One of the big questions on the offensive side of the ball for Arizona heading into this season was how it would replace the production Jacob Cowing who caught 90 passes for 848 yards and 13 touchdowns last year in his final season with the Wildcats.

It was evident what Tetairoa McMillan could do heading into this season, but the question was who would step up alongside him for Noah Fifita and the offense as a whole.

Throughout spring and training camp, we had seen other receivers show flashes of stepping up as well as the tight ends be more involved in the offense.

In the season opener against New Mexico, McMillan exploded for a historic performance with 304 yards and four touchdowns on 10 receptions. There wasn't another wide receiver or tight end who caught more than one pass in that game.

There were flashes of other pass catchers stepping up in the second and third games of the season, including a six reception game for Montana Lemonious-Craig against Kansas State.

It all came together last week against Utah that also included the change in who was calling plays from Dino Babers to tight ends coach and passing game coordinator Matt Adkins.

After Utah cut the deficit to 16-10, Fifita connected on a huge 41-yard pass to Devin Hyatt up the middle followed by a 35-yard touchdown pass to Keyan Burnett at the back of the end zone three plays later.

It was the first career touchdown with Arizona for Burnett who led the Wildcats in receiving in the win. The Servite product was considered all offseason as a player who could take a huge step forward this season after sitting behind Tanner McLachlan the past two years.

"I think he was healthy," Dino Babers said on the breakout game for Burnett. "I really do. I mean we're all KB fans. He is an exceptional athlete. There is no doubt that he is a very talented receiver. What we want him to do is be a very talented blocker... When he gets (his blocking) down, he'll be the complete guy. He'll be special because his receiving skills are really good."

Jeremiah Patterson also caught a short touchdown earlier in the game which was his second time finding the end zone this season.

Coach Brent Brennan talked on Monday about the idea of giving McMillan a bit more of a break early in games to keep him fresh for the final quarter and having more confidence in the other wide receivers stepping up during those plays.

"I thought it was great to see Devin (Hyatt) show up on Saturday," Brennan said. "Chris Hunter is starting to make some moves for us and Jeremiah Patterson, so we're starting to have some other guys that we can get T-Mac out for a little bit and give him a blow and have confidence in who we're putting out there."

Arizona will need to continue to have other pass catchers step up alongside McMillan every week as it continues into conference play with another game against an explosive offense in Texas Tech at Arizona Stadium on Saturday.

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