman season and only played in eight games his sophomore year where he made the switch to the RB spot. In those years, he rushed for 804 yards and scored four touchdowns.
After that, everything opened up for Canidate and he never looked back as he went on to become the program’s all-time leading rusher with 3,626 yards while averaging 6.5 yards per carry.
At the time, Arizona wasn’t known for being an offensive school and Tomey’s system left a lot to be desired. But, when you have a running back like Canidate, who needs to be creative?
Arizona kept things simple and gave it to its workhorse back, who was a rising star in college football during the 1998 season where he helped the Wildcats have their best season in program history going 12-1 with a 23-20 win over powerhouse Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl.
To this day, Canidate is the highest drafted running back in program history going to the St. Louis Rams with the No. 31 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
2. RB Ka’Deem Carey (2011-13)
Every fanbase loves the story of a local kid, who became a legend in the Cities’ university and that’s exactly the story of running back Ka’Deem Carey, who went to CDO High School and picked the Wildcats over ASU on the recruiting trail.
After a solid freshman season where he posted 425 yards, Carey had the two greatest seasons a running back has put together at Arizona. During his sophomore and junior year he totaled 1,929 yards and followed it up with a 1,885 yards season.
Carey wasn’t just a local or UA legend, he was making national headlines and even got close to receiving an invitation to the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Although he never won the Heisman, he was named an All-American twice and won the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year during the 2013 season.
Overall, Carey destroyed the program rushing record with his 4,239 yards and is the all-time rushing touchdown leader as well with 48 TDs on the ground and 52 total in his career.
In the world of college sports we live in today, it wouldn’t be the least shocking if Carey’s program records were broken one day with the way the game has become offensive minded. However right now, I don’t see anyone on the current roster that will come close to those numbers.
1. WR Tetairoa McMillan (2022-24)
Wade’s record stood for 22 years but then a five-star recruit by the name of Tetairoa McMilan came to Arizona and from the first season you could tell that he was different and could do amazing things.
During McMillan’s freshman year, he totaled 702 yards on just 39 receptions to go along with his eight touchdowns.
From the first spring practice, McMillan was turning heads and leaving coaches, players, fans and media members in awe of his superstar talent.
McMillan by the time he was done helped get the program to the Alamo Bowl finishing 10-3 on the season and broke the all-time receiving yards record by posting 3,423 yards on 213 receptions to go with his 26 touchdowns.
Records may and will be broken eventually especially in an offensive minded era of college football. Yet, there will never be another McMillan, who has Larry Fitzgerald-like skill sets and might be the most talented player in the history of the program.
Please let us know if you think we missed anyone on this list of all-time offensive UA football players. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.
Troy Hutchison grew up attending Arizona athletic events, which gave him a unique perspective and knowledge of the athletic department's rich history. He attended UA and began covering the Wildcats in 2018. As the Arizona Wildcats Beat Writer on SI, he is set to deliver wall-to-wall coverage to give fans an in-depth perspective.
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