Noah Fifita is first nationally among returning quarterbacks in 2026 with 73 career touchdown passes according to David Hale of ESPN. Fifita set the Arizona program record with his 70th career TD pass in a 2025 win over Cincinnati.
Fifita is two TDs ahead of Josh Hoover, who played at Texas Christian in 2025 and transferred to Indiana for the 2026 season. The numbers start falling off significantly after Hoover. Mikey Keene, who played at Central Florida and Fresno State before transferring to Michigan, is third.
The all-time record for career TD passes was set by Dillon Gabriel. Gabriel threw 155 career TD passes at Central Florida, Oklahoma and Oregon from 2019 through 2024. The previous Arizona career passing TD record of 67 was held by Nick Foles and Willie Tuitama.
Fifita finished ninth nationally in 2025 with 29 TD passes. That also set an Arizona single-season record. Another 29 TD passes in 2025 would tie Fifita with former Central Michigan QB Dan Lefevour who played for the Chippewas from 2006 through 2009.
20 QBs return for 2026 w/40+ career passing TDs
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) February 2, 2026
Noah Fifita, 73
Josh Hoover, 71
Mikey Keene, 65
Rocco Becht, 64
Byrum Brown, 61
Brendan Sorsby, 60
Darian Mensah, 56
Kevin Jennings, 55
Caden Veltkamp, 54
Jayden Maiava, 52
Jaylen Raylor, 52
Alonza Barnett, 49
Anthony Colandrea, 49…
Other Arizona passing records that should fall
Fifita needs 148 completions, 186 attempts and 928 passing yards to tie Foles for the Arizona career records. When Fifita completes his redshirt senior season, he will, without question, be the most productive QB in Arizona program history.
Fifita is an extreme longshot at +10000 to win the 2026 Heisman Trophy per the FanDuel Sportsbook. Players can come out of nowhere to win the Heisman Trophy. A year ago, it was nearly unthinkable that Francisco Mendoza would have won the Heisman Trophy.
At the very least, after being the first-team All-Big XII QB in 2026, Fifita is likely to be in the discussion for the conference player of the year this fall. The 2026 season will be the first for Fifita working with an offensive coordinator for the second straight year, with the return of Seth Doege. That should benefit Fifita.