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Jedd Fisch confirms Arizona quarterback Jordan McCloud is out for the year

Jordan McCloud's season is done.

Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch confirmed Monday what was suspected Saturday night when the Wildcats starting quarterback went down in the fourth quarter against UCLA. McCloud ended the night on crutches, and Fisch told reporters afterward that the initial belief was that the USF transfer's injury would not be a "short-term" one.

Monday Fisch opened his weekly press conference by confirming knee and ankle injuries suffered by McCloud in the loss to UCLA will keep the quarterback out for the remainder of the season. Fisch does expect McCloud to be healthy enough to participate in winter workouts and spring practice, however. The expectation is that McCloud will have surgery to repair his injuries next week while UA hopes to have him travel with the team to Colorado this weekend.

"When he didn't win the job he still wanted to find a way to learn this offense and become the starter," Fisch said Monday about McCloud's rise up the depth chart this season. "He has two years of football available to him. This isn't gonna be his last shot, and I think he really wanted to compete.

"... He has great belief and confidence, and felt as if he continued to learn our system that he was gonna end up becoming the starter. Unfortunately, the fluke of an injury prevented that for the rest of this season."

McCloud put together a solid performance in the 34-16 loss for the Wildcats up until he went down on a sack under a pile of players. He immediately showed signs of pain and frustration by throwing his helmet off by the time medical personnel arrived on the field.

Until that point he had connected on 21 of his 30 pass attempts for 182 yards through the air to go with 21 yards rushing.

It was just the second start for McCloud, who arrived at UA in the summer preventing him from going through spring practice with the rest of the team. That put him behind both Gunner Cruz and Will Plummer entering training camp.

He ultimately did not make his first appearance until the third game of the season when he nearly helped the Wildcats come back to beat Northern Arizona.

McCloud's first start at Arizona came against then-No. 3 Oregon on the road, and if not for five interceptions the sophomore would have put together an impressive performance. The offense responded better as a whole with McCloud on the field, but now the Wildcats will have to rally around another signal caller the rest of the season.

At this point Cruz is expected to lead the team at the position the rest of the year. The Washington State transfer started the first two games of the season, but he struggled with turnovers and ineffectiveness at times in those appearances.

Plummer suffered an injury during the NAU game after earning the start and has yet to see the field in a game since that time.

The Wildcats will hit the road again this weekend to face Colorado in Boulder Saturday afternoon in the midst of what is now a 17-game losing streak.

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