Arizona center Zachary Henning ‘a true professional in every aspect’

The Arizona Wildcats center is known by his fellow UA offensive linemen as “Mr. Perfect” after former WWF legend Curt Hennig, who has a similar-sounding last name. Henning is living up to his new nickname.

“He’s Mr. Perfect now and he doesn’t mess up,” said Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby.

Before Arizona, when Henning was a senior at Grandview High School in Centennial, Colorado, Henning committed to play for the Washington Huskies in a way that’s fitting for an offensive lineman. Henning’s mother and sister “thought it was a great idea to make my video unique, so we had a big thing of pancakes in front (of me),” Henning said.

“I had a whole script,” Henning said. “Everything involved pancakes. That’s how it originated.”

Thus, the legend of pancakes was born, and the renowned breakfast carb played a role in the Wildcats landing the center out of the transfer portal.

After losing starting center Ka’ena Decambra to graduation, Arizona was in the market for a center.

The transfer portal officially opened for business on Jan. 2, the same day as Arizona’s loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. Former Washington general manager Aaron Knotts, less than a month as Arizona’s general manager, “was aware of Zach and everything he brought to the table, so when his name entered the portal, there was a little bit of a prior understanding of who he was and they had a relationship there,” Oglesby said.

Knotts showed Oglesby Henning’s highlight reel. All it took was four snaps for Oglesby to say, “Yeah, we’ll be interested in this one.” Henning “was priority No. 1 from the beginning,” added Arizona’s offensive line coach. Before Arizona faced SMU, Oglesby was on the phone with his future center.

Before Henning took an official visit to the UA, he explored other options, including “the school up north” in Arizona State. Henning texted the Arizona coaches when his visit at ASU concluded.

“‘Shoot, I’ll be there to get you tonight if you need (me),’” Oglesby texted Henning. “I drove up myself and brought him back down. We hung out in the car on the drive back. Super grateful that he chose us and he’s been awesome for our room and our team.”

Added Henning: “I thought I was going to fly down and then when they picked me up, I thought it was super cool, to show how much it meant to them.”

Oglesby and Henning, in the nearly two hours spent in Oglesby’s truck — a smart recruiting tactic for Henning, who “is more of a truck guy, so I thought that was cool” — “was just me getting to know him, him getting to know me,” Oglesby said.

“I made sure to not speed so much, because I didn’t want to give him a bad first impression,” Oglesby joked. “But I was excited to get him back to campus. It was an easy conversation, which led me to believe that it was going to be a great fit. It wasn’t a forced interaction and it felt really natural, which is cool, because it’s one of those things where you want to hit it off with your players. It was a great ride back.”

And there were pancakes for him courtesy of Oglesby — “and he freaking crushed them on the way back,” Oglesby said.

Said Oglesby: “‘You just going to eat that in the car? This is not a rental by the way. This is mine, so please don’t spill.’ Zach is great.”

Between the drive from Tucson to Tempe — with pancakes — and the Wildcats’ culture and returning players, including star quarterback Noah Fifita, Arizona “was exactly what I was looking for, just a spot that was going to take me in,” Henning said.

“The love they showed me from the first day on the visit, I knew deep down, ‘Yeah this feels like the place I want to go to,’” Henning said. “It was a great foundation to join and be a part of.”

Henning “has been a phenomenal addition to our team and our room especially,” Oglesby said.

Henning is “just a great fit culturally,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

“With the portal, you don’t always know that,” Brennan said. “You can’t guarantee that. The recruiting process, it’s like speed dating. You really don’t know as much as you’d like to know about a player you’re taking. … Those guys have really brought him in and Zach fit right into that.”

Henning is about to become the third starting center since Fifita became the starter in 2023, succeeding Josh Baker and Decambra. Fifita said Henning is “a true professional in every aspect.”

“His preparation is unmatched,” Fifita said. “It’s awesome to see that because he’s already so smart, so when you take somebody that’s that cerebral and that smart and you add the preparation and process aspect to it, you’re naturally going to get a great player. On top of the person he is and the way he interacts with people, we love being around him. We spend a lot of time with each other.”

