Tucson (KVOA) – Arizona Football was voted 8th in the Pac-12 preseason voting.
It was the highest preseason ranking for the Wildcats since 2018. Head coach Jed Fish said he doesn’t think the Wildcats are getting enough credit in the preseason, but he isn’t worried about expectations.
“It doesn’t matter what people think now,” Fish said. “The chat season is over and the football season is about to begin.”
Arizona head coach Jed Fish, quarterback Jaden De Lola and cornerback Tradan Stokes spoke about the upcoming 2023 season at Pac-12 Media Day.
Fish, who was on the podium, talked about his expectations for the third year.
“This is the best team for us and we are not going to shy away from it,” Fish said. “Our players will go out and play at a high level. If they play at the level we think they will play, we will win a lot of games this year.”
Fish said this team is different than usual. It starts with experience.
“Offensively, nine of the 11 starters are back,” he said.
That includes quarterback Jayden De Lola, who moved from Washington State and returned for a second season in a red-and-blue jersey. The QB threw for nearly 3,700 yards and scored 25 touchdowns last season. De Laura said it was just the beginning.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” he said. “T-Mac, I really didn’t know Jacob.” [Cowing] and even durian [Singer], which was the first full-fledged season under the scheme. We were learning all season long. We are comfortable with each other now. We know how to play and we know how others play. I feel that the sky is the limit for us. ”
Fish’s priority for 2022 was attack.
“I felt that if I didn’t do well on offense, I would never be able to get on defense,” he said. “Nobody wants to come to a team that can’t score. We’ve had the same attacking staff for the three years I’ve been there. They’ve hired great players and developed great players.”
From there, the focus shifted to defense.
“We focused on portals and young play,” said Fish. “Last year, we had six freshmen start on defense at one point. This offseason has made them bigger, faster and stronger with Justin Fraw, Daniel Heimli, Tyler Manoa, Olin Patu and some of the great guys we were able to bring in.”
These freshmen are now sophomores and are playing in the same system as last year. That’s something a lot of former players couldn’t say.
“Arizona spent eight years with eight different defensive coordinators,” Fish said. “We have the opportunity to bring back the defensive coordinator, which will be a big step forward in our system. The most important thing about consistency is that players are always better in year two than in year one.”
“I’m really happy with the team’s effort in the offseason,” cornerback Traidan Stokes said. “Playing real football is the time we have been waiting for and we have put all our efforts into this.”
There’s still over a month until the Wildcats’ season opener against NAU on September 2nd. The first day of their Fall Ball is August 2nd.
