Arizona's QB1 believes in the Wildcats' receiving corps.
Earlier in the spring, Noah Fifita said, "a lot of people would say that I say the same thing every year and people probably think I'm delusional, but I will go on and say that this is the best receiver room I've ever had from a depth standpoint."
"You have speed and you have route-running," Fifita said. "More importantly, the relationship they have with each other, it's rare. There's only one football on the field and there's three receivers. To be able to have the selflessness and the genuine excitement for each other is special."
Arizona head coach Brent Brennan, who's a wide receivers coach by trade, expects the UA receivers "to all make a huge jump" this season, even though the Wildcats are losing their top two receivers in Kris Hutson and Javin Whatley, who helped Arizona have the fourth-best passing offense in the Big 12 last season.
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"That group is a lot of fun because there's a lot of intense competition there," Brennan said of Arizona's current receivers. "The exciting thing about that is we feel like we can go eight-deep in that room and everybody can play. I think that's important. We want to play with tempo and push the ball down the field. You need to have depth at that position."
Wait, eight? Arizona's magic number for receivers in a rotation last season was six.
Arizona could conceivably have a starting trio of redshirt junior Tre Spivey, redshirt senior Chris Hunter and sophomore Giovanni Richardson, who all combined for 1,052 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns in 2025.
Arizona's spring practices forecast a breakout season for the 6-4, 213-pound Spivey, who established himself as a big-bodied deep target and end zone threat for Fifita. Spivey displayed his progress in running after the catch and maneuvering through the second and third layers of defense this spring.
Arizona wide receiver Tre Spivey rams through a “defender” during spring football practice at Tomey Field, April 23, 2026.
Spivey "has been a consistent high performer, which is not surprising to anybody, but that's exciting for me," Brennan said.
Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege said Spivey "is probably an NFL Draft pick." Doege said Spivey could've played more as a redshirt sophomore last season, but "there were too many inconsistencies."
"Lining up, running the right route at the right depth, on the right time, the right split — everything matters in Big 12 play," Doege said. "It's been fun to watch a guy like Spivey truly master that.
"He's gotten to the point where he's consistently lining up correctly, consistently getting to his depth (on routes), he's consistently winning on routes, he's consistently attacking the football. Because of that, in my opinion, he's had one of the most explosive camps out of anybody. I'm excited about him."
Added Brennan: "One of my favorite things about Tre is that he's an incredible practice player. Like, he really goes — he goes hard. It doesn't matter if he's feeling a little bit under the weather, he likes to compete. That part is a lot of fun."
The Wildcats have "incredible leadership coming from Chris Hunter," Brennan said. Arizona wide receivers coach Bobby Wade challenged Hunter, who mostly lined up outside last season, "to take a hold of the reins as the leader within the room, and be a guy that I can lean on to push this group if I'm not around."
Arizona wide receiver Chris Hunter (11) catches a pass during spring practice on Tomey field, April 6, 2026.
"Not only that, but individually, he knows there's still growth there for him," Wade said. "He missed some time last season, so I know he has dedicated this winter to finding the imbalances in his strength to make sure he doesn't miss any time. We're seeing a different Chris Hunter. He seems to be fresh every practice, he's finishing every practice and he's back to where he can just run all day. That's where you need him to be."
Richardson blossomed into one of Arizona's most promising freshmen last season, recording 21 catches for 299 yards and two touchdowns. His second touchdown was a crucial touchdown in the fourth quarter of Arizona's upset win over Cincinnati, which pushed Fifita ahead of Nick Foles for the most career touchdowns at the UA.
Richardson "continues to make plays in practice as a young player, but he plays with a ton of maturity and toughness. That's exciting," said Brennan.
Even though second-year wide receiver Isaiah Mizell played in pinches last season, "there's nobody on the field that can run with him, so he brings a threat in that aspect and is special," Fifita said of the 6-1, 165-pound Mizell.
Third-year wide receiver Brandon Phelps, who's statistically one of the greatest Arizona high school wide receivers of all time, "had the best winter of the group," but was injured this spring and didn't practice.
"Immediately post-bowl game, you saw a different Brandon," Wade said. "He was spending time in the weight room. He was in the offices more, and he was really trying to lean his body out and put on the muscle that he needed. ... The numbers increased, his strength increased, his speed got better.
"Really happy with Brandon's focus on wanting to be the best version of himself. I know he's going to help us this year win games."
The Wildcats have five returners at wide receiver who could be steady contributors. Plus, they added three receivers from the transfer portal — and two high school recruits in slot receiver Caleb Smith and RJ Mosley, a 6-3, 199-pound early enrollee.
The additions via the transfer portal include Rodney Gallagher (West Virginia), DJ Jordan (USC) and Jordan Ross (Colorado State).
In three years at West Virginia, Gallagher had 64 receptions for 605 yards and three touchdowns. The former four-star recruit and Uniontown, Pennsylvania native had the second-most receptions (28) for the Mountaineers this past season — his only season under former Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Gallagher — called "Rod" by the UA coaches — "is going to be a really great addition," Brennan said.
"He's fast, he's tough, he's played a lot of football, he gets it," Brennan added. "That part is going to be a lot of fun."
Ross and Jordan were highly touted recruits from Los Angeles, but they only have 479 combined offensive snaps and "they haven't played a ton of football, but they're extremely talented," Doege said.
The 6-foot, 185-pound Jordan is "starting to get more comfortable in the scheme," Brennan said. Jordan and Ross made multiple noteworthy plays throughout the spring.
Receiver Jordan Ross eyes a pass on his route during the Spring Showcase in Tucson on April 25.
"As they're learning the scheme, they don't play as fast as they can," Brennan said. "Once they start to settle into the scheme, then you start to see the talent show up because they know what they're doing and they're playing with confidence and they're playing fast. That's been fun to see."
Arizona's passing game under Doege incorporates tight ends and running backs, two position groups that made up 26% of Arizona's receptions last season.
Only time will tell how the ball will be distributed in Fifita's last season, but "there's a lot of good pieces we're excited about," Brennan said.
"There's a lot of young players that we mention in that mix, but then we also have the maturity, the leadership, the experience of Chris Hunter and Spivey," Brennan added.
"It's a really fun group to coach and it's a really competitive group to watch."
Contact Justin Spears, the Star's Arizona football beat reporter, at jspears@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @JustinESports
Justin Spears
Sports Reporter
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