"I wanted to go make plays and I wanted to be somewhere where I can be the guy."

My latest on Hunter Echols ahead of a big game against his former team in USC this week.

Check out my article on Cate Reese heading into her final season.

Hunter Echols and Dorian Singer, along with Brennan Carroll and Johnny Nansen spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon ahead of Saturday's game against USC.

Here is my story on my top-five takeaways:

Hey guys, I'll be doing live updates throughout Jedd Fisch's press conference.

With Pac-12 media days coming up this week, the conference has announced its two preseason media polls for the men's and women's teams across the league. Arizona was well represented on the lists with three all-conference selections on the women's side and four players earning recognition on the men's side with Azuolas Tubelis earning a nod as a member of the first team. You can see the full teams below.

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Azuolas Tubelis (1st team), Kerr Kriisa (2nd team), Pelle Larsson (2nd team), Oumar Ballo (honorable mention)

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Jade Loville (all-conference), Shaina Pellington (all-conference), Cate Reese (all-conference)

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Four-star offensive guard Iapani Laloulu is officially off the board to Oregon today. The Wildcats had been the favorite, but there had not been much competition up until recently. The Ducks had some other priorities fall through and land elsewhere prompting that staff to make a bigger push for the 4-star recruit from Hawaii. Ultimately, that new push set the Ducks apart since his brother already plays at Oregon.

Arizona has already focused its attention more on landing Caleb Lomu at this stage. There are some other offensive line options, but Lomu remains the priority at the position in the class.

Hey guys, since it is Arizona's bye week, I wanted to jump in here and ask you to send in some questions regarding the team that I will answer in a mailbag later this week.

The fall evaluation period began today allowing Tommy Lloyd and Arizona's coaches to get around to high schools to check in on prospects the program is targeting. There are two clear top targets in the current and upcoming classes, and Lloyd made it out to see both of them today. The staff will be active in getting out to see its top targets in the 2023 and 2024 classes, and it will be able to do so in a hurry since there aren't a ton of top-tier targets for the staff right now.

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In-state wing Cody Williams was visited by Lloyd and the coaching staff today as the Wildcats have now locked in an official visit with the top-50 senior from Perry High School in Gilbert. Williams will take an official visit to UA beginning Oct. 14. He just recently visited Colorado and will take an official visit to USC next week. LSU will host him on an official visit on Sept. 24. Williams is keeping his recruitment very close to the vest and even the schools involved are a bit in the dark about what he is thinking. Arizona is in a strong position, but he is not the type of recruit who is looking for all the usual things recruits at his level are looking for in a program. His older brother spent his career at Santa Clara and made it to the NBA, so he is not going to be wowed by brand names or things along those lines. He really is looking for the right fit, so his recruitment could end up going any number of ways.

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Four-star California wing Carter Bryant is the top priority in the 2024 class, and he is at a new school this year. That didn't stop Tommy Lloyd from making the stop by Newport Beach to check in on Bryant, who has grown up an Arizona fan. His recruitment has exploded and more schools are continuing to get into the mix, such as Duke, but Arizona is still the early top contender in his recruitment. He fits what the staff is looking for in every way and will continue to be a top priority for the Wildcats as the process moves ahead. He is one of the recruits expected to be on campus for the Red-Blue Game in a few weeks.

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Jedd Fisch outlined the recruiting plan for the week and the rest of the cycle this week when meeting with reporters. Our own Dylan Grausz breaks down all of that in the story above including Fisch's thoughts on how the plan has changed based on how the season has played out to this stage.

As for the coaches, the staff has already been out on the road checking in at high schools and watching games. Jedd Fisch was with Jimmie Dougherty out at the Basha-Hamilton game in Chandler last night.

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The staff has had coaches and will have coaches at campuses and games in Arizona, California, Texas and Hawaii this week.

Most of the focus is on the current commits and top 2023 targets but there have been and will be some visits to see 2024 recruits as well.

Tonight will be Caleb Lomu night for the Wildcats with Fisch expected to see Highland face Saguaro. Brennan Carroll is also supposed to be at that game after hitting up California yesterday.

Brayden Dorman, Dominic Lolesio, Solomon Davis, Brandon Johnson, Lucas Conti and Canyon Moses are commits who will have Arizona coaches at their games. Dorian Thomas is an uncommitted recruit the Wildcats will see this evening as Jordan Paopao makes his swing through the Pacific Northwest.

Thursday was a heavy in-state and California-focused day for the staff.

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I'll hold off on make the game week thread until actual game week, but just wanted to give you all a heads up about the kickoff time for the Wildcats' next game on Oct. 29 that has been set for 4 p.m. MST. Arizona getting a rare daytime kickoff before November next week after the bye when USC comes to town. The game will once again be televised by Pac-12 Networks.

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Since there is no game this week that means no preview show, but Troy and I got together to discuss where things stand with the Wildcats at this point in the season since the bye week offers a natural break to the season. We assess both sides of the ball, the standout players and how the Wildcats can go about improving over the final five games as they head into a challenging three-game stretch. We also give our overview of what we expect the rest of the season to look like for the Wildcats.

