‘He’s different’: Isaiah Mizell rising at receiver for Arizona football

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — At the start of Arizona’s fall training camp, UA offensive coordinator Seth Doege said second-year wide receiver Isaiah Mizell is “night-and-day (different) than where he was last year” as a freshman.

Mizell’s growth and progress as a wide receiver were on full display in Arizona’s 52-31 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown on Saturday.

Mizell recorded a career-high six catches for 183 yards and two touchdowns in 44 offensive snaps. Mizell had 215 career receiving yards and two touchdowns entering Saturday. Now he’s Arizona’s leading receiver and is tied with Tre Spivey for the most receiving touchdowns by a Wildcat this season.

Mizell, who received an 88.2 offensive grade on Pro Football Focus, had 83 yards after catch, including a 72-yard touchdown run that gave Arizona a 38-24 lead over West Virginia.

Mizell is one of five Arizona players to have five-plus catches, 180-plus yards, and two-plus touchdowns in a game since 1996. Mizell is the third Arizona receiver to have over 100 yards in a game this season, joining Spivey and Giovanni Richardson. 

Mizell also drew two passing interference penalties on deep-shot passes from quarterback Noah Fifita, “and those are explosive plays in my book, because those are 15-yarders,” said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

“Holy smokes, Isaiah Mizell,” Brennan said after the game. “I’m so proud of him, so happy for him. He’s different and that different showed up today in a super impactful way.”

Mizell always had a reputation of being fast. Even as a true freshman last season, the Orlando native and Boone High School product was considered the fastest player on the team — faster than fifth- and sixth-year players. But speed doesn’t always get you on the field.

Mizell struggled to learn the offense and his responsibilities in his first season, like how to line up correctly pre-snap, running routes and being trustworthy enough to play.

“You gotta have some patience with young kids,” Doege said. “His skillset was that he was really fast, but that was really it. He didn’t know how to play receiver. He didn’t have a great feel for it, but he knew how to run.”

Mizell “made a choice last January” to mature and develop his skill set, Brennan said.

“He has always been talented, but he’s young,” Brennan said. “The way he has attacked the last nine months, 10 months, has really been different.”

Brennan often reminds Mizell of how different he is compared to last season by referencing the song “I’m Different” by rapper 2 Chainz, “an ongoing joke” between the Arizona head coach and the 6-1, 170-pound receiver.

“That’s what I call him, ‘different,’ because what he has been over that time is different than what he was before,” Brennan said. “He knows Chris Hunter is a good player, Spivey is a good player, Gio is a good player, but he was going to be ready for his opportunity.

“He was going to attack his process of development — his own personal process — and when he finally got a chance to do it, goddamn. Wow. They had no answer for him and it was really, really special.”

Doege said, “The greatest thing about Mizell is that not only has he developed as a receiver that we can depend on — now, he’s got some work to do still and he’s not a finished product — but I trust him.”

“I think that comes with maturity,” he said. “The way he approached the offseason, the way he approached winter conditioning, the way he approached summer, that’s what is paying off for him, his mentality and the way he’s been attacking.”

Mizell stepped up when his number was called after Spivey, Richardson and Hunter all missed Saturday’s game due to injuries. Spivey suffered a season-ending broken foot injury. The Wildcats were without four offensive starters, including tight end Cole Rusk.

Richardson and Hunter’s status remains uncertain, but the Wildcats enter a bye week before hosting the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday, Oct. 24, for homecoming and the celebration of “Bear Down 100.” Arizona will have two weeks in between games.

“We're going to attack this bye week and get a couple of guys who are banged up rested and get ready for Iowa State,” Mizell said.

Whether or not Richardson and Hunter are available, the Wildcats have a promising future at wide receiver this season and beyond.

Mizell, Brandon Phelps, Rodney Gallagher III, D.J. Jordan and freshmen Caleb “Jet” Smith and R.J. Mosley — who were the six wide receivers used on Saturday — could all return to Arizona next season, along with Richardson and Spivey.

Phelps had four catches for 88 yards and a 42-yard touchdown on a reverse flea flicker. Fifita handed the ball off to running back Quincy Craig, who tossed it to Mizell in the backfield and then pitched it back to Fifita, who found a wide-open Phelps down the right sideline.

“Phelps stepped up, too,” Mizell said. “He's a big-time receiver for us. I feel like a lot of people downplay him, because he's not (Spivey, Richardson and Hunter), but Phelps is every bit as good as them.”

Added Mizell: “I feel like we stepped up. Obviously we’re playing the quote-unquote worst defense in the country, but I feel like we were on assignment and when the ball was in our hands, we did the most with the opportunity.”

Mizell said the “biggest motivation” for the Arizona receivers on Saturday was playing for the injured starters.

“They all sent me text messages last night saying how much they believe in me and that gave me a boost today,” Mizell said. “You pick up little things from everybody, but those are probably the three people in the receiver room I’m tightest with. We’re brothers and that ‘Bear Down Brotherhood’ is different.”

One man’s injury is another one’s breakout opportunity. Mizell capitalized on his moment when Arizona needed him most.

Arizona barely misses AP Top 25

Despite Arizona’s 5-1 record, the best start for the Wildcats since 2014, the UA isn’t ranked in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

The Wildcats had the 28th-most points and received 82 points and are just behind Wisconsin and Oregon.

Five teams from the Big 12 are ranked in the AP Top 25 this week: No. 8 BYU, No. 10 Texas Tech, No. 11 Utah, No. 18 Oklahoma State and No. 20 Houston.

If Arizona becomes a ranked team this season, it’ll be the third straight season the Wildcats land in the AP Top 25. The last time Arizona was ranked in three straight seasons was the height of the Dick Tomey era from 1998-2000.

The last time Arizona was ranked was in late November and December last season. The Wildcats were ranked No. 21 before losing to SMU in the Holiday Bowl and falling out of the AP Top 25 to end the season.

The Wildcats were preseason ranked No. 21 — the highest preseason ranking since 1999 — in Brennan’s first season at the helm in 2024, but fell out after Week 3 and finished the season 4-8.

Extra points

— Arizona coaches wore custom "Redline" dog tags on the sideline against West Virginia, which were gifts from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base airmen who landed an attack helicopter on the Dick Tomey Practice Fields in the days leading up to the game.

— West Virginia head coach and former Arizona boss Rich Rodriguez said: “Fifita is one of the best quarterbacks in the country.” Said Rodriguez: “I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. He’s tough, he’s competitive, he doesn’t take sacks, he gets rid of the ball. … He’s really good and I thought he played really sharp. He’s a great, great player.”