Arizona football training camp preview: quarterbacks

Following a 9-4 season last year, the Wildcats kick off the 2026 season against in-state rival Northern Arizona on Sept. 5 at Casino Del Sol Stadium, Arizona begins fall training exactly a month before the season opener on Aug. 5.

Leading up to fall training camp, the Star is providing a position-by-position preview. Up first: quarterbacks. 

Position coach: Seth Doege

Returners: Noah Fifita (R-Sr.), Sawyer Anderson (R-Fr.), Luke Haugo (R-Fr.), Mason Bray (R-So.)

Departures: Braedyn Locke

Newcomers: Oscar Rios (Fr.)

The rundown: It’s the last go-around for Fifita as Arizona’s QB1. Arguably the greatest quarterback in Arizona history is entering his final year with the program after five seasons in Tucson.

Fifita is coming off arguably his best season since becoming Arizona’s starting quarterback in 2023.

A first-team All-Big 12 quarterback last year and a preseason All-Big 12 selection, Fifita became the third all-time Arizona quarterback to receive first-team all-conference honors — and the first in 50 years. Fifita joined Bruce Hill, who was an All-WAC first-team selection in 1975, and Ted Bland, a three-time All-Border Conference selection from 1933-35.

Fifita set the program career passing touchdowns record (73) and the single-season passing touchdowns record (29) last season, and he finished third in the Big 12 with 3,228 yards, 29 touchdowns and just six interceptions — two interceptions in the final seven games.

Fifita needs 829 yards to pass Nick Foles for the most passing yards by an Arizona quarterback — a record he could conceivably set before the Wildcats enter the bulk of Big 12 play this season. 

Also worth noting, Fifita evolved as a runner last season and rushed for a career-high 216 net rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. He entered the 2025 season with minus-16 net rushing yards and a rushing touchdown. Fifita had 220 rushing yards on designed runs, according to Pro Football Focus. 

The 2025 season was a result of Fifita growing in offensive coordinator Seth Doege’s system in their first year working together.

Even though Fifita is statistically one of the top quarterbacks in college football — one of five FBS senior starters who started and ended their career at one school — and has been dubbed “the greatest story in college football” by Brent Brennan, he is flying under the radar as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Fifita “definitely has a Heisman résumé,” Brennan said.

"He's an incredibly good football player, but he's also this rare human being that chooses the right things every day,” Brennan said. “He's a man of great faith. He's a great teammate. He's a great leader. He's super engaged in our community. He's got a nonprofit (organization).

"He always finds ways to do extra, to give, and I think that's rare in today's day and age. I think so many kids are just taking all the time, and I get it, that's the culture; that's life. But this young man, he doesn't only kick ass on Saturdays, he kicks ass every single day of the week. He is as special as it gets."

Arizona senior wide receiver Chris Hunter said Fifita is “easily the hardest-working dude in the whole building — coaches included, and that's not putting anyone down, it just shows how special he is.”

"When we go to the indoor (practice facility), he's already in there an hour or 30 minutes before,” Hunter added. “He just wants to be great, and he's super humble. He won't let anyone deter him from his goal or put anyone down. When you mix humility with a work ethic and smartness for the game and talent, that's the recipe to be the best."

Fifita has the statistics and the accolades to showcase that he’s one of the most decorated quarterbacks in UA history, and he’s also the only quarterback in school history to lead the Wildcats to a 10-win and nine-win season. But if you ask Fifita, the Wildcats have unfinished business and considering it’s his final season, “it's all or nothing now,” Fifita said.

“This is my last opportunity to do what I said I was going to do,” Fifita said. “This is my last opportunity to do what I came back here to do, which is win a Big 12 championship — win a Rose Bowl and put us in that (College Football Playoff) conversation.

"I'm all-in. There's no more house money, there's no more chips, I'm all-in. I feel like I'm backed in a corner, but this is where I'm comfortable. Me and Coach Doege talk about it all the time: when everyone is against you, this is where we're comfortable because the only place we can go is forward." 

Added Doege: “He's been backed in the corner his whole life. That's when he plays his best, when he feels like no one believes in him, because no one has believed in him his entire life.”

This training camp is unlike the others Fifita has been a part of. For the first time since becoming Arizona’s starter, Fifita has gone through an offseason with the same offensive play-caller from the previous season. After mastering head coach Jedd Fisch’s offense, Fifita learned former offensive coordinator Dino Babers’ system in 2024, which led to a lackluster season in Brennan’s first year as head coach. Doege was hired after the 2024 season and revived the Wildcats’ offense last year and produced one of the most balanced offenses in the Big 12.

Doege, along with defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, signed an extension to be with the Wildcats through the 2028 season. Rather than learning a new offense, Doege and Fifita fine-tuned the offense from a year ago and added elements for Year 2 together.

"Last year, I was just trying to get an offense in and was auditing everything you're doing because you didn't know if it fits the personnel that we have, constantly meeting with the quarterback to make sure he's comfortable,” Doege said. “It's not that we're not doing that, but it feels a little different.

"I feel a lot more confident going into Year 2, just because of Noah coming back and how he's operating right now, and how we're able to retain a lot of our players from entering the transfer portal — and then we brought a bunch of transfers in. We don't have to reinstall everything, it's just adding and subtracting and finding out what works. It's been a good offseason. I'm excited about the direction it's going."

The biggest question surrounding Arizona’s quarterbacks room: who’s behind Fifita as the backup, especially now that Braedyn Locke transferred away from the program and is now at Tarleton State?

Arizona's backup quarterback competition will come down to redshirt freshmen Sawyer Anderson and Luke Haugo and freshman Oscar Rios, who is one of the Wildcats' top prospects in the 2026 recruiting class. Rios was limited this spring after undergoing labrum surgery on his non-throwing shoulder. 

With Rios rehabbing, the second-team reps were split between Anderson and Haugo this spring. 

"I wanted them to get acclimated to what we're doing, and then figure out what they're good at," Doege said in the spring. "Go through the summer and fall camp and try to push the scheme towards their strengths, then see how they elevate the unit. I didn't want to make a decision in the spring. The spring is supposed to be hard."

Haugo, a 6-5, 204-pound Scottsdale native, was a part of Arizona's 2025 recruiting class after a productive career at Higley High School, passing for 3,639 yards and 38 touchdowns over 22 games.

Anderson, who was recruited by Doege, is entering his second season at Arizona following an illustrious career at The Parish Episcopal in Dallas. The 5-11, 181-pound Anderson passed for 14,674 yards and 158 touchdowns as a four-year starter in high school, which is a Dallas-Fort Worth record. 

Rios is an early enrollee after a productive career at Downey High School in Los Angeles. The 6-3, 170-pound Rios ended his career at Downey with 8,070 yards, 77 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, along with 2,227 rushing yards and 25 rushing touchdowns.

Rios, who competed at the "Elite 11" quarterback event last summer, is the highest-rated quarterback to sign with the Wildcats since Nic Costa in 2001.

With Rios fully healthy, he’ll have a fair shot at competing for the backup quarterback spot and learn from one of the best to ever don the “Block A” in Fifita.

"They're sitting at the same meeting as Noah Fifita, and Noah is communicating at a high level, and we're making adjustments, man-zone adjustments, protection adjustments, we're changing plays, canning plays and getting in the huddle now and calling these late play calls and understanding different looks to get us in and out," Doege said. "There's a lot to what we're doing right now, and both (Anderson and Haugo) have handled it well, which has been exciting for me.

"I'm excited to see their progress and see who separates themselves in the summer and fall camp." 

Winner of QB2 could conceivably succeed Fifita in 2027.