Anonymous Big 12 coaches have high praise for Arizona’s Noah Fifita

Noah Fifita is in rarefied air as he is returning for his fifth year with the Arizona Wildcats and fourth year as a starter.

He is college football’s active leader in passing touchdowns (73) and is one of just five senior starting quarterbacks to be playing with the team he signed with out of high school.

Last season, Fifita threw for 3,228 yards and 29 touchdowns while eclipsing Arizona’s career passing touchdown record.

This season, Fifita has the chance to break more of Arizona’s program records. He is 828 yards away from Nick Foles’ passing yards record and 329 yards away from Foles’ career total offense record.

Anonymous Big 12 coaches told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg that the undersized quarterback should again challenge to be the best QB in the league.

“He might be the best one in the league,” a Big 12 defensive coordinator said about Fifita via ESPN. “I’ve always thought that about him. Offensively, aside from him last year, I don’t know if they had anybody that was really noteworthy. He just kind of made everything go. He’s going to always have his eyes downfield. I don’t know what happened to them two years ago, because they kind of fell on hard times, and then last year, they were kind of back to where they were three years ago.”

Despite his small stature (he is listed at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds), Fifita has demonstrated an ability to read the game at an elite level. But with that lack of size comes a tendency to drop back deep in the pocket to be able to see over linemen.

“Fifita is the best one [in the league],” a Big 12 coach told ESPN. “Last year, he could throw guys open, and that’s the biggest thing, that the ball was out prior to guys making breaks. It was difficult to defend.”

“That guy spins it as good as anyone in the country. The only dilemma he has is for him to see it, he has to drop back like 10, 11 yards in the pocket,” another Big 12 defensive coordinator told ESPN. “So for him to get a 10-yard completion, he’s got to throw it 25 yards down the field.”

With Arizona returning all three of its coordinators from last season’s nine-win team and seven out of eight position coaches, Fifita will have more consistency than ever in his career.

The Wildcats have high hopes for Fifita this year, even rolling out a Heisman campaign for him during Big 12 Media Days.

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