The Brent Brennan era is less than a week old, but he’s already tallied a few wins in Tucson.
The new Arizona football coach is working to retain as much of the talent from last year’s 10-win team as he can. While he has made few public announcements about the coaching staff, he did mention in his introductory press conference that he has a “decent commitment” from Duane Akina to return to Tucson.
That must have been music to the ears of a few Wildcat safeties because Gunner Maldonado, Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson announced they will be returning to Arizona. This trio was second (Johnson), third (Maldonado) and fifth (Stukes) on the team in tackles respectively and combined for four interceptions last year.
Then at Arizona’s men’s basketball game, quarterback Noah Fifita and Tetairoa McMillan announced they would be returning to the team as well.
Fifita is coming off a Pac-12 Offensvie Freshman of the Year season where he threw for 2.869 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, six interceptions in nine starts. The Wildcats were 7-2 in that span, losing only to Washington and USC by a combined nine points.
McMillan returns as a presumed early pick in next year’s NFL draft. The wide receiver caught 90 passes for 1,402 yards and 10 touchdowns and earned second team Sporting News All-American honors.
There’s still plenty to sift out in terms of roster construction, and who will be staying or going in the coming months, but this new era of Arizona football will feature some familiar and impactful faces.
Jordan Hamm
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