Arizona Wildcats Training Camp Talk: Developing Freshmen

Arizona football is officially BACK in action and the long offseason is finally coming to an end as the Wildcats have opened up their 2025 training camp to get things geared up for the season with the team set to face Hawaii on Aug. 30 at home at 7:30 p.m. (MST) on TNT.

After an underwhelming 2024 season under Brent Brennan where Arizona went 4-8 after starting the year in the preseason AP Poll at No. 21 and ending the year losing 7 out of its last 8 games, the Wildcats made changes to the roster and their coaching staff.

Brennan revamped his coaching staff by hiring Seth Doege as the offensive coordinator and promoting Danny Gonzales to the defensive coordinating job. Plus, he was able to bring in defensive line coach Joe Salave’a, who is regarded as one of the top recruiters in the nation and a former Wildcat as well.

“When we go through a tough season like we did a year ago, you got to find a way to fix what was broken, fix what wasn’t working and put those pieces together,” Brennan said. “And part of those pieces are how we’re going to do things in terms of how we’re going to coach, what we’re going to do schematically and the other part is who are the players that are going to play those roles.”

The energy at practice was high, loud and the pace of play was a complete 180 from the previous season and matches the mindset and mentality that the coaching staff wasn’t to bring to the 2025 season.

This offseason, Arizona added 61 new faces to its roster from the transfer portal and recruiting class. Throughout camp, we have seen many of the true freshmen stand out and some that may not see playing time this season but have made progress during camp.

Here we breakdown the top three progressing freshmen during the Wildcats’ training camp:

Louis Akpa

• Coming into training camp, Arizona’s coaching staff was extremely excited for offensive lineman Louis Akpa from the 2025 recruiting class. Out of the six offensive linemen in the class, Akpa has been the guy that is physically ready to be a contributing piece during camp and has gotten the majority of his reps with the second team offense and very few with the first unit.

• While working with the second team unit, Akpa struggled early on in camp in 11-on-11 drills and it was clear that he needed to find his footing and get comfortable with the speed of the college game.

• However, as the days have moved along in practice, we have seen Akpa slowly progress with his footwork, reaction time and understanding of the offensive system. He has improved drastically throughout camp and is showing why the staff is so high on his potential.

Kaleb Bilal-Jones

• One of the top defensive players in the state of Arizona coming out of high school was defensive tackle Kaleb Jones, who at Mountain Pointe had offers from Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State and others before picking the Wildcats.

• In training camp, Jones hasn’t been able to get with the first team offense and has seen limited time with the second team unit on top of that. However, he was solid in those times out on the field during 11-on-11 drills.

• During position workouts, we have seen him get stronger and he seems like he is finding his footing with the speed of the college game.

Isaiah Mizell

• One of the top recruits for the 2025 class that Arizona managed to land was wide receiver Isaiah Mizell, who had Notre Dame get involved in his recruitment late in the process trying to snag him from the Wildcats. Mizell stayed committed to UA despite the underwhelming season and has been solid in camp.

• Although at this point in time, Mizell has a small frame at 6-foot-1, 164 pounds, he has been able to be a big playmaker for the second team offense and has made plays down field making tough catches and burning defensive backs with his speed.

• Now, Mizell is highly talented and has a bright future but he will need to add weight. Still, he has time to grow with the current depth in the receiving room and will have time with the strength staff to put on the needed pounds.