Listen to the full episode above.

TMac on the list:

I know we have talked a ton about this, and I couldn’t find the original thread, but I had a very interesting convo with one of our coaches on the golf course the other day. I brought up the NIL and what his thoughts are and he said something that may become a reality. “If this continues at the rate it’s going, there are going to be college players taking pay cuts to go to the NFL”. He’s 100% right at the pace it’s going now.
NIL is a disaster waiting to happen.

Brown enters as a graduate transfer

Check out my article on Arizona recruit Paris Clark

Today Coach Fisch stated he'd like to bring in 16-17 mid-year transfers.
And we're looking to add to the 18 high school commits.

We don't have a ton of seniors/bonus year guys.

Sure, there could be some attrition. But 30- -40 new guys would be over 85. With NIL in place, will player cuts / runoffs be a thing?

The first AP poll of the women's basketball season was released today and Arizona was ranked No. 19 to open the season. To me, this means a couple of things.

1. The AP voters respect the work Adia Barnes has done as the coach at Arizona. Especially given the fact that the Wildcats lost so many players via transfer and ended the season with an embarrassing loss to UNC at McKale Center.

2. Also, that despite the team losing so many players, Barnes was able to land key transfers to add to one of the best recruiting classes in the country. So, voters see the high-level talent that the roster has.

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I've locked in a Rivals FutureCast pick for Inglewood athlete Justin Johnson in favor of Arizona who is currently on campus for a visit with the Wildcats. I expect this one to move quickly. Although he is listed as a receiver, he projects as a defensive back at the next level. I watched him at the Under Armour and Rivals camps this offseason, and he has good length and moves well. He'll add some more depth to the secondary and probably will fit in as a safety at UA though he could very easily play cornerback.

Michigan State, Florida State, Colorado State and Grambling are his other offers.

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The latest PFF grades and snap counts have been logged in, and here is our breakdown of the grades from our own Dylan Grausz. Some interesting notes in there for sure. Jayden de Laura having his highest-rated game of the season is no surprise, and there is a lot of information to back up the changes that were made defensively plus some of the things you all are calling for defensively.

Make sure to check it out and let us know what you think after seeing the grades.

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Arizona does not have a game this week, but there are plenty of things to work on as the Wildcats begin their most grueling stretch of the season starting with next week's matchup against USC. Jedd Fisch met with reporters this afternoon to discuss the plan for the next few days and what's on tap for his staff in what will be a busy couple days for recruiting. Fisch will head out to four different games himself on Thursday and Friday while the staff will be represented at 28 games overall in multiple states including Hawaii.

Watch Fisch's full Monday press conference, which will be the team's only media availability this week, in the video above.

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Arizona checks in at No. 17 on the preseason AP Top 25 men's basketball poll this morning. The Wildcats are one of three Pac-12 teams to make the list with UCLA set to begin the season at No. 8 while Oregon will be at No. 21.

Yesterday, Ken Pomeroy released his preseason rankings and Arizona is at No. 10 on that list followed by UCLA at No. 11. Oregon is the other Pac-12 team in the top 50 at No. 29.

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GAME INFO

Who: Arizona (3-3, 1-2 Pac-12) vs. Oregon (4-2, 1-2)
When: 2:30 p.m MST
Where: Husky Stadium | Seattle, Washington
TV: Pac-12 Network
All-time series: Washington leads 24-11-1 (Last meeting: 21-16 Oregon win at Arizona; Oct 22, 2021)
Odds: Washington (-14.5) O/U 71.5

Hey everybody! Im getting the game thread started early here with about four and half hours until the 2:30 p.m MST kickoff at Husky Stadium.

PREGAME NOTES

• Arizona is averaging 4.34 yards per rush
• Washington is averaging 4.28 yards per rush
• Arizona is averaging 47% 3rd down conversions
• Washington is averaging 52% 3rd down conversions
• Arizona is averaging 4.7 penalties per game
• Washington is averaging 6.7 penalties per game

Hello everyone,
Here is my recap updated with quotes with more stories soon to follow from Arizona's 49-39 loss against Washington.

Two calls by the refs killed us.

Judgement call on the lateral on 4th and 1 blowing the play dead. I could sort of see, but unfortunate especially since the defense didn't stop playing ... no one did. It was bang bang and Coleman picked up the muffed lateral and got past the first down marker with the defense in pursuit.

Second call was egregious. Wardell had wrapped his arm around the waist, but he never did tug or pull. Replay showed no contact, only the appearance of a foul. It would have brought up 4th and 12 and decision time to try to kick a FG or go for it on 4th down. Changed the whole complexion of the game with 5-6 minutes left. We could have had the ball down 3 or down 6 instead of down 2 possessions.

The defense had their struggles but did stop UW on two 4th and short plays, held them to a FG try and should have given us the ball back down 3 or 6 with the chance to a chance to win or tie with 5 minutes left. The momentum was ours at the time ... very unfortunate call.