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Texas is targeting another former Arizona Wildcat in the transfer portal.
Texas’ new linebackers coach Johnny Nansen is targeting another former Arizona Wildcat in the transfer portal. Continue reading “Arizona transfer DL Bill Norton to visit Texas for Orange-White game”
Texas found its defensive tackle commit on Tuesday morning.
Texas has its defensive tackle commit in the transfer portal. Arizona defensive tackle Tiaoalii Savea committed to the Longhorns on Tuesday morning capping an eventful offseason for the unit.
Savea is what Texas needs at the position. He’s a veteran player with multiple years of experience and the size to aid the Longhorns in the interior of defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s scheme.
The 6-foot-4, 305-pound player from Las Vegas logged three seasons at Arizona. In his junior campaign in 2023, Savea compiled 1.5 sacks and 21 total tackles for the Wildcats. He is a much needed get for a defense that not only lacks experience but production at defensive tackle outside of Alfred Collins and Vernon Broughton.
Undoubtedly, the familiarity between Savea and current Texas linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen played a role in the move. Nansen worked as the defensive coordinator for Arizona last season and probably has an in-depth scouting report of the skilled player. That Nansen would be in favor of the move would probably speak to Savea’s work ethic and culture fit.
Texas will not be as good as it was at defensive tackle last season after two elite NFL draft prospects departed at the position. Nevertheless, it should be good enough to compete for a playoff berth with Savea added to the fold.
MORE PORTAL GOODNESS —
Arizona DL transfer Tiaolaii Savea @T3ezyy commits to Texas during his Sunday visit.
Big get a need position.
STORY: https://t.co/0a4vTq5uD6 (FREE) #HookEm @InsideTexas pic.twitter.com/HOSHku5UYz
— Justin Wells (@justinwells2424) January 23, 2024
If Fisch assumed his Arizona players would follow him en masse to Seattle, he made a bad calculation.
One of the core values Jedd Fisch tried to communicate to his Arizona football players over the past few seasons was loyalty. Fisch made that an important part of his messaging to the Wildcats. Therefore, when Fisch took the open head coaching job with the Washington Huskies, he probably assumed his players would follow him to Montlake out of a sense of loyalty. It wasn’t the worst assumption to make. Plenty of us who follow college football know that in many cases, players play for a coach more than a university.
We saw this at USC when Tackett Curtis and Domani Jackson transferred out of the program rather than play for the new incoming defensive coaching staff. Alex Grinch and especially Donte Williams forged strong relationships with some recruits. Those recruits wanted to play for those coaches, not other ones. This is true at other schools as well.
However, at the University of Arizona, Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan wanted to be Wildcats in the same way Miller Moss wants to be a Trojan. Some players really do play for the school, not the coach. Fisch is not retaining nearly as many players in Seattle as he hoped he would. Arizona is not losing players the way it feared it would.
See what’s being said about Arizona’s roster holding up surprisingly well due to loyalty — to a school, not a coach:
USC won’t have to play Noah Fifita or Tetairoa McMillan in 2024 as members of the Washington Huskies. That’s #B1G.
Arizona Wildcat football fans have a lot to celebrate today. The Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year, quarterback Noah Fifita, and sophomore Second Team All-Pac-12 selection Tetairoa McMillan will be returning to Tucson to play for new head coach Brent Brennan in 2024. Fifita and McMillan explain in a tweet below from Arizona Football, “Tucson we have unfinished business. We runnin’ it back!”
This means that Trojan fans, Lincoln Riley, and D’Anton Lynn might also be celebrating today with the Wildcats. These prime Arizona players will not follow Jedd Fisch, the head coach who recruited them both out of Servite High School in Anaheim, to Washington next season. USC is scheduled to play its (soon-to-be) former Pac-12 opponent in a conference game in the Big Ten on November 2, 2024, in Seattle.
247Sports shared a conversation with Les Fifita, Noah’s father, in which he explains that McMillan and his son had thoughts of leaving, but it was not where everyone was expecting.
“We’ve known Kalen DeBoer for a long time and he loved Noah when he was at Fresno State,” [Les Fifita] said. “He recruited him hard when Noah was at Servite and they wanted both boys at Alabama.
“It’s ’Bama, we had to listen. But, end of the day, both kids felt like they had unfinished business here. Plus, it’s a family here — it really is. We want to keep this thing together and we know the whole team couldn’t go to ’Bama just like the whole team wasn’t being recruited to Washington. This is the best move for everyone and, with Noah and TMac and the core staying, we think we got a great shot to keep everyone else here as well.”
The Wildcats have their dynamic passing duo back for their first year in the Big 12. Fisch will continue to search for a replacement for Heisman runner-up Michael Penix, who is off to the NFL, and Will Rogers, the transfer from Mississippi State who entered the portal again when DeBoer left Washington. Most importantly, the Trojans will not face the trio of Fisch, Fifita and McMillan in 2024, a combination that took USC and Riley to triple overtime last October in the Coliseum.
The show goes on. pic.twitter.com/oVwMvCNTx1
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) January 20, 2024
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USC has pulled a number of transfers from Arizona in recent years, but this new cycle might be more difficult.
The USC Trojans have grabbed a number of players from the Arizona Wildcats in the transfer portal in recent years. Dorian Singer, Christian Roland-Wallace, Kyon Barrs, and other players have made their way from Tucson to Los Angeles. Now, after Jedd Fisch left for Washington, a lot of Arizona players have entered the transfer portal.
