The 2021 Arizona Wildcats football team represented the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

during the

2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2021 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 152nd season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision. The r ...

. They were led by first-year head coach

Jedd Fisch Jedd Ari Fisch (born May 5, 1976) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at the University of Arizona. Fisch previously served as the quarterbacks coach for the New England Patriots and as an assistant offensive coordinat ...

, and they played their home games at

Arizona Stadium Arizona Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. It is the home field of the Arizona Wildcats of the Pac-12 Conference. Original ...

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. It was the Wildcats' 122nd season overall and 43rd as a member of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and 11th in the Pac-12

South Division South Division may refer to: * South Division (AFL), a division of the Arena Football League * South Division (CFL), a former division of the Canadian Football League * South Division (NAHL), a division of the North American Hockey League * South ...

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2020 season 0–5 in Pac-12 play to finish in last place in the South Division. The Wildcats had games scheduled against Hawaii, Portland State, and Texas Tech, but cancelled these games on July 10, 2020, due to the PAC-12 Conference's decision to play a conference-only schedule because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 12, 2020,

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University of ...

was fired after three seasons following a 70–7 loss to ASU in the Territorial Cup on December 11, 2020; Sumlin finished at Arizona with a Pac-12 record of 9–20. On December 23, 2020, the University of Arizona hired Jedd Fisch as the program's 32nd head coach.

Offseason

Coaching changes

Position key

Players

Outgoing Transfers

The Wildcats lost fifteen players via transfer portal for the 2021 season. Incoming Transfers The Wildcats add fourteen players via transfer portal from the 2020 season.

Recruiting class

The Wildcats signed a total of 18 scholarship recruits and 7 walk-ons during national signing period.

Overall class rankings

Recruits

2021 NFL draft

The following Wildcats were selected in the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

Returning starters

Offense Defense Special teams † Indicates player was a starter in 2020 but missed all of 2021 due to injury.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Pac-12 Media Day

The Pac-12 Media Day was held on July 27, 2021, in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

. Arizona head coach

, wide receiver Stanley Berryhill, and linebacker Anthony Pandy were in attendance to field questions from the media.

Preseason All-Pac-12 teams

Second Team

Personnel

Coaching staff

;Graduate assistants ;Analysts

Roster

Depth chart

Starters and backups. ''True Freshman''
Double Position : * Depth Chart Source: 2021 Arizona Wildcats Football Fact Book

Schedule

Spring game

The 2021 Wildcats spring game is tentatively scheduled to take place in Tucson, Arizona on April 24, 2021. The Wildcats were scheduled to hold spring practices on March 23, 2021, will practice every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for five weeks.

Regular season

The Wildcats' 2021 schedule consists of 4 home and 5 away games and 1 neutral site game for the regular season. Arizona's out of conference opponents represent the Big Sky, NCAA Division I FBS independent and

Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations o ...

conferences. The Wildcats currently own the nations longest FBS losing streak at 14 games. The Wildcats are scheduled to play three non-conference games, against

San Diego State San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

from the (Mountain West) and

Northern Arizona Northern Arizona is an unofficial, colloquially-defined region of the U.S. state of Arizona. Generally consisting of Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Navajo, and Gila counties, the region is geographically dominated by the Colorado Plateau, the sout ...

from the (Big Sky) at home and on the neutral against

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

( NCAA Division I FBS independent) at

Allegiant Stadium Allegiant Stadium is a domed stadium located in Paradise, Nevada. It is the home stadium for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL), the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels college football team, the Las Ve ...

in Las Vegas. The Wildcats are scheduled to host

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. They are scheduled to travel to

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and arch-rival

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

for the 95th annual

Territorial Cup A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

. Arizona is not scheduled to play Pac-12 North opponents

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

, and

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

for the 2021 Pac-12 regular season. :Schedule Sources:

Game summaries

vs. BYU

To begin the 2021 season, Arizona will host

in the season opener in Las Vegas. In the 2018 season, Arizona lost 28–23 to the Cougars. Arizona fell to BYU 24–16 in Las Vegas. Arizona leads the all-time series 12–11–1.

San Diego State

After playing BYU in the season opener, Arizona will host

in the home opener. In the 2001 season, Arizona beat the Aztecs, 23–10. Arizona leads the all-time series 10–5.

Northern Arizona

After playing against San Diego State, Arizona will host

for the final non-conference game. In the 2019 season, Arizona beat the Lumberjacks, 65–41. Arizona leads the all-time series 15–1.

at No. 3 Oregon

To begin the conference season, Arizona will head to Eugene to face

. In the 2019 season, Arizona lost 34–6 to the Ducks. Arizona trails the all-time series 17–27.

UCLA

After playing Oregon, Arizona will host

. Last season, Arizona lost 27–10 to the Bruins. Arizona trails the all-time series 17–26–2.

at Colorado

After playing UCLA, Arizona will travel to Boulder to face off with

. Last season, Arizona lost 24–13 to the Buffaloes. Arizona trails the all-time series 8–15.

Washington

After playing Colorado, Arizona will host

. Last season, Arizona lost 44–27 to the Huskies. Arizona trails the all-time series 11–23–1.

at USC

After playing Washington, Arizona will travel to Los Angeles to face

. Last season, Arizona lost 34–30 to the Trojans. Arizona trails the all-time series 8–35.

California

After playing USC, Arizona will host

. In the 2018 season, Arizona beat the Golden Bears, 24–17. Arizona leads the all-time series 18–14–2.

