Arizona football's backup quarterback battle to carry into fall training camp

The understudy role behind Arizona star quarterback Noah Fifita won't be determined until fall training camp, said offensive coordinator Seth Doege. 

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. "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."

Both Anderson and Haugo had impressive throws and touchdown plays this spring, but there were also learning moments for the second-year quarterbacks.

Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales "is a really good defensive coordinator and does some unique stuff, so there are times we're not going to chase ghosts trying to block Danny, because it's an adjustment we won't use in the season," Doege said. 

Added Doege: "Putting a bunch of adjustments on those quarterbacks through the spring just didn't seem like a fair evaluation. I wanted to see them play confidently and then make a decision when they know exactly what they're doing." 

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.

"If I looked back on my freshman year, there's no way I'm making some of the throws and plays they're making right now, and I had a decent career in college football," said Doege, who starred at Texas Tech, of Anderson and Haugo.

Understanding the intricacies of Doege's offense as an underclassman is equivalent to drinking water from a firehose, especially "because I'm not going to slow down for Noah," Doege said.

"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 of those young guys 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." 

'The ultimate pro'

With the NFL Draft in Pittsburgh this week, Doege reminisced on the time he was a draft hopeful. 

After Doege became one of the top passers in Texas Tech history, he hoped to land in the later rounds in the 2013 NFL Draft. He studied the teams that were in dire need of a backup or third-string quarterback and created a list of preferred destinations. 

Doege's top choice: Atlanta Falcons. 

When Doege was offered a training camp invite by the Falcons as an undrafted free agent, "I took that opportunity because that was the best opportunity to make a roster," Doege said. 

Doege was waived, but signed to play for the Falcons' practice squad. Doege played one season for Atlanta's practice squad and then played one season for the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders. He started his coaching career in 2015.   

"Throughout the circumstances, making the roster was big for me," Doege said. "Obviously I got to live out a dream. Guys play the position because they want to play in the NFL. Did I play in the NFL? No, but I got to practice. It was a great experience for me." 

Doege was one of the few backup quarterbacks to longtime Falcon Matt Ryan, who "treated me just as well as anybody," Doege said.

"He didn't have to do that, but he was the ultimate pro," Doege said of Ryan. "He's a lot like Noah. He treats his teammates very well regardless if you're the practice-squad quarterback or Julio Jones, he's going to treat you with respect and treat you right and include you in meetings, include you for gatherings, include you in the private receiver-quarterback meetings. I got to learn a lot from him." 

Clapping Cats add under-center plays 

Longtime NFL coach and personality Jon Gruden is known to have film breakdown videos with quarterbacks who are about to enter the NFL Draft. 

Gruden often asks the quarterbacks to practice their pre-snap cadence at the line of scrimmage. For an example: Green 80! Green 80! Set ... go!  

In the last two years, former Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson and New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart, who played for Doege at Ole Miss, showed Gruden their cadence. Nothing was said. Just a quick clap of the hands.

Gruden, who has been critical of the clap cadence, told the "Pardon My Take" podcast, "A lot of people say the game is evolving. Parts of the game are dissolving. ... The snap count has totally dissolved." 

The Wildcats have a clap cadence in their offense, but there's an "indicator word," Fifita said. When Arizona lines up on offense, Fifita will say "'set-set' before the clap."

"We have a clap procedure, but we have a lot more layers to it," Fifita said. "We have a lot of different mechanics and cadences that'll allow us to keep the defense stay off-guard and see different pictures. We're not so basic. Maybe if Gruden heard ours, he wouldn't be against claps." 

Doege said, "I wish he would come look at our clap cadence because we have multiple variations with the clap." Not every college football offense that uses the clap cadence has "different variations with their claps; we do," Doege said.

"We have quite a few, and it takes a lot of attention and detail to get good at it," he added. "I do think it helps us." 

When Arizona goes under center, "we do have a verbal cadence, so we have both," said Arizona's offensive coordinator.

"I'll be interested to hear his thoughts on that," Doege said of Gruden. "It's not going to change my view. I'm going to do what I believe in. Part of the clap is tempo teams trying to play a little bit faster. It's a little bit faster of a cadence to get the ball snapped a little bit quicker." 

The Wildcats are sprinkling in some under-center plays this spring, which "gives us a new angle to attack," Fifita said. The Wildcats didn't go under center in Doege's first season and played out of shotgun or pistol formation. 

Playing under center "allows you to be more dangerous in terms of play-action pass and naked (bootlegs)," Fifita said.

"You take the best scheme in the world and add that wrinkle to it," Fifita said, "I think we'll be extremely dangerous with the personnel that we have."