Faith and forever: Arizona QB Noah Fifita gets engaged before final season with the Wildcats

No, not a national championship ring or a Big 12 championship ring, but Arizona’s star quarterback and the Wildcats have the next six months to accomplish those goals.

On Sunday, Fifita popped the question to his longtime girlfriend Faith Webb: “Will you marry me?”

The answer was yes and now Fifita enters his final season in Tucson as an engaged man.

“I’m grateful for the moment,” Fifita said following Arizona’s first day of training camp on Wednesday. “It was more for her and it’s something that she has deserved for a long time. She has blessed me in a lot of ways. She’s definitely held it down for me off the field and has allowed me to focus on the field, so I’m super grateful for her.”

Fifita didn’t tell anyone his plans for engagement, not even Arizona’s head coach. Last Thursday, Arizona head coach Brent Brennan asked Fifita, ‘“What are you up to this weekend?’”

“He said, ‘I’m just going home,’” Brennan said. “That was it.”

Brennan didn’t know about Fifita getting engaged until it showed up on Brennan’s social media feed. Brennan immediately FaceTimed Fifita “and we were going crazy,” said the UA head coach.

“I saw it on social media and said, ‘That’s more than just going home,’” Brennan said. “That’s one of the biggest moments of your life. We’re incredibly happy for Faith and Noah and both of their families and we’re excited to see what that holds for them. … Noah is such an outstanding high-character young man. Faith is an awesome young woman. We’re all excited they got engaged.”

For Fifita, the engagement was long overdue.

“She’s been waiting on it for a long time and she’s deserved it for a long time,” Fifita said. “To be able to give that to her was super special for me. God put it on my heart that it was the right time to do it. Also, it’s something to hold her off, because I know fall camp has been super busy for us, so I’m not really going to be spending a lot of time with her. So, it was something she deserved and it’s also affirmation of my appreciation for her.”

As Fifita prepares for marriage, Brennan’s advice to his quarterback “is that being married is hard and challenging and you gotta have a lot of patience and forgiveness, especially if your name is Courtney Brennan (Brennan’s wife), because you have to deal with a dips*** like me,” Brennan joked.

In recent years, Fifita and the soon-to-be Mrs. Fifita, along with Arizona freshman linebacker Dash Fifita and former UA staffer Melina Davis, have worked together to build the “First Down Faith Foundation,” Fifita’s nonprofit that was formed “after probably the worst loss I’ve ever taken in my college football career, which was against the team up north in Tucson in (2024)” — the Wildcats’ 49-7 loss to Arizona State to end Brennan’s inaugural season and Tetairoa McMillan’s career at the UA.

First Down Faith Foundation honors faith, family and football — three important pillars of Fifita's life — and gives back to the Tucson community. First Down Faith Foundation has hosted two football camps at Casino Del Sol Stadium since it started last year. Their latest camp in April had about 100 middle school-aged participants, including 30 girls.

First Down Faith Foundation hosted a charity golf tournament at La Paloma Country Club in July, an event that was formed in two weeks and had over 60 golfers. The competitors were UA teammates, coaches, staffers, student-athletes from other UA teams and Arizona boosters.

“Nothing he does ever surprises me,” Brennan said. “He’s just one of those rare people that’s a high-profile player, but continues to give of himself.”

The best example of Fifita being a servant and a man of the people, according to Brennan, is Arizona’s partnership with Next Level Sports, a flag football league in Tucson. During the weekends in the offseason, Fifita and other UA players coach flag football teams at Casino Del Sol Stadium and the Davis Sports Center.

“He’s been coaching the same players his entire time at Arizona,” Brennan said of Fifita. “He’s had them since they were in the second grade and now they’re in the seventh grade. They win — and they win the whole thing every year. All the other little kids are pissed off, because Noah’s team always win.

“The reason I bring that up, when you come here on a Sunday in the offseason and you see our players out here, one of them being Noah, who’s the highest-profile player on our team, he’s taking pictures, signing autographs and being friendly and talking to fans. He always has time for people. It’s really special to have a player of his caliber choose to do all the right things in the community like he does.”

Fifita’s dedication to serving Tucson and giving back to the community that he’s represented since 2022 is why he one of 175 nominees for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which recognizes college football players who excel in community service, academics and athletics. 