No. 24 Utah

After playing California, Arizona will host

. In the 2019 season, Arizona lost 28–13 to the Utes. Arizona trails the all-time series 19–24–2.

at Washington State

After playing Utah, Arizona will travel to

Pullman, WA Pullman () is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, Whitman County, located in southeastern Washington within the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. The population was 29,799 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, and esti ...

to face

. In the 2018 season, Arizona lost 69–28 to the Cougars. Arizona leads the all-time series 27–17.

at Arizona State

After the Washington State game, Arizona will travel to Tempe, face their arch-rivals, the

Sun Devils, in the 95th annual "Territorial Cup" for the season finale. Last season, Arizona lost 70–7 to the Sun Devils. The Wildcats are currently in the midst of a four-game losing streak against the Devils. Arizona leads the all-time series 49–44–1.

Statistics

Team statistics

Offense

Defense

Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, BU: Passes Broken Up, PD: Passes Defended, QBH: Quarterback Hits, FR: Fumbles Recovered, FF: Forced Fumbles, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties, TD : Touchdown

Special teams

Scoring

Scores by quarter (non-conference opponents)

Scores by quarter (Pac-12 opponents)

Scores by quarter (All opponents)

Rankings

After the season

Final statistics

Awards and honors

Conference

National

All-Americans

Bowl games

All Star games

NFL draft

The

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

will be held at

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

on April 28–30, 2022. Six Arizona Wildcats players who were picked in the 2022 NFL Draft:

NFL Draft combine

No members of the 2021 team were invited to participate in drills at the 2022 NFL scouting Combine. † Top performer DNP = Did not participate

Media affiliates

Radio

ESPN Radio ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN". ...

– (ESPN Tucson 1490 AM & 104.09 FM) – Nationwide (Dish Network, Sirius XM,

TuneIn TuneIn is a global audio streaming service delivering live news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users. TuneIn is operated by the company TuneIn Inc. which is based in San Francisco, California. The company ...

radio and

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...

) * KCUB 1290 AM – ''Football Radio Show'' – (

Tucson, AZ , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

) *

KHYT KHYT is a commercial radio station located in Tucson, Arizona, United States, broadcasting on 107.5 FM. KHYT airs a classic hits music format branded as "K-Hit 107.5". Its studios are located north of downtown Tucson, and the transmitter is at ...

– 107.5 FM (Tucson, AZ) *

KTKT KTKT (990 AM) – branded ''La Buena 94.3'' – is a commercial Spanish language adult hits radio station licensed to serve Tucson, Arizona. Owned by Lotus Communications, the covers the Tucson metropolitan area and Southern Arizona. The ...

990 AM – ''La Hora de Los Gatos (Spanish)'' – (Tucson, AZ) *

KGME KGME (910 AM) is a commercial radio station in Phoenix, Arizona. KGME carries a sports radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. The studios and offices are in Phoenix near Sky Harbor International Airport. KGME is powered at 5,000 watts, u ...

910 AM – (

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...

Sports Network) – (

Phoenix, AZ Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the onl ...

) * KTAN 1420 AM – ( Sierra Vista, AZ) * KDAP 96.5 FM (

Douglas, Arizona Douglas is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States that lies in the north-west to south-east running Sulpher Springs Valley. Douglas has a border crossing with Mexico at Agua Prieta and a history of mining. The population was 16,531 in ...

) *

KWRQ KWRQ (102.3 FM, "Sunny 102.3") is a radio station licensed to serve Clifton, Arizona, United States. The station is owned by Double-R-Communications LLC. It airs a Hot Adult Contemporary music format. The station was assigned the KWRQ call lette ...

102.3 FM – ( Safford, AZ/ Thatcher, AZ) * KIKO 1340 AM – (

Globe, AZ Globe ( apw, Bésh Baa Gowąh "Place of Metal") is a city in Gila County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 7,249. The city is the county seat of Gila County. Globe was founded c. 1875 as a mining cam ...

) * KVWM 970 AM – (

Show Low, AZ Show Low is a city in Navajo County, Arizona. It lies on the Mogollon Rim in east central Arizona, at an elevation of 6,345 feet (1,934 m). The city was established in 1870 and incorporated in 1953. According to the 2010 United States Census, 20 ...

/ Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ) *XENY 760 – (

Nogales, Sonora Heroica Nogales (), more commonly known as Nogales, is a city and the county seat of the Municipality of Nogales. It is located on the northern border of the Mexican state of Sonora. The city is abutted on its north by the city of Nogales, Arizo ...

) (Spanish)

TV

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Family – KOLD (CBS),

CBSN CBS News (formerly CBSN, also known as the CBS News Streaming Network) is an American streaming video news channel operated by the CBS News and Paramount Streaming divisions of Paramount Global. Launched on November 6, 2014, it features blocks ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Family –

KGUN KGUN-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sierra Vista-licensed CW affiliate KWBA-TV (channel 58). Both stations share studios on E ...

(ABC),

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

ESPNU ESPNU is an American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the Hears ...

ESPN+ ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, *

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

Family –

KMSB KMSB (channel 11) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KTTU (channel 18); Tegna maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with ...

(FOX),

FS1 Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed (TV network), Speed on August 1 ...

, FSN *

Pac-12 Network The Pac-12 Network (P12N; also sometimes referred to as Pac-12 Networks) is an American sports-oriented digital cable and satellite television network owned by the Pac-12 Conference. The network's studio and production facilities are headquart ...

(Pac-12 Arizona) *

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

–

KVOA KVOA (channel 4) is a television station in Tucson, Arizona, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Allen Media Broadcasting. The station's studios are located on West Elm Street north of downtown Tucson, and its primary transmitter is ...

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...

References

{{Arizona Wildcats football navbox

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Arizona Wildcats football seasons

Arizona Wildcats football The Arizona Wildcats football program represents the University of Arizona (UA) in the sport of American college football. Arizona competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac- ...