Family environment kept the Arizona locker room together

Arizona players at Big 12 Media Days stress that it was the love for each other that kept them in Tucson.

LAS VEGAS (KYMA, KECY) - New Arizona head coach Brent Brennan and four Wildcat players headed to Las Vegas for Big 12 Media Days.

Arizona capped off an excellent end to last season with a victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Alamo Bowl, but then head coach Jedd Fisch darted off for Washington. Then in something that's almost unheard of in modern day college football, the wildcat locker room stayed together in Tucson as Brennan took the reins.

"It shows the love that we have, not just with a university, but for each other," star quarterback Noah Fifita said. "It shows the loyalty that we have to each other and I think it goes a long way."

"It speaks on our family culture," Arizona defensive back Gunner Maldonado said. "People throw that word around all the time, but I think here we really have something like that. The relationships we had is what kept us together."

The program has a strong influence of Polynesian culture. That influence is reflected in the family environment of the locker room and the leis the players and Brennan wore around their necks at media days.

"Polynesian culture is big on family and loyalty," star wideout Tetairoa McMillan said. "That's a big reason why we chose the stay at Arizona. With Coach Brennan really embracing that, you see, he got his own lay on. It goes to show the type of guy he is."

"T-Mac's mom came to Vegas was hanging out with us yesterday," Maldonado said. "She brought the leis for us. So [it's] representing my teammates culture and also being a part of it."

Since taking the reins in January, Brennan has emphasized having former arizona coaches and players on his staff. For example, hiring former Arizona assistant and recent Syracuse head coach, Dino Babers, as offensive coordinator and former star wide receiver Bobby Wade as receivers coach.

"I thought it was just important that I had people on the staff that love and care about the University of Arizona," Brennan said. "It's so important for me to there's there's players that played in the uniform that care deeply about the U of A touching our team, involved with our team."

While putting his own stamp on the program, Brennan wants to keep some continuity with things such as verbiage, so that they can hit the ground running and carry on the momentum from last season.

"You always want to lean into the talent you have and that's just where I come from," Brennan said. "I think part of that is making sure those players are comfortable in the in the schemes and situations you put them in on game day."

The Wildcats' offense will feature one of the most exciting duos in the country in lifelong friends quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan.

"There's there's a lot of a lot of, kind of chemistry there for sure," Fifita said. "I like the words telepathy. I never heard that before. So, there's a lot of a lot of trust. I trust where he's going to be where he needs to be in even more every time a play needs to be made you can trust number four."

"Even in serious moments, we always laugh and we always joke around," McMillan said. "We are goofy guys, and we're the exact same way on the field. Our chemistry off the field is definitely correlates to on the field. I guess you could say we've got, you friendship intuition on the field."

The Wildcats chase for a Big 12 title and a College Football Playoff berth gets underway on August 31st, as they welcome in the New Mexico Lobos.