USC could use a few of them.
Roll Tide Wire made a list of Arizona players Alabama could use. USC should want to pursue these same players. We’ll look at one of them: offensive lineman Raymond Pulido.
Roll Tide Wire offered this overview:
“Before signing with Arizona, Raymond Pulido was committed to Alabama for four months. The native of Apple Valley, California has entered the transfer portal after one season in Tuscon. With Pulido being from the West Coast, he was recruited by Washington’s coaching staff coming out of high school. Therefore, it makes sense for Alabama’s new coaching staff to pursue Pulido.
“He saw some playing time as a freshman for the Wildcats. With Alabama losing starting offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor to the transfer portal, it makes sense to bring in someone who has some familiarity with the program and some experience playing at the Power Five level.”
It will be harder for USC to get these transfers since Washington, Alabama, and Ohio State are all in the market for a lot of players in the portal. We will see what the Trojans can do.
Visit our friends at Fighting Irish Wire, Buffaloes Wire, and Ducks Wire.
Arizona players have begun to enter the transfer portal with head coach Jedd Fisch heading to Washington. Here are five players Alabama should consider adding.
Much like Alabama, the Arizona football program has seen its share of attrition recently with head coach Jedd Fisch departing the program to accept the head coaching position at Washington.
With that said, the roster turnover will continue to take place. The same will continue to happen in Tuscaloosa.
Arizona had a tremendous season this past year in the PAC-12. Fisch helped propel the Wildcats program to new heights. There were players on both sides of the ball who would be valued if and when they entered the transfer portal.
Roll Tide Wire takes a look at five Arizona players that Alabama should take a look at.
Pete Carroll’s son was a prominent name in the Arizona head coaching search, but another candidate got the job instead.
It was never likely that Pete Carroll would actually be hired by the Arizona Wildcats for their football head coach position. However, Carroll’s son, Brennan, is still the offensive coordinator in Tucson. He was being considered for the vacancy left by Jedd Fisch, who left for the University of Washington.
Brent Brennan, the head coach at San Jose State, was always a likely candidate for the Arizona job alongside Brennan Carroll. Who else might have Arizona considered? That was an open question. In the meantime, though, the Wildcats moved quickly and got a big-time hire.
Brent Brennan’s hire was reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Tuesday morning.
We will soon see if Brennan is someone who can prevent Jedd Fisch from taking U of A players with him to Seattle. Brennan will try to retain players from the roster and give the Wildcats a chance to compete with Utah for the 2024 Big 12 title.
See what people are saying about this unexpected job opening in the coaching carousel, right before Brent Brennan got hired by Arizona:
What are your predictions for Colorado’s home finale against Arizona?
Head coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes football team have essentially reached must-win mode if they have hopes of earning a bowl bid in Coach Prime’s first season in Boulder.
It won’t be easy for the Buffs, but first up is their home finale against No. 23 Arizona on Saturday afternoon at Folsom Field.
After being losers of five out of its last six games, Colorado is due a win, and with it being the final home game of the season, I’m sure the Buffs will bring their best effort.
As kickoff approaches, here are five bold predictions for Colorado’s final Pac-12 home game:
We’re not going to pretend everything is fine at USC. It’s not. @IanHest produced our latest podcast episode.
The USC Trojans were not ready to play against Arizona. Bryson Shaw defended Alex Grinch after the Colorado game, saying the players were letting Grinch down. That should have translated into a focused, alert performance from the opening kickoff to the final gun, but that did not happen. USC was asleep in the first quarter and needed to rally from 17 points down to win in triple overtime.
USC is 6-0, but this season is not going the way Trojan fans hoped. This team has to play a lot better to make the Pac-12 Championship Game and stay in contention for the College Football Playoff. We talked about this on our latest Trojans Wired podcast, produced and co-hosted by Ian Hest.
Listen to the show below after our College Wire links of the week:
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Follow Fighting Irish Wire for more on Notre Dame as the Irish prepare to face USC.
Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.
Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football leading into the big game against Washington on October 14.
Prominent Pac-12 sports journalist thinks USC is likely to fire Alex Grinch before season’s end.
USC and Lincoln Riley need to have a plan in place if Alex Grinch coaches poorly and loses to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator might actually be worse than Alex Grinch, a fascinating plot point heading into the October 14 renewal of Irish-Trojans.
Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Notre Dame and Utah.
We joined @MarkRogersTV and @Tim_Prangley to review Arizona and look ahead to South Bend this Saturday.
There is no shortage of topics to explore after USC’s complicated and concerning triple-overtime win over Arizona. The Trojans are 6-0 but are in a genuine state of crisis heading into South Bend to face Notre Dame on Saturday.
We talked about the Arizona game and previewed the Notre Dame game — and addressed the Alex Grinch situation — on our weekly show with Mark Rogers and Tim Prangley at The Voice of College Football.
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Follow Buffaloes Wire for complete coverage of Deion Sanders and Colorado.
Follow Ducks Wire for coverage of Oregon football leading into the big game against Washington on October 14.
Prominent Pac-12 sports journalist thinks USC is likely to fire Alex Grinch before season’s end.
USC and Lincoln Riley need to have a plan in place if Alex Grinch coaches poorly and loses to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator might actually be worse than Alex Grinch, a fascinating plot point heading into the October 14 renewal of Irish-Trojans.
Brent Venables is coaching Oklahoma far better this year than Lincoln Riley is coaching USC. It’s up to Riley to change that reality against Notre Dame and Utah.
