Key Position Group Impresses Offensive Coordinator Seth Doege

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The upcoming college football season is filled with excitement and anticipation for the Arizona Wildcats as they look to build off a 9-4 season. While the defense has a few unknowns because of departures, especially in the secondary, the offense, led by (year) quarterback Noah Fifita, has created plenty of buzz.

Not only is Fifita one of the nation's best and most dynamic quarterbacks, but he has an exciting group of receivers to which to throw, whether it's returning players or guys added through the transfer portal or high school recruiting, which, contrary to popular belief, does still exist in some form.

"We kind of replaced some skill with guys that we're really excited about," offensive coordinator Seth Doege said as he met with the media on Thursday. "Now, I'm not ready to crown them yet because we've still got a lot of development and work to do, but for the most part, the guys that we added fit us. I'm excited about those guys, but I'm really excited about the returners because those guys, in year two, have made major, major jumps."

Returning Players

The "Year Two" in Doege's comment refers to his second season, not having a bunch of second-year players. The Wildcats have three of their top six receivers from last year's team returning in 2026, led by redshirt junior Tre Spivey. Spivey transferred from Kansas State before last season and had 381 yards with seven touchdown catches in his first season in Tucson.

"I think I was ready for the moment when I was out there," Spivey told the media about his 2025 season. "It was really good for me, andf I think it's allowing me to go into this season more confident in my abilities. I know what I can do on and off the field, so I'm just focusing on understanding the whole game so I can help the team out."

Gio Richardson and Chris Hunter are the other two receivers coming back from the top six, and Brandon Phleps has earned high praise from his coaches and teammates for the improvements and the work he's done throughout the offseason so far, instilling more confidence in the group before adding the new players.

"I think that, with time, he's going to be a baller," Spivey noted of Phelps. "I'm excited for what he does this season because he's going to get opportunities."

Another returning player who will have opportunities is Isaiah Mizell, a former four-star recruit who rarely saw the field as a freshman. He's a speedster who was just not quite ready to debut last season.

"Skill-wise, he's fast enough. Yes," Doege said of Mizell. "Mentality-wise, he was a freshman. When you approach him now, [it's] a totally different type of mentality. He looks better, he looks thicker, he's stronger, and he's still fast. That's just called development."

But above all, what these returning players have that will help Arizona the most is familiarity with their quarterback and their offensive coordinator, having played at least one season with both and building trust with the man who distributes the football.

scenes from day 2 pic.twitter.com/GZinaieeYo

– Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) March 27, 2026

"I think the trust comes with just knowing that he's comfortable with knowing how bad we want to win, and we know how bad he wants to win," Spivey added. "We're all competitive, and that allows us to gel well together."

New Additions

Helping the new players gel just as well in the offense will be a big factor this offseason.

With the experience returning on the team, Arizona wasn't necessarily trying to add experienced players to its roster at the receiver position. Yes, that's a tantalizing feature of the transfer portal, but the Wildcats opted for high-upside instead, landing a couple of former four-star recruits in Rodney Gallagher (West Virginia) and DJ Jordan (USC).

Gallagher has played more college football, but neither has been a major factor for a college offense so far in their careers.

"They haven't played a ton of football yet, but they're extremely talented," Doege said of the overall group. "I also felt okay bringing in talented guys that haven't had that much experience because of what we're bringing back."

That talent must translate on the field this fall because it is clearly going to make up a large chunk of the Wildcats' offense.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/arizona as Key Position Group Impresses Offensive Coordinator Seth Doege.

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