Some of the quarterback-center bonding is spent on golf courses in Tucson, mostly La Paloma Country Club, where Fifita held his charity golf tournament hosted by his “First Down Faith Foundation.” Fifita dubbed Henning as the best golfer on the team. The humble Henning said, “I don’t know if I’m the best, but definitely in the group of the best,” and listed Fifita, safety Quinn Olson, backup quarterback Sawyer Anderson, safety Kason Brown and defensive lineman Christian Madoski — who’s nicknamed “Mad Dog” — as the best golfers on the team.

Arizona held a friendly closest-to-the-pin challenge at Davis Sports Center last week, and Henning placed fourth.

“The ball didn’t spin,” Henning said with a smile. “I couldn’t get spin on the ball.”

Henning is expected to be the only newcomer on Arizona’s starting offensive line in 2026, alongside tackles Matthew Lado and Tristan Bounds and guards Rhino Tapa’atoutai and Alexander Doost.

Even though he’s new to Arizona, he’s not new to playing center, unlike his predecessor in Decambra, who excelled at the position after only playing guard and tackle prior to the 2025 season. Henning was a backup center for three seasons at UW and played for former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch.

Henning played in 13 games last season and recorded 333 offensive snaps in place of starter Landen Hatchett, who broke his hand and returned this season.

“His tape was impressive,” Brennan said of Henning. “He started multiple games for them last year and did a really good job. He wasn’t sure where he was going to be, so he was looking for a new opportunity and we’re glad he chose the University of Arizona.”

The experience fast-tracked Henning into settling in as Arizona’s starter for potentially the next two seasons through 2027.

“Zach has been in it before,” Oglesby said. “The biggest thing people don’t understand about that is the pressure of having to do all of that, having to make sure everyone is right, having to make sure our eyes are right, so Noah stays upright. … Him having done that in a game before at a high level, that takes the stress off him.

“He knows what the deal is, so to speak. He’s been great. … Zach knew right away what he was brought here for. He’s been up to the challenge.”

If all goes well for Henning, Mr. Perfect will return the favor and provide the Wildcats pancake blocks this season.

Extra points

– Henning, on his Washington career: “I have a lot of great relationships there. Have a lot of great teammates, good relationships with the coaches. I’m just focused on my time here, build relationships with the players here, coaches here. I came here to help this team hopefully win.”

– Former Arizona offensive line coach and Fisch-era assistant Brennan Carroll, who left the UA for Washington after the 2023 season, attended Arizona’s practice on Saturday. Carroll coached Henning for a season at Washington. Henning said Carroll’s arrival at the UA “definitely surprised me when I saw him walk through the tunnel. I was definitely not expecting to see him. We just caught up, nothing crazy.”

– Lado, who was recruited by Carroll in Arizona’s 2024 recruiting class, said “it was good seeing him, just catching up and him talking about the experience at Washington. He thought me and Doost were going to come over there.”

– Fifth-year senior Grayson Stovall and second-year Hawaii native Javian Goo have taken reps at backup center. Goo “has been awesome and he’s giving us valuable reps at center in camp” and left guard. Added Oglesby: “The cool thing about a guy like Javian, he has played so many snaps at center, he knows all the calls and knows what’s going on. It’s an extra set of eyes for the center to help him with communication and the targeting and all that stuff.”

– Fifita was named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list, an annual award given to college football’s top player via the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Fifita is one of 50 players on the watch list.

– The preseason Associated Press Top 25 Poll was unveiled Monday morning, and for the second straight season, the Wildcats enter the season unranked. Arizona received 32 votes, the 29th-most among AP voters. Four teams from the Big 12 are ranked: Texas Tech (12), BYU (14), Utah (21) and Houston (23). The SMU Mustangs, the team that defeated Arizona in the Holiday Bowl last season, are ranked No. 19. The top five teams in the AP poll are Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame and Texas.