Jedd Fisch looks to get back to recruiting roots as Arizona moves to Big 12

Arizona coach Jedd Fisch will have a chance to expand the regions he recruits in as the Wildcats join the Big 12 in 2024. Specifically, Fisch will look to increase his footprint in Florida after attending college in Gainesville and later becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Miami from 2011-12.

Fisch left Miami to take on the offensive coordinator role for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2013, giving him even more notability in the state. With the Big 12 having one team in the Sunshine State in UCF, the coach can sell the opportunity for prospective recruits to potentially return to their home state for a conference game.

“When I was at the University of Miami, when I was at the University of Michigan and when I was at UCLA, my two areas were Southern California and South Florida,” Fisch told On3’s Andy Staples. “Then nationally, quarterback. Those are the places I would go. So now you’re in the Big 12 and you’ve got an opportunity to continue to recruit Southern California, but on top of it you get a chance to get back to my roots in Florida. I went to Florida. I coached in Jacksonville and I coached in Miami. So I’ve had a lot of experience in different areas in the state and recruited a lot of good players from that state.

“When you’re a coordinator at Miami and a coordinator at Michigan, you’re digging deep in the state of Florida. So now to be able to have UCF on your schedule and then be able to bring, what I told our guys, we’re gonna bring our West Coast team and we’re gonna go play all these other Big 12 teams and enjoy it.”

Fisch has signed just one high school player from Florida in his two classes since taking over as head coach. Instead, he has heavily recruited out west with players from Arizona and California making up the majority of commitments. Other than that, he’s also had success in Hawaii and other states on the West Coast such as Washington and Oregon.

The coach got a big win in the 2022 class from the state of California in receiver Tetairoa McMillan, the No. 41 overall player according to the On3 Industry Rating, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. McMillan was the highest-rated recruit in Arizona history and made a major impact in his first season to finish with 39 catches for 702 yards (18.0 yards per catch) and eight touchdowns.

Fisch emphasized that he will continue to recruit those states even with Arizona’s move to the Big 12. But now he’ll also have the chance to reach areas that he couldn’t before.

“We’re gonna continue to recruit Hawaii,” he said. “We’ve got eight guys in Hawaii. That’s a huge place for us. Then Southern California and the state of Arizona. We had a good year last year in the state of Arizona. My gut tells me we’re gonna have the best year they’ve ever had in Arizona this year when it comes with keeping kids at home.”

So far for 2024, Arizona has the No. 3 class among Big 12 schools according to On3’s Team Recruiting Rankings. And with the new pitch he’ll have from playing in the conference, it should only give him a chance to keep up with that expectation in future years.