Following a Territorial Cup victory in the final game of the season, head coach Jedd Fisch and the rest of Arizona's coaches and players will now shift their focus to the offseason where they will look to improve off of the 5-7 campaign.
That process has already started for the Wildcats head coach, and Monday he wrapped up the season by meeting with reporters for one last time before his attention becomes focused on recruiting and building his roster for next season.
Here are five things that stood out to us after listening to Fisch address the media Monday.
Arizona still expects 16-18 new recruits on campus for the spring
With the season now officially over, Fisch and his staff will now turn their focus to the recruiting season where the staff will continue to build a competitive roster.
After a lot of last year's recruiting class arrived early in order to participate in spring practice, Fisch expects that to be the case in 2023 and stands by his previous statement that he hopes to have at least 16-18 newcomers arrive for spring practice.
"When you look at the portal and the high school class, it should be about 16-18 players," Fisch said. "If not, maybe a couple more."
Getting recruits on campus early has proved to be effective, as was the case with freshmen such as Jonah Coleman and Jonah Savaiinaea, among many others, who played vital roles on both sides of the ball this year. It gives the new players a chance to get acclimated to college football and speeds up the development process.
Having higher expectations heading into 2023, the Wildcats will want to get a head start on preparing their new faces to take on the next chapter of the Arizona football.
No draft eligible players have made any decisions as of yet
While Arizona looks to continue the development of its young stars, some of the team's impactful veteran players have the choice of whether or not they want to go pro.
Left tackle Jordan Morgan entered the season already garnering NFL buzz, but his stellar 2022 season has made him an even more of a touted prospect. That could make his decision tough even with an injury cutting his season short. However, with the 2022 schedule now complete, no players have officially announced their intentions to leave as of yet.
