SAN ANTONIO — Four-star quarterback Demond Williams was one of the first recruits Arizona made sure to seek out and offer when Jedd Fisch arrived as head coach. He was one of the early prospects to get in contact with the staff, and since then a relationship with the Wildcats blossomed.

The Chandler-Basha signal caller has family connections down south in Tucson, and that helped keep the program in the mix even after he committed to Ole Miss for a time. The 5-foot-11 recruit has continued to rise up the rankings once again after a highly productive career at Basha that ended with over 10,000 yards passing and 100 total touchdowns.

The dual-threat quarterback, who currently is rated No. 167 overall in the Rivals rankings, only had 12 interceptions in his time leading the Bears against 93 passing touchdowns.

That production earned him plenty of college attention, but being able to stay close to home while playing in an offense that fits his versatile skill set proved to be too much to pass up for the No. 2-rated prospect in Arizona for 2024.

"I feel like developmentally and preparing me for the next level," he said about what ultimately made the difference for the Wildcats. "My end goal is definitely the NFL, so if I can get as much NFL prepared as I can that'd be the best."

Williams committed to the Wildcats at the end of July before the team went on a run that carried them through to an Alamo Bowl win. Arizona figures to be an early favorite to compete for a spot in the expanded College Football Playoff in 2024, but Williams saw the makings of a changing team when he made his decision.

"It was a little crazy, but I feel like it was kind of expected," he said. "We knew that we had a favorable schedule. We could win a good amount of games, we just had to make sure that we did the right things. At the start of the season we had a couple stumbles, but we kind of rebounded it and definitely bounced back after the two losses to Washington and USC."

The quarterback situation has changed a bit at Arizona since Williams committed as well. Second-year freshman Noah Fifita took over the starting job in the middle of the season helping to spark the run on victories for UA.