Arizona's Noah Fifita Finding His Voice on the Field
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When Brent Brennan was looking to turn things around on his coaching staff he hired offensive coordinator Seth Doege to fix the offense and get things back on track after an underwhelming season that saw the year end for the Wildcats with a 4-8 record and an offense that struggled after the 61-point explosion against New Mexico.
The offense struggled with injuries, lack of talent in the wide receiver room (outside of Tetairoa McMillan) and playcalling from former offensive coordinator Dino Babers.
Although he has been an amazing leader and face of the program, quarterback Noah Fifita wasn’t as vocal as Brennan and the rest of the staff would’ve liked him to be.
Brennan pointed to times where the team could’ve used a voice on the field to help recollect the team after a tough sequence, or loss that seemed to spiral out of control down the stretch of the season.
Both Brennan and Doege set the tone in spring practice by challenging Fifita to become that leader on the field by becoming an extension of the coaches on the field.
Throughout camp, Fifita took the challenge head on and became more of that leader the coaches were looking for on the field.
When talking to the media, Doege stated that there were times the offense wasn’t clicking and he went to go talk to the first-team unit but when he got close to the huddle, Fifita told him that he had things under control and would get everything in order.
After that, the offense would have its best drive of the day and started to click the rest of camp. This is exactly what the coaches have been looking for from Fifita as a leader in the huddle.
While watching training camp, you can see Fifita being more confident in that leadership role and helping his teammates on the details of the offense.
He has always been a leader off the field but is clearly growing into the leadership role that all starting quarterbacks need in order to get to the next level.
There was a play where receiver Kris Hutson dropped a pass in the end zone while running red zone plays and you could tell he was down. Fifita went over to him on the sideline and was talking to him and loving on him to get him ready for the rest of practice.
The next time the Wildcats were running red zone drills, Fifita hit Hutson in the end zone with him making a phenomenal toe tapping catch for six.
It takes a true leader and teammate to help guys turn things around and Fifita is showing that ability now.
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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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