The NCAA transfer portal giveth and it taketh, but sometimes it just gives back what it took. For Arizona, that happened not once but twice on Thursday.

Safety Dalton Johnson is returning to the Wildcats for his redshirt senior season, withdrawing from the portal after going in last week. He joins fellow safety Genesis Smith, who did the same earlier Thursday.

Johnson, the only member of Arizona’s 2021 recruiting class–which signed in between Kevin Sumlin being fired and Jedd Fisch getting hired–led the Wildcats with 94 tackles this season. He started 11 games, missing one because of injury, and has 24 starts with 36 career appearances.

Arizona has had more than 30 players from the 2024 team enter the portal including the majority of the defensive starters, but getting back Johnson and Smith helps solidify a back line that has added three players from the portal and will have Duane Akina back as position coach following a season as defensive coordinator.

The return of Johnson and Smith continues the recent good news for Arizona, which on Wednesday night saw quarterback Noah Fifita announce he was coming back for 2025. Fifita has started the last 21 games.

Looking for a tough nonconference schedule? Have some Pac-12 nostalgia? Arizona softball has it covered.

The Wildcats released their full schedule on Thursday morning, adding the nonconference slate to the previously released Big 12 schedule. It has something to please everyone.

Arizona will keep rivalries with former Pac-12 opponents Washington, Stanford, and UCLA. They will bring Alabama and Texas to Tucson and play home and away against Cal State Fullerton. In total, the Wildcats will play 12 teams that made the NCAA tournament last season and appear in 32 games at Hillenbrand Stadium.

Things kick off with the Candrea Classic at Hillenbrand Stadium from Feb. 6-9, 2025. First on the slate is a doubleheader against Michigan State on Thursday, Feb. 6. The Spartans finished 21-30 overall last year and went 7-16 in the Big Ten but had a five-game winning streak to end the season.

That game heads straight into the land of the Pac-12 with the first of two games against the Washington Huskies on Friday, Feb. 7. It’s the first game of a Friday night doubleheader with the second game against Western Michigan. The Wildcats will play UW a second time on Sunday, Feb. 9.

The Huskies went 32-10 overall last season. They were 13-10 in their final Pac-12 season. They beat Arizona 2-1 in their series in Tucson. Their season ended in the Columbia Regional with a loss to Missouri. They went 1-2 in the postseason.

Saturday, Feb. 8 will feature Alabama. The Crimson Tide were 39-20 last year. They went 10-14 in the SEC. They advanced to the Women’s College World Series, going 1-2 and bowing out to Florida. They defeated Arizona twice during the regular season in Tuscaloosa.

Arizona hosts the Bear Down Fiesta the weekend of Feb. 13-16. The Wildcats will play South Alabama on Thursday, Feb. 13 and again on Friday, Feb. 14. They face Fullerton on Feb. 14 and Sunday, Feb. 16. Ohio is on the slate on Saturday, Feb. 15.

Arizona played South Alabama in Tuscaloosa last year. The game ended in a 1-1 tie after 11 innings due to the “drop dead time.” The Jaguars ended their year 34-20-1 overall and 16-8 in the Sun Belt Conference. They went 2-2 at the Gainesville Regional, losing twice to host team Florida.

Fullerton was 39-19 overall in 2024. The Titans ended Big West play 22-5. They went 3-2 at the Stanford Regional, beating the host Cardinal and ranked Mississippi State once each.

The Ohio Bobcats were 31-24 last season. They finished 18-8 in the MAC. Their season ended with a loss to Ball State in the MAC Tournament.

The Wildcats stay home for the third week in a row to host the Hillenbrand Invitational from Feb. 20-23. The featured teams this weekend are Stanford and Texas, with the Cardinal playing UA twice.

Things start on Thursday, Feb. 20 with the Cardinal. The two teams will face off again on Sunday, Feb. 23.

Stanford will be a different team this season without NiJaree Canaday, whom Arizona will face in Big 12 play against Texas Tech. However, the Cardinal have advanced to the WCWS the last two seasons. They went 57-17 in 2024, finishing 17-7 in their last Pac-12 season.

The Cardinal went 2-1 against Arizona in Tucson last season. They went 2-2 in Oklahoma City, losing 1-0 to national runner-up Texas in their final game.

