Arizona RB coach on Brent Brennan’s ‘superpower’ and why Noah Fifita still gets overlooked

After Arizona running backs coach Lyle Moevao’s playing career ended at Oregon State, he decided he wasn’t done. The former quarterback spent two years playing overseas with the La Courneuve Flash in France and the Elecom Kobe Finies in Japan.

“During the week, I was pretty much just a tourist,” Moevao recalled. “All these other guys that I was teammates with, they were working 9-to-5 jobs. So you talk about ‘for the love of the game,’ man, that's exactly why (the) majority of these dudes played.

“One of my running backs, he was this little Italian dude on my French team. He'd pull up on his pizza scooter with the pizza oven on the back. ... He opens up his little warmer, pizza warmer, and pulls his pads and his helmet out.”

Wait, no pizza?

“I was hoping,” Moevao said. “I was like, ‘Man, team meal, let's go.’ But that wasn't the case. He was off of work, which made sense because we were practicing at 8 in the evening.”

It turned out Moevao’s career in football was just getting started. He returned to Corvallis to work under his former boss, Mike Riley, as a quality-control coach. OSU’s wide receivers coach at the time was Brent Brennan, who would become the head coach at San Jose State four years later.

In 2021, Brennan brought Moevao to San Jose. Their partnership persists in Tucson, where earlier in the offseason Brennan promoted Moevao to running backs coach.

With Big 12 Media Days imminent and training camp about a month away, Moevao joined “The Wildcast” podcast to talk about the UA program and his career in football.

A portion of that conversation can be found below. Topics include what makes Brennan an effective leader, why quarterback Noah Fifita remains underrated, the state of the running back room and more.

The interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity. The full version can be found on The Wildcast feed.

When did you first start working with Brent Brennan?

A: “The first year that I crossed paths with Coach Brennan was back in 2013. ... Seeing him now and seeing him then are two different things, obviously, two different seats that he sat in or sits in now compared to what he was before as a position coach.

“He's got a lot more decisions to make based off of the program's needs and what's best for everyone in the building compared to back then. I got to see him (doing the) nitty-gritty, being able to get on guys and run meetings and see how he interacts and recruits, talking schematics and all that stuff. So being able to witness that and see his transition (to) where he is now ... I think that makes it a really cool relationship for both of us.”

What do you think makes him an effective leader?

A: “The ability to be able to connect with people, with parents, with kids from all different parts of the country. I'm not just talking about back in San Jose, where he's from. He could walk into a room and jump into a conversation with anybody and everyone. That is definitely one of his superpowers, just being able to connect and make you feel like you've known the guy for 10 years after having a 15-minute conversation.

“I also think his ability to be able to bring the best out of everyone is also a superpower of his, whether he's talking to a player and being able to motivate this person to do whatever is needed ... or being able to just bring a conversation amongst the staff to where we can (look) in the mirror at this time of the year and see, ‘How can we get better?’ Obviously, the bar that we set last year, going 9-4, (that’s) going to take a lot of reflection, being able to look in the mirror and say, ‘OK, critique every single part of it ... go position by position.’

“I think he does a really good job of doing that — but also being open-minded. That's the one cool thing about Coach Brennan. It's not a ... my-way-or-the-highway type of program. He's very open to guys having ideas and thoughts. Now, you also gotta have legitimate reasoning behind these if you're going to approach his desk or his office. But that's also another thing about him: The guy is real down to earth, man. That’s the beauty of who he is and what he does as the head coach of this program.”

What do you think enabled the turnaround that you guys experienced from your first season here to your second?

A: “I think it's the coordinators. I think this thing is driven by the coordinators. The decision by our head coach to hire who he made in charge of both sides of the ball.

“To me, Danny Gonzales, Seth Doege and Craig Naivar, our special-teams coordinator, those are the guys. Those are the three guys that make this thing go. Every single one of them has the drive, motivation, but also the work ethic to be able to push the envelope and look for those little details, little ways that we can win between the lines.

“I also think they're great motivators, similar to Coach Brennan in being able to connect with the players. Every single one of those coordinators has their own unique way of connecting with guys and getting dudes to believe in what the common goal is and to buy into it. That (was) the biggest difference (last) season, compared to the '24 season — the amount of buy-in from top to bottom.

“Before the season ... 90%, 95% of the team (was) bought in by fall camp. But you still got those talented 5% to 10% (of) guys that are kind of on the fence — and rightfully so. I'm talking about some of the guys that were part of the (Jedd) Fisch era that decided to stay and stick it out for another season. And now they're contemplating: ‘We'll see.’

“To see everyone by, I'd say a quarter of the way into the season, truly buy in and start playing for each other — and believing that, if we're playing together, special things could happen — was truly awesome.”

You guys are in a great spot at quarterback with Noah Fifita returning for a fifth and final season. But he still seems underrated nationally. Why do you think that is, and is it something that motivates him?

A: “I honestly just don't think that whoever's putting out whatever article, video ... that they feel his name would create a whole lot of clicks.

“When you talk about social media, you're talking about grabbing the attention of the customer or the viewer or whoever's looking at that video. If Noah Fifita is posted on there, how many people are really going to click on that article or that link and follow it and read about it? That's just part of the world that we live in, and with social media, how it can be a little discombobulated as far as the truth.

“But none of that matters, because the guy himself ... his character, who he is, what he believes in and why he does it, it’s just awesome. I saw him at a workout (recently), and I was just congratulating him on the Manning Academy and his performance, all that stuff. He said, ‘Yeah, none of that stuff matters, man. I just wanted to go out there and compete and really just go against some of the best in the country. I wasn't there for anything else but to compete.’

“That's just who he is. He's not looking for recognition. He's not looking to collect accolades. He's just out there to compete so that he can look at himself and say, ‘OK, this is where my game is and where it needs to be if I want to be the best in the country.’”

Shifting to running backs, veterans Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig missed most of spring ball while rehabbing injuries. Was that a blessing in disguise for young guys like Wesley Yarbrough and Cornelius Warren and a newcomer like Antwan Roberts?

A: “Absolutely. I look back, and it was kind of the perfect storm going into the offseason. Understanding those two (Reescano and Craig) and their offseason needs in terms of their bodies needing recovery and what kind of treatments that was going to require.

“As soon as we got the nod from our trainers that this is going to be the treatment and the timeline of their return, I looked at it like, ‘Wow, this is awesome,’ because now these guys become player-coaches as they go through their recovery and it gives these two young guys, Wesley Yarbrough and Cornelius Warren, as well as the new addition, Antwan Roberts, who's also a senior, a chance to be able to get their feet wet and get some time in the offense and build their confidence amongst their teammates. So it worked out perfect.”

Acknowledging that a lot can change, what do you envision the rotation looking like once the season starts?

A: “I definitely look forward to having those three seniors penciled in early on as far as taking the field first, just based off the amount of snaps they've built up over their careers, as well as just the amount of trust that they've built up within the locker room.

“But to say this is what it is, this is what it's going to be by the time we play NAU, (it) would be tough for me to say that. It's a physical position. You take a beating every single play, just like you do at a lot of other positions.

"But this one specifically, there's been a little bit of that that's popped up. So I'm knocking on wood that we make it through fall camp clean and healthy. Being able to take the field with all five guys available is the goal.”