“It’s been a blessing to watch it grow for some many reasons,” Fifita said. “First of all, we’re able to get into the community and support a community that has my back and that has loved my family the way it has the last five years. Also, I’ve been trying to fulfill what my true purpose is on this Earth and advance his kingdom.

“Our nonprofit, I don’t want it to be about me, which is why I didn’t put my last name on it. I don’t want people to hear the foundation and think I’m doing it for my name. It’s about God in every way and we’re trying to imitate him and point people to him; that’s really what our goal is. … God put the idea on my heart during one of my lowest moments and being able to watch how he’s allowed it to grow in Tucson is amazing.”

Faith has always been a driving force of Fifita’s life. In more ways than one.

Cats ‘trying to play as much football as we can’

In 100-degree weather, Arizona football kicked off its first week of fall training camp Wednesday morning — exactly a month before the Wildcats’ season opener against Northern Arizona.

Unlike past opening-day practices of training camp, Arizona had multiple 11-on-11 periods.

“Part of that, we do feel like we’re further along because we have the same coordinators for the second year, so there’s some carry-over there in terms of what we do schematically,” Brennan said. “Also, there’s a lot of new players that we need to get playing. We need to play football. Do they know what to do? How comfortable are they in the scheme? Do they have an understanding of redline? … We’re trying to play as much football as we can.

Here are notes and observations from the Wildcats’ first training camp session at Davis Sports Center and Dick Tomey Practice fields:

Arizona’s first unit in the defensive secondary in the first 7-on-7 period featured Jay’Vion Cole, Gavin Hunter, USC transfer Matai Tagoa’i, Nebraska transfer Malcolm Hartzog and Wyoming transfer Tyrese Boss. Arizona’s second batch of defensive backs were Howard transfer Zuri Watson, UConn transfer Lee Molette, Northern Colorado transfer Cam Chapa, redshirt junior Johno Price and Charlotte transfer Dwight Bootle.

In a team period, Arizona’s first set of defensive backs were Cole, Hartzog, redshirt sophomore Quinn Olson, Molette and Boss. The Wildcats changed all 11 defensive players between snaps during the first team period.

Fifita completed passes to wide receivers Giovanni Richardson (multiple times) and West Virginia transfer Rodney Gallagher III and tight ends Cole Rusk and Tyler Powell.

Redshirt freshman and Gilbert native Luke Haugo was the second quarterback to take reps in a team period. Haugo, redshirt freshman Sawyer Anderson and four-star quarterback Oscar Rios, who’s cleared to participate in training camp after missing the spring due to shoulder surgery on his non-throwing arm, are competing for Arizona’s backup role.

Arizona’s first offensive line was Matthew Lado, Rhino Tapa’atoutai, Washington transfer Zach Henning, Alexander Doost and Tristan Bounds.

Anderson completed a deep pass near the right sideline to second-year wide receiver Isaiah Mizell in a 7-on-7 period.

Among the top highlights on the first day of training camp: Hartzog and Watson each intercepting passes in the same period. Freshman wide receiver Caleb “Jet” Smith had a leaping catch over multiple defenders on a deep ball down the middle; Haugo threw the pass.

The Wildcats made two additions to the roster: running back Lohgan Bottjer and defensive lineman Dustin Petras. Bottjer is a Coffeyville Community College (Kansas) transfer. Petras is a freshman from Hilo, Hawaii, who prepped at IMG Academy in Florida.

Three-star CB joins Crean Lutheran teammates at UA

A quintet of standouts from a Southern California powerhouse is making its way to Tucson to play for the Arizona Wildcats next season.

Three-star 2027 cornerback Jacob Whitehead committed to the Wildcats on Wednesday, joining four Crean Lutheran (Irvine, California) teammates — quarterback Caden Jones, wide receiver Ty Johnson, cornerback Evan Mack and wide receiver Braylen Ross — in Arizona’s current recruiting class.

The 6-2, 165-pound Whitehead committed to Arizona over Alabama, Auburn, BYU, Florida, Oregon, Georgia, Texas, USC and Texas A&M, among others.

Arizona also has three players from Houston's Westfield High School committed to its 2027 recruiting class: three-star linebacker Davon Smith, cornerback Jaylen Oliver and defensive lineman Logan Draper. 

Arizona has 18 commits for its 2027 recruiting class.