Arizona receiver Jamarye Joiner will return to finish career with Wildcats

Part of Jedd Fisch's early duties at Arizona has been to bring players into the program, but another part has been working to keep some of the team's own standouts from leaving. The Wildcats have been one of the team's keeping the NCAA Transfer Portal busy the last several weeks and one of the players who recently made the decision to enter his name into the portal has now decided he will return to UA.

Receiver Jamarye Joiner will not be leaving the program after all as he has made the decision to return to his hometown and continue playing for the Wildcats under the new offensive staff assembled by Fisch over the last couple weeks. He cited a conversation with the new head coach and new receivers coach Kevin Cummings as being a determining factor.

Joiner, a Tucson native who played at Cienega High School in Vail, did not have the type of 2020 season that he wanted coming off offseason foot surgery, but he was the team's most productive player at the position in the 2019 season.

He was also recently named as one of the top receivers in the transfer portal by Rivals.com.

Joiner, who caught 12 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown this season, added offers from Tennessee, Minnesota, UNLV, Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech since entering the transfer portal last month.

The 6-foot-1 receiver moved from the quarterback position to receiver in the 2019 season and he flourished in his new spot by the end of the year. He ended up with 552 yards and five touchdowns in his redshirt freshman season.

He will enter the 2021 season with 46 catches, 663 yards and six touchdowns in his career.

Joiner's return will help alleviate some of the pressure off Arizona's new offensive coaching staff and Cummings as the Wildcats have had to watch many of their top playmakers at the position enter the portal in recent weeks.

Stanley Berryhill III, the team's top receiver in 2020, has already decided to leave UA for Ball State while breakout freshman Ma'Jon Wright, sophomore Boobie Curry and redshirt junior Drew Dixon all entered their names into the portal since the program fired Kevin Sumlin as head coach last month.

Wright announced his decision to return to UA about an hour before Joiner announced his plans.

While Joiner is not necessarily a true addition for the Wildcats he does mark increased momentum under Fisch as the Wildcats have added three players this week with Northwestern transfers Gunner Maldonado and Drake Anderson plus Colorado transfer Jason Harris gave the program their commitments this week after recently entering the transfer portal.

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