Two thousand and twenty-five was the summer Arizona Football turned pretty.
Or, at least, turned competent. Again.
Or at least we hope.
It was thought that the program had turned the corner in 2022 and 2023, and indeed it had. But then the Cats kept turning and ended up back at where they started.
Thanks a lot, Jedd.
At any rate, Arizona hit rock bottom in the 2024 season, wasting a generational talent in Tetairoa McMillan along with much of the goodwill that was earned during the prior year’s 10-win
campaign.
It was a year to forget, and starting with Saturday’s game against Hawaii we might just be able to.
To wit: This year’s team boasts 61 new players, with a healthy mix of portal additions, traditional high school freshmen and recruits from other places such as JuCo or even Australia.
Understanding just because there are new players doesn’t mean they will be good or even better than what Arizona had last year, if nothing else the overhauled roster presents an opportunity to surprise us all.
Why might they?
For starters, having a QB in Noah Fifita who has excelled at this level and now has 21 collegiate starts under his belt, is a luxury many teams don’t have. The last time he was paired with an offensive coordinator who knew how to design an offense and call a game the guy was pretty dang good, and we have every reason to believe that Seth Doege knows what he’s doing in those regards. Both QB and OC have praised the amount of talent in the team’s backfield as well as with its pass catchers, and while some of that is undoubtedly coachspeak it’s not as if the team is bereft of options on the ground or in the air.
Nor does Danny Gonzales’ defense lack for impact players, especially in the secondary and at linebacker.
That’s not to say this team is overflowing with stars or has great depth or lacks holes, because likely none of that is true. The offensive line enters the season as a question mark, the defensive front is not settled and it’s fair to wonder if the team’s reliance on lower-level transfers will prove to be ill-advised.
There is also the fact of the matter that there are so many coaches and players in new roles that none of us can be sure of what to expect.
And that’s the fun of this season. Arizona could be good. Arizona could be bad. Arizona could be something in between.
My guess? The Wildcats will be chaotic.
Not in their schemes so much and not in their on-field persona.
Just, with so many new players and coaches the opportunity for this team to morph and change over the course of the season is great. The players who see the bulk of the snaps Week 1 may not do so in Week 2, and those who play in Week 2 may not get as much run in Week 3. While we could hope that the team’s lineup has solidified itself leading into the season, camp injuries and slow acclimation could very well lead to plenty of players who will peak over the next few weeks or so.
The coaching staff too will gain a greater understanding of its roster once the games begin, and ideally adjust their lineups and play calling accordingly. It may be clunky at times, but the result should be a team that improves on a week-to-week basis and provides entertainment along the way.
And if Cats win some games, even better.
All of us here at AZDesertSwarm feel like wins will come, with all of us seeing the team reach bowl eligibility. Many of those who replied felt like we were being homers or at the very least wildly optimistic, and that’s a fair critique (especially when you consider what we all expected going into last season).
However, those predictions largely stem from the fact that while last season was a disappointment, the nature of college football today doesn’t mean this season must be. The team’s non-conference and Big 12 schedules are not particularly daunting, especially with seven games set to be played at the still-named Arizona Stadium.
As of now Arizona won’t be favored in many of them, but a lot can change over the course of a season.
Would it surprise anyone if by the time Kansas rolls into town in November the ‘Cats are considered to be the better team? What about the gap between Arizona and the BYU squad that will visit in October?
Heading into the season we should all take the mindset that nothing about Arizona would truly surprise us, save for the Cats pulling something like the team up north did and ascending from the bottom of the preseason rankings to the top of conference standings.
Nobody should expect that, and nor should it be the expectation for this to be considered a successful season.
No, as Arizona starts the 2025 season we know that it will finish as a success if the program progresses. We’ll look back on the season fondly if the games are competitive and filled with big plays. We’ll be happy if the team’s best players have good seasons, hopefully leading to Wildcats hearing their names called during next year’s NFL Draft.
We’ll be satisfied if when the final second ticks off the clock the conversation is not about how Brent Brennan should be fired, but rather how he and his staff proved they deserve to stick around. That last point may be the most important, because if it happens then we can all rest easy knowing that Arizona football has once more found its footing and brighter days are indeed ahead.
It all may very well happen, and the beauty of Week 1 is that all options good and bad are still on the table. How will Arizona look this week and beyond?
Let’s find out.
