Noah Fifita’s legacy at Arizona could be as untouchable as it gets

Arizona Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita added another school record to his collection on Saturday.

This time, Fifita passed Nick Foles’ 10,011 yards for first all-time in passing yards. He also holds the record for career passing touchdowns (80), single-season passing touchdowns (29), single-game passing yards (527) and single-game completion percentage (91.2%).

Every time Fifita climbs to the top of a leaderboard, it poses the question: will anyone ever catch up to him given the constant movement in college football nowadays?

“I think it’s going to be extremely difficult unless a kid stays at a school for four years, and then starts for all four years,” Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege said.

Doege mentioned that not only do players have to start for the same team throughout the years to have a chance at breaking the record, but they also have to stay healthy.

“One thing we forget is how durable he is for how little he is,” Doege said of Fifita, who is listed at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds. “Obviously I’m going to get in trouble now because I called him little to the media, but he’s been incredibly durable.”

Since earning the starting quarterback job, Fifita hasn’t missed a single game due to injury or suspension.

When Fifita broke the passing yards record on Saturday, a message from Foles appeared on the jumbotron.

“Special night for Noah Fifita. Just what an incredible young man,” Arizona head coach Brent Brennan said. “How cool was that having Nick Foles on the jumbotron, just celebrating that with him becoming the all-time passing leader.”

Foles played at Arizona from 2008-11 and became a solid NFL quarterback. He most notably led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory and was awarded the Super Bowl MVP.

With each record Fifita breaks, it all circles back to one theme: loyalty to Arizona.

“The whole country should be talking about this kid, not how he plays, but who he is and the choices he has made throughout his career here,” Brennan said. “So many other people have jumped ship and taken the money or gone to something different, but that guy has stayed here and watered the grass here and made it into something truly special.”

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