Arizona Football Top Five All-Time Quarterbacks

Throughout its history, Arizona football has seen many ups and downs with the program making 22 bowl games and recording four 10-win seasons. In 1998, the Wildcats finished with a school-record 12 wins capped off with a 23-20 win over Nebraska.

As the program gears up for its 122nd season with head coach Brent Brennan entering his second season at the helm, we will be ranking the top five players at each position to get you ready for the 2025 season.

As we begin our breakdown of the top five players at each position, we will be starting with one of the most important positions in sports, the quarterback.

5. Tom Tunnicliffe (1980-83)

During the 1980’s Arizona football was in its prime going 67-40 during that time and playing in three bowl games. One of the most important faces of the program during that time was quarterback Tom Tunnicliffe, who helped get the program moving in the right direction.

In his career, Tunicliffe passed for 7,618 yards ranking third all-time and finishing with 46 passing touchdowns putting him fifth in program history. Although the Wildcats didn’t go to a bowl game under his helm, he did start “The Streak” against rival ASU in 1982 and going 2-2 versus the Sun Devils.

4. Keith Smith (1996-99)

The single greatest season in program history was led by two quarterbacks in Ortege Jenkins and Keith Smith, who helped the team finish with a 12-1 record and finishing No. 4 in the final AP Poll of the season.

Smith ranks in the top ten of the program’s career passing records in passing with 5,972 yards (No. 7), passing touchdowns 42 (No. 9) and total offense 7,049 yards (No. 6). He did all this despite splitting snaps with another quarterback.

3. Anu Solomon (2013-16)

When you look back at some of the greatest freshman seasons in program history, you have to talk about quarterback Anu Solomon’s redshirt-freshman season where he helped lead the Wildcats to a 10-4 season and an appearance in the Fiesta Bowl.

Throughout his time with the program, Solomon racked up 6,922 (No. 4), 49 passing touchdowns (No. 4) and 7,359 total offensive yards (No. 4). All those stats rank in the top ten in Arizona football history.

2. Willie Tuitama (2005-08)

During the mid-2000’s Arizona football was working its way back from one of the darkest era’s in program history following the end of John Mackovic’s time as head coach. Mike Stoops took over the program and built it back up ending a 10-year bowl game drought during the 2008 season.

A massive part of getting the program back on track was quarterback Willie Tuitama, who took over the starting job in late October going 2-3 as the starter with a 52-14 win over then-No. 7 UCLA.

In his senior season, Tuitama led the team to a 8-5 finish with a win in the Vegas Bowl delivering a 31-21 result over No. 17 BYU.

Throughout his career, Tuitama finished with 9,211 passing yards (No. 2), 67 passing touchdowns (T-1) and 8,727 of total offensive yards. He did all this despite going through several injuries as he set a standard for quarterbacks in Tucson.

1. Nick Foles (2009-11)

The gold standard of Arizona quarterbacks is clear and that man is Nick Foles, who transferred into the program after spending time at ASU and Michigan State. Foles started his UA career as the backup to  Matt Scott before taking over the job three games into the season.

During his time with the Wildcats, Foles had numerous memorable games and moments that live in the minds of all Arizona fans. The one that tops them all was UA’s 34-27 win over No. 9 Iowa where he passed for 303 yards and two touchdowns against the Hawkeyes.

Although NFL career shouldn’t count towards college rankings, Foles did cement his legacy in the pros by going on a historic playoff run with the Eagles that was capped off with a Super Bowl 41-33 win over the Patriots. Not only did his team get the win but he won the MVP becoming the first WIldcat to win the award.

At the end of his career, Foles finished 1st in passing yards (10,011), passing touchdowns (67) and total offense (9,712) while completing 67% of his passing attempts.

Although this is the list at this moment, things could change drastically in the near future as current Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita, who is entering his fourth season with the program and has already put himself in the top ten in all passing statistics.

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