Following Arizona's 34-28 upset win over No. 12 UCLA this past weekend, Jacob Manu has been named Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Week after recording a team-high 10 tackles against the Bruins to go along with one pass deflection and two quarterback hurries.

Manu also recorded 10 tackles against Washington back on October 15 and has slowly seen his playing time increase as the season has moved along. Manu, and a number of other younger players, have been critical parts of a Wildcats defense that has shown flashes of trending in the right direction as a unit highlighted by Saturday's performance against the Bruins.

"When we told you guys we would be playing with a lot of freshman, we meant it," head coach Jedd Fisch said. "When we said we were going to build the program the way we wanted to build it, we meant it. You have guys like Jacob Kongaika and Ta'ita'i [Uiagalelei] that both were playing at Mater De last year and Ta'ita'i had a huge sack in the game. You had guys that were truly affecting the game that were true freshman and clearly Jacob Manu has taken on not just the role of affecting the game, but being a leader of the defense."

This is the third time an Arizona player has won the award this season as wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan earned the honor twice this season for his performances against Colorado and Washington.

The Wildcats have won six weekly conference awards this year with five different players collecting those honors including quarterback Jayden de Laura (offense), defensive end Jalen Harris (defensive line) and defensive end Hunter Echols (defensive line) in addition to McMillan and Manu.

Arizona has two games left in the regular season needing wins in both of them to become bowl eligible, and that starts this weekend with a game at Arizona Stadium against de Laura's former team, Washington State.

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