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Babers refrained from commenting until he coached Fifita this week and witnessed the quarterback’s idiosyncrasies up close.

One week into the Wildcats’ spring practice schedule, “you can see that Noah is not normal,� Babers said.

“He is not average,� added Babers. “He’s above that. We’ve got a really good quarterback and we’re excited for the things we can do with him.�

Fifita’s off-the-field presence, ambassadorship of Arizona football and ability to galvanize the UA players is a colossal reason why — despite a coaching change and multiple players entering the transfer portal — the Wildcats are hopeful they can elevate the program even more under new head coach Brent Brennan, after a 10-3 season that ended with an Alamo Bowl win, as the team transitions into the Big 12.

“The biggest thing with Noah is not just physical skills, but he might be a better person off the field than he is as a football player,� Babers said. “(That) is saying something nowadays, with the guys as talented as he is.�

When Brennan’s predecessor, Jedd Fisch, left after three seasons, “it was a sad moment� for the program, said right tackle Jonah Savaiinaea, who joined the Wildcats alongside Fifita and others from the wildly productive 2022 recruiting class that helped restore UA football back to relevance.

“Two years ago, this program, we built it together,� Savaiinaea said. “We talked to the boys and said there’s no reason to leave what we built. We’re going to try and continue this and keep moving forward.�

Fifita and his partner-in-crime, UA star receiver Tetairoa McMillan, led player-run meetings and rallied most of the troops from Arizona’s ‘23 squad to see their vision at Arizona all the way through. Then, they revealed their decision to stay through a video shown during a timeout break at an Arizona basketball game.

“I’m a believer and I believe God allows everything to happen for a reason. I was raised to believe he doesn’t make mistakes. I see it as an opportunity for us to come together,� Fifita said. “The team came together, a lot of player-run meetings, a lot of individual meetings. At the end of the day, we all made our individual decision, but I think we all grew from it.�

In today’s college athletics landscape, with accessibility to the transfer portal and other programs’ NIL collectives growing each year, it’s a popular trend for a team to experience an exodus of players. Arizona keeping most of its players with eligibility, more notable Fifita and McMillan, showed “they’re family,� Babers said.

“I think they’re Ohana. People underestimate how important it is for them to not only come together, but lead together,� Babers said. “I understand there are distractions and temptations and stuff like that, but from everything that I’ve seen, it really looks like these guys enjoy playing with one another. ... The biggest thing that has jumped out to me is the camaraderie of the players on this football team and how they try to include and bring everyone into the family.

“The way they have opened to the new coaches that were not on this staff last year, and to bring them into the family and get to know them, stop by their offices, it’s amazing how inclusive they’ve been. It’s really something unique and different nowadays.�

Since Brennan was hired, “We’ve been grinding for a couple months now, just getting acclimated to the new staff,� Fifita said.

Now that it’s the spring, “the honeymoon phase is over,� Fifita said.

“Finally on the field, getting some work, so it’s been a great first two days and I’m looking forward to 13 more practices in a month,� he said.

During this transition, Fifita has spent most of his time with Babers and former Oregon State quarterback Lyle Moevao, an offensive analyst who specializes in quarterbacks.

“Those are two guys that I spend a lot of time with since they got here, whether it’s in the facility or off the field,� Fifita said. “It’s been great to have their coaching, their advice on the field. They’re great coaches and they’ve been around the game for so long and they’ve been successful at the highest level, so having them as coaches, it’s been great. I’m looking forward to what the future holds.�

Fifita said “there’s a lot of similarities� in the uptempo offense Arizona will run this season in comparison to the pro-style — and sometimes under-center — offense under Fisch.

“You gotta give them a lot of credit, because they’re coming to a team where we have a lot of returners, so thy took a lot of our terminology, a lot of our verbiage and combined it with San Jose (State) and Coach Babers’ (offense),� Fifita said. “They did a great job allowing us to implement the new offensive terminology. Now we’re just getting used to the new coaches and their style of coaching. It’s been great, we’re still learning and we have a long way to go.�

Babers declined to “get into what we’re going to do on offense.�

“Everyone is waiting for me to answer that question,� he said. “That’s the question that I may not answer until I find out exactly what we have this spring.�

More than one box is checked for ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV on offense and the most important, quarterback, is handled by Fifita, a Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year and Football Writer’s Association of American National Offensive Freshman of the Year, after passing for 2,869 yards, 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 72.4% of his pass attempts in his first season; he’s the only UA quarterback in program history to complete over 70% of his passes in a season.

As a first-year starter, Fifita went 7-2, which included a seven-game winning streak to end the season; the two losses to Washington and USC were by a combined nine points. Fifita stamped his breakout regular season with a school- and Territorial Cup-record 527 yards through the air along with five touchdowns in a blowout win over rival Arizona State in Tempe, then led the Wildcats to a victory in the Alamo Bowl.

“Noah is different than the guys that I’ve coached,� Babers said. “But the one thing you notice is how sharp his mind is, how accurate he is with the football and how he makes things happen. All of those qualities are qualities that lead to not only a fantastic college career, but an NFL career.�

In a six-month span, from the moment Fifita subbed in as a backup to Jayden de Laura and led Arizona to a come-from-behind win at Stanford to now, Fifita rose from second-string quarterback to face of the franchise and leader of a group that is expected to be in the upper-echelon of the Big 12 this season. Plus, Fifita has profited off his success in the NIL realm and most recently starred in a “Supercuts� barbershop commercial.

Life comes at you fast.

“It’s been a real fun ride,� Fifita said. “I was telling people that this year feels a lot different than the last two years going into spring ball, just from a leadership standpoint, having a lot of guys look to me for questions — and to have answers. It’s a blessing and it’s something I don’t take lightly.

“It’s been real fun, but we’re nowhere close to where we want to be.