In between the two games against Stanford, the Wildcats will play UC Davis twice, once on Feb. 20 and once on Feb. 21. The game against the Aggies on Friday will be followed by a game against Colorado State. Saturday, Feb. 22 will feature Texas.

The Aggies were 21-29 overall and 12-15 in the Big West. The Rams went 26-21 overall and 9-12 in the Mountain West.

Texas was ranked No. 1 for a good chunk of 2024. The Longhorns went 55-10 overall and 23-4 in their final Big 12 season. They went 3-2 in Oklahoma City, losing the championship series to Oklahoma in two straight games.

The Wildcats play their first road game in a one-off at Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, Feb. 26. LMU was 28-25 last season. The Lions finished 9-7 in the WCC.

The trip to Southern California continues on the return games at Cal State Fullerton from Feb. 28-Mar. 2. The Wildcats face the Wildcats of Weber State first on Friday, Feb. 28. They play the host Titans immediately following in a doubleheader.

Weber State finished 22-28 overall and 8-7 in the Big Sky in 2024.

Saturday, Mar. 1 features another doubleheader. First up is Notre Dame. Longtime rival UCLA follows.

The Bruins were 43-12 last year. Their last year in the Pac-12 ended with a 17-4 record. They won the series against Arizona 2-1 in Los Angeles. They then defeated Arizona by the score of 6-5 in the Pac-12 Tournament. They went 1-2 in Oklahoma City, losing back-to-back against Oklahoma and Stanford.

Things wrap up on Mar. 2 against San Diego State. The Aztecs finished 31-20 overall and 15-7 in the MWC last season. They went 0-2 in the Los Angeles Regional, losing to Virginia Tech and GCU.

Arizona returns home to start Big 12 play against UCF on Friday, Mar. 7, but they will play another one-off nonconference game against Utah State on Monday, Mar. 10. The Aggies were 22-28 last year and 5-17 in the MWC.

A Big 12 home series against Utah will be followed by a road game at GCU on Wednesday, Mar. 19. The Lopes had a 50-13 finish overall last season. They were 23-3 in the WAC. They lost 3-2 at Arizona on Apr. 30, 2024.

GCU went 2-2 at the Los Angeles Regional, a run that included defeating 17th-ranked Virginia Tech to advance to the regional final.

The next five weekends find the Wildcats facing Big 12 foes Arizona State, BYU, Oklahoma State, Kansas, and Texas Tech before another nonconference doubleheader.

The New Mexico State Aggies come to Tucson for a doubleheader on Tuesday, Apr. 22. The Aggies were 30-25 last year. They went 13-11 in Conference USA. Arizona defeated them twice in Las Cruces.

The Wildcats return to Southern California for two more games against San Diego State to complete their Big 12 bye week. The games will be held on Friday, Apr. 25 and Saturday, Apr. 26.

Arizona finishes the Big 12 regular season at Houston from May 2-4 before heading to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 Tournament May 7-10.

Lead photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics

It was an unfortunate season for the Arizona Wildcats, and things don’t exactly look promising moving forward with multiple players leaving for the NFL draft and the transfer portal.

However, keeping their star quarterback, Noah Fifita, was perhaps more important than anything else. 

The 21-year-old announced on Wednesday that he plans to stay at Arizona and won’t enter the transfer portal, despite some speculation around the college football world.

“The love and support for me has been nothing short of spectacular,” Fifita said, according to Justin Spears of Tuscon.com. “I’m so appreciative of Tucson and the University of Arizona. Even when things weren’t going well, I still get a lot of love and support — and I appreciate it. We know Tucson is used to winning and wants a winning football program. We’re going to work our asses off to give them that. We’re so grateful for Tucson. Tucson and the community is one of the reasons why we didn’t want to leave here.”

Fifita’s return is massive for an Arizona team that wants to return to its standards. After what he showed early in his career, he had a down season, throwing for 2,958 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. 

Many of the struggles from players on the roster certainly had to do with the lack of stability surrounding the program, but after making impressive hires and another year under Brent Brennan’s belt, things should hopefully improve.

Fifita will be tasked with fixing everything that went wrong. It won’t be an easy task for the Huntington Beach, California native, but he’s shown toughness throughout his time at Arizona and should help the program get to where it needs to be.