The future of Arizona Football is bright with Noah Fifita, Keyan Burnett and Jacob Manu

Servite High School trio, Noah Fifita, Keyan Burnett, and Jacob Manu, are bringing their winning culture to Arizona Football.

The future of Arizona Football is bright as the 2022 Servite High School trio of stars that include QB Noah Fifita (Fiff-ee-tah accent on Fiff), TE Keyan Burnett (Key-en), and LB Jacob Manu (Maw-nu) all are coming to Tucson. The three have played together and known each other since 8th grade.

For those that don’t know, Servite High School is a private, all-boys Catholic school that sits on a 16-acre campus in Anaheim, California. It is a prestigious school in Southern California that has produced some tremendous talent, most notably quarterback Steve Beuerlein who played for seven different NFL teams from 1988-2003.

The Servite Friars football team is currently ranked No. 7 in the Nation and No. 3 in the Southern Section in California according to 247Sports.

Arizona Football head coach Jedd Fisch and his staff were lucky enough to land three California high school football stars, with Fifita being the first. Noah originally considered committing to Cal Berkley, and instead felt more at home and loved by the Wildcats program.

God knows Arizona is currently thin at quarterback, so landing a major Power-5 QB out of Southern California is special.

Fisch prioritized visiting Servite, and that made a big impression on them, much like when Khalil Tate was being recruited by Arizona with Rich Rodriguez at the helm.

We reached out to former standout Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate to get his thoughts on the fellow Southern California Power-5 quarterback following in his footsteps and what it means for Fifita and the program:

“Noah is in a great situation. Over the years the pipeline from SoCal to AZ has been a healthy one. From schools like LB Poly, Corona Centennial, Gardena Serra, & Narbonne, and now Servite,” he said.

“Having peers that you grew up with all go to the same college will be beneficial in the transition and being comfortable in a new home, and can also help with team camaraderie… all rebuilding programs start off well when they get a family orientated class that is mostly familiar with each other. It’s a great first step to build that foundation and get back to consistent winning seasons. They’re in great hands with coach Fisch.”

Beyond Fifita, the next to commit was Burnett. In March 2021, Burnett originally committed to USC before Coach Helton was let go, however, on July 3rd, he de-committed from USC and took a trip to Tucson where his father Chester Burnett played in the 90s, and where his high school QB was already committed. Keyan was attracted by all the experienced coaches.

The nation’s No. 7 tight end and No. 213 overall prospect who Coach PaoPao probably cannot wait to add to his squad, committed to Arizona on August 1st. Burnett is the highest rated (4-Star) tight end who has committed to Arizona since Rob Gronkowski. “You just look at the proud tradition of tight ends that have come through here — there’s a variety of different guys that have really made big-time imprints on this program in the tight end position — you know it’s going to be a really big focal point that makes us different,” said Coach PaoPao in a press conference in the pre-season. Burnett will be one of those tight ends that is set on making a big-time imprint in Tucson.

Finally in October, Servite linebacker Jacob Manu joined his teammates in their commitment to Arizona and coach Fisch, shortly after the coach visited him at his game, “For them to pull the trigger [offer him] on me was big (first Pac-12 team), so I pulled the trigger on them.”

In addition to football, Jacob loves Reggae music and dancing, and he is ready to celebrate wins in the Arizona Football locker room. All he needs at this point is to know where he can find good Curry Chicken.

Also with the trio coming to Tucson, maybe we can get Noah to start a pre-game or post-game tradition of playing his Ukulele for his team, he’s taking lessons on the string instrument that is popular in Hawaii. Noah is also a Baltimore Ravens fan for those of you who share his passion.

And for Keyan, he is looking forward to finding out where the movie theaters are at since he loves watching movies!

Either way, we are looking to see all their proud parents and family in the stands cheering on their Wildcats.

Eric Townsend, Zona Zealots Site Expert, myself, and my Co-host Lori Burkhart on Zona Central Sports Talk were so grateful for these three fantastic young men to join us on our show. Check it out below, you will see just how much they believe in Coach Fisch and his staff and what a great future they are predicting. They also have a message for all of you Wildcats fans.