Arizona QB Breakdown: Strengths of Sawyer Anderson

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.

One thing Brennan and his staff set out to do this offseason was add talent to the roster and create battles on the roster to get iron sharping iron to help improve the program.

Arizona brought in transfer quarterback Wisconsin quarterback Braedyn Locke, who played in 16 games for the Badgers and threw for 2,713 yards with 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

With Fifita and Locke, there is no quarterback controversy at Arizona and they are clearly the top two quarterbacks on the roster.

Not only are the top two spots filled, but Fifita is 100% the starting QB with Brennan making that clear at the beginning of the offseason ahead of spring ball and training camp.

Besides the addition of Locke to strengthen the quarterbacks, Doege and Brennan were able to flip three-star QB Sawyer Anderson, who picked the Wildcats over Purdue.

We will be breaking down the strengths of Anderson and what he has been doing throughout training camp.

Anderson Strengths

Arizona Wildcats' offensive coordinator Seth Doege at training camp | Arizona Wildcats Athletics.

Athleticism

In one of the press conferences during training camp, Fifita was asked about the younger talent in the QB room and he stated that Anderson was the most athletic player in the room and has the potential of being a high-level player.

Throughout camp, we have seen Anderson extend plays with his legs and make the right decisions by stepping up into the pocket, or rolling out to find the open man. Plus, he has been able to hit the defense with some quick 8 to 10-yard gains.

Ability to Learn

One thing that has stood out about the coaching staff and other QBs when talking about Anderson is how they say he is always around the two veterans in the room and follows them around wherever they go to learn from them on how to handle himself as a college QB and learning the scheme from Doege.

Anderson is clearly getting better each practice and is improving in the offense as the third option behind Fifita and Locke. Although he hasn’t gotten time above the third team unit, he has gone up against the second team defense and has had some success in 11-on-11 drills.

Arm Strength

One of the strongest arms on Arizona’s roster is Anderson, who has been able to hit every level of the field in all the drills. The ball zips out of his arm and has been on target hitting the receivers on the money.

Even when throwing into tight windows, Anderson has been able to fit the ball in there and get it to his play making receivers and tight ends. He has the ability to hit them on the money in multiple drills and on passes 40-plus yards down field.

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