Wanna be a legend these days? Stay in one place for your entire college career. Writing this even a decade ago would have seemed ridiculous, but not that the transfer portal and NIL have led to free agency and the highest bidder winning. Staying home is harder than ever. But you can be legendary if you do.
Look at the reaction of Arizona fans to WR Tetairoa McMillan and QB Noah Fifita when they announced they are returning to the Wildcats. After being screwed over by head coach Jedd Fisch after an amazing season and watching more than a dozen players hit the portal, Arizona fans need something, anything to cling to. And now these two superstars give them just that something. Both are talented enough to have 20 or more Power Five schools interested, and they could have bolted with ease. Now, they will go down as legends if they stay the course and remain for their careers.
Arizona went 10-3 last season, and many think they were the favorite heading to the Big 12 next season. Then Fisch bolted for Washington, players bolted for the portal, and all was in question. Fifita threw for 2,869 yards and 25 TDs last season as a freshman. Many of those TDs (10) were to the sophomore McMillan, who amassed 1,402 yards through the air. This is one of the most dynamic combinations in college football. And they have a chance to go down with Rob Gronkowski, Lance Briggs, Chris McAlister, and Teddy Bruschi as all-time greats.
Think about guys like Jordan Addison (Pitt) and even Arizona’s own Dorian Singer, who were coming off amazing years and decided to head to USC. While it worked out for Addison from an NFL standpoint, he regressed in LA and could have gone down with Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald and others in Pitt lore. And Singer? He’s off to Utah for his second stop. Sometimes, leaving isn’t the best option, and staying put works out.
Time will tell if it works out for these two, but more and more, I find myself pointing out guys who stay at one school moreso than guys that leave. You can’t argue with the success stories of those who have left; many of them made a major step forward in their development, like WR Keon Coleman (FSU from Michigan State), RB Ray Davis (Kentucky from Vanderbilt), and RB Jahmyr Gibbs (Georgia Tech to Alabama) just to name a few but they also left heartbroken fans in their wake. Staying and being successful is going to be more and more rare which means more and more chances to be legends.
More Sports News
As much as we criticize the portal, and we honestly have no legitimate reason to as coaches continue to leave from job to job without worrying about who they leave behind, we should also praise those who stick to their team. The Arizona fan base isn’t as big as Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, and others, so this won’t get as much notice, but I noticed at least. Kudos to these two young stars.
