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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

Meet Tetairoa McMillan: Arizona’s highest rated recruit in program history

wide+receiver+Tetairoa+McMillan+%284%29%2C+defensive+back+Christian+Roland-Wallace+%284%29+%26%238212%3B+TUCSON%2C+ARIZ.+--+Football+Fall+Camp%2C+Day%2C+11.%0AAug.+16%2C+2022.+%0APhoto+by+Mike+Christy+%2F+Arizona+Athletics
Mike Christy
wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan (4), defensive back Christian Roland-Wallace (4) — TUCSON, ARIZ. — Football Fall Camp, Day, 11. Aug. 16, 2022. Photo by Mike Christy / Arizona Athletics

The Arizona football team and head coach Jedd Fisch are looking for a bounce-back season in 2022 and they have landed some key recruits to make sure of it. 

Headlining that class is four-star rated wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, the highest ranked recruit in the history of Arizona football.

Tetairoa “T-Mac” McMillan played football, basketball and volleyball at Servite High School in Anaheim, California. While attending Servite, McMillan was named a high school All-American as he amassed throughout his career 179 receptions, 2,640 yards and scored 34 touchdowns. He was also named the Polynesian High School Player of the Year, as well as the Gatorade California Player of the Year.

T-Mac had originally committed to playing football at the University of Oregon, but that decision changed when its head coach Mario Cristobal left to coach at the University of Miami in December of 2021. Later that month, McMillan committed to play at the University of Arizona. According to 247Sports, he became the highest-rated football player to ever commit to Arizona since cornerback Devin Ross came to Tucson in 2006.

McMillan stands at 6-foot-4, 185 pounds and has a chance to provide some juice in an Arizona offense that desperately needs it. The team only passed for an average of 226 yards per game a season ago, due in part to a revolving door at quarterback as the Wildcats finished with a 1-11 regular season record. While McMillan’s presence will instantly improve Arizona’s wide receiver room, finding chemistry with the starting quarterback will be equally as important. Washington State University transfer Jayden de Laura will have that chance, along with quarterbacks Jordan McCloud, Will Plummer and Noah Fifita currently on the roster.

“T-Mac is all ball. T-Mac loves the game of football and you see it in the way he plays. He’s got a volleyball background, which I think is why he’s so explosive when it comes to catching a ball. His catch radius is unreal. Any ball that’s in his area, he has a chance to get,” said wide receivers coach Kevin Cummings.

When asked about improvements to his game that he’s seen following his first training camp with Arizona, McMillan attributed his overall speed.

“I mean, just coming into college if you look at my improvements, from spring to now, I definitely improved a lot and that also goes with the competition that I play every day on defense, but definitely I’ll say my speed,” McMillan said.

In addition to McMillan, Fisch also recruited three more Servite High School teammates of his with quarterback Fifita, tight end Keyan Burnett and linebacker Jacob Manu. Fisch showed out and managed to have the second-rated recruiting class in the Pac-12 in just his first recruiting class as head coach of the Wildcats.


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