Arizona Football, A Fisch in the Desert and his Coaching Staff Set for Fall Camp

The 2021 Arizona Football season is just around the corner, and head coach Jedd Fisch and the Wildcats are set to start Fall Camp. 

Arizona Football Head Coach Jedd Fisch’s first official event of the 2021 season is the Pac-12 Media Day on July 27th in Los Angeles. There, Fisch will be accompanied by Senior Inside Linebacker Anthony Pandy, 6 foot-1, 225, and Junior Wide Receiver Stanley Berryhill III, 5 foot-10, 185.

And on the heels of Media Day, is the first day of Fall Camp which is set to be cranked up at full speed the first week of August. The first game of the 2021 Regular Season will kick off shortly after that in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium against the BYU Cougars on September 4th at 7:30 pm on ESPN.

Arizona Wildcats

By now, Wildcats fans should have at least heard about Fisch’s experience in the NFL, serving 12 years on seven different teams all primarily in roles on the offensive side of the ball, heavily leaning toward involvement with the Quarterback.

Over the years, his positions have included being Offensive Coordinator, Passing Game Coordinator, Quarterbacks Coach, and to a lesser extent Wide Receivers Coach.

Fisch has been mentored by some of the best in the Professional game to include Bill Belichick, Sean McVay, Pete Carroll, and Mike Shanahan. While his path has certainly been blessed in regards specifically to his mentors, he has been expertly groomed his entire life for the moments he is about to embark on.

Since he was a little boy, he has wanted to be a Collegiate Head Football Coach. Fisch’s assignments as an Assistant Coach at the Collegiate level were with Florida, Minnesota, Miami, Michigan, and UCLA in similar roles on the offensive side of the ball.

He is 1-1 lifetime as a Head Coach as an interim at UCLA in 2017. Ricky Hunley and Fisch even worked together when Fisch was a Graduate Assistant at Florida, both contributing to a win in the 2002 BCS Orange Bowl.

In just a few short months, he has brought a ton of energy to a fan base that desperately needed a spark after living through two different coaching regimes in eight years.

The Rodriguez era was for the most part successful. Winning the Pac-12 South in 2014, Arizona would lose to Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship Game, before falling to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

However, the firing of Rodriguez didn’t come without a bit of controversy, as the ensuing Kevin Sumlin era produced a lackluster 9-20 record, capped by a blow-out loss at home to ASU in the abbreviated Covid 2020 season that has left every Wildcat fan, player and coach yearning for revenge against the arch-rival to the North.

One of the things he has done to Re-Energize Arizona fans is hiring former Wildcat All-Americans like Hunley and Chuck Cecil. Bringing Wildcat Red & Blue Blood back to the sidelines, this move has also energized fans from different Wildcat eras, as it has helped dig deeper in the vault of fans from better times. Some of us remember the Larry Smith and Dick Tomey days of success.

Beyond that, Fisch clearly understands social media and its impact on fans and how it can be an efficient tool to communicate and interact with fans.

His “It’s Personal” campaign and his methodology of creating a “Pro” out of each player in football, is generating more NFL Scouts to check out Arizona players. And for those players that may not be going to the NFL Draft, Fisch vows to develop all players into Professionals in whatever they move on to do after Football.

His professional development program also includes a speaker program. In it, he has had former Wildcat basketball legend Steve Kerr speak to the team along with many other proven successful and storied leaders.

Head coach Jedd Fisch is quickly transforming Arizona Football as he and the Wildcats are preparing for the upcoming 2021 season.

Coming in, Fisch quickly went to work and showed his ability to manage the transfer portal. Not only convincing superstar impact players like Tucsonan Sophomore Wide Receiver Jamarye Joiner, 6-foot-1, 210, and Junior Wide Receiver Stanley Berryhill III, 5 foot-10, 185 to remove their names from the transfer portal and stay Arizona Wildcats.

He also brought on board the likes of Sophomore Running Back Drake Anderson, 5-foot-11, 188 from Northwestern, Sophomore Cornerback Isiah Rutherford, 6-foot even, 195, from Notre Dame, Freshman Outside Linebacker Jason Harris, 6-foot-7, 295 from Colorado, and Sophomore Quarterback Jordan McCloud, 6-foot-even, 195 who transferred from the University of South Florida.

In addition, Fisch has assembled a Superstar Coaching Staff that is loaded with extensive NFL and Collegiate experience, much of which includes Pac-12 experience. The Assistant Coaches are listed below.

• Offensive Coordinator / Offensive Line: Brennan Carroll
• Defensive Coordinator: Don Brown
• Linebackers / Special Teams: Keith Dudzinski
• Passing Game Coordinator / Quarterbacks: Jimmie Dougherty
• Tight Ends: Jordan Paopao
• Safeties / Defensive Backs:  Chuck Cecil
• Defensive Backs / Cornerbacks: DeWayne Walker
• Defensive Line: Ricky Hunley
• Wide Receivers: Kevin Cummings
• Running Backs: Scottie Graham
• Strength & Conditioning: Tyler Owens
• Senior Advisor to Head Coach Jedd Fisch: Tedy Bruschi

Outside of that, Fisch opening Spring Practices and the Spring Game to fans was a popular move and something that previous Head Coach Kevin Sumlin did not do. Fisch made the Spring Game “fun” with water balloon fights and Arizona Football Legends Bruschi and Rob Gronkowski each coaching a Red Side and Blue Side.

Coming into the fall camp, Fisch will continue to have open practices on the following dates listed below.

• August 6-9
• August 11-15
• August 17-19
• August 21st

However, one of the glaring concerns heading into Fall Camp is the Quarterback position which appears to be a Three-Way-Race at this point between Freshman Gunner Cruz, 6-foot-5, 220, Freshman Will Plummer, 6-foot-1, 210, and Sophomore Jordan McCloud, 6-foot-even, 195.

Regardless of who earns the No. 1 spot, there is no question about the depth at this position. The Cats are also depth heavy at their Running Backs and Linebackers Corps.

Another strong position group is that of the Wide Receivers led by coach Cummings who comes to Tucson by way of San Jose State.

As a former Pac-12 player with the Oregon State Beavers, Cummings is no stranger to the electric and rowdy atmosphere that Arizona Stadium brings having played here himself. Cummings will surely have his receivers on point and ready to play, as in addition to Joiner and Berryhill III, look for Junior Brian Casteel, 6-foot-even, 203, and Sophomore Boobie Curry, 6-foot-2, 209 to be very strong particularly due to their tough running abilities to gain yards after the catch.

Lastly, congratulations go out to Sophomore Running Back Michael Wiley, 5-foot-11, 207 for being named to the Doak Walker Award watch list for the 2021 season, and congratulations go out to Senior Center Josh McCauley, 6-foot-4, 297 for being named to the Rimington Trophy watch list for the 2021 season. As always, Bear Down Arizona and Go Cats!