Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
ESPN's Reid: Arizona worth watching for 2025 NFL Draft prospects
The Arizona Wildcats football team on Monday was ranked No. 21 in The Associated Press top 25 preseason poll despite entering a new conference with a new head coach. Expectations are high because the roster is led by a foursome of players with NFL-level talent.
ESPN NFL draft analyst Jordan Reid pinned Arizona as an “under-the-radar team to watch” in reference to their potential for prospects taken in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Of the 10 teams featured, Oregon was the only other former Pac-12 member to make the cut.
Reid split the prospect-heavy programs into three tiers based on predicted first-rounders and total draftees expected to enter next year’s draft.
Powerhouses Georgia and Ohio State occupied the top two spots in Tier 1, unsurprising as No. 1 and No. 2 in AP’s preseason poll. They’re expected to produce 16 and 14 projected draft picks, respectively.
In total, Reid expects Arizona to produce two first-round players and four overall picks in 2025.
‘Top prospect to know:’ WR Tetairoa McMillan
McMillan, the 6-foot-5 rising junior, has already been graded with great stock this preseason as a fixture of three All-American teams and a candidate for the Biletnikoff and Maxwell awards.
He capped last season with 90 catches and 1,402 receiving yards while finding the end zone 10 times. The projected 2025 first-rounder also averaged 107.8 yards per game, placing fifth in all the FBS.
Reid compared the Wildcat’s wideout to the Drake London of the Atlanta Falcons due to his overall size and versatility. Though the NFL draft expert currently has McMillan as the second wide receiver going off his board to Luther Burden III of Missouri, Reid said he would not be shocked if the Arizona product went No. 1 like London did just two years ago.
‘Sleeper prospect to watch:’ OL Jonah Savaiinaea
Fellow rising junior Savaiinaea was not a recipient of as much preseason attention as McMillan, but the 2023 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention has proven enough at such a valuable position.
Reid said pro scouts are torn on whether the 330-pounder projects as a guard or tackle, but the consensus is he will be a top-40 pick.
Savaiinaea started all 13 games for Arizona last season while only allowing two sacks in 889 snaps. He has played both tackle and guard for the Wildcats and Reid said that type of versatility could significantly increase his draft capital.
Other Wildcat standouts
Quarterback Noah Fifita made huge strides in his first season as a starter for Arizona, collecting 2023 Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year.
He posted 2,869 passing yards and 25 touchdowns through the air up against only six interceptions. Despite his ability to produce magical plays, Reid said that his smaller size (5-foot-10, 194 pounds) and lack of production in the pocket will limit his ceiling.
Fifita’s 72.4% completion rate in 2023 was the highest in program history, highlighted by a 30-for-41 performance in the Territorial Cup against rival Arizona State in which he tossed for a single-game record 527 yards.
Cornerback Tacario Davis was Reid’s final Wildcat with professional upside. He’s a rising junior who was an 2023 All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention.
Like McMillan, he achieved national notoriety thanks to last year’s campaign, as he finished tied for fourth in pass breakups with 14. Reid credited Davis’ “lanky body structure” for his success and projection as a late first or early second-round pick.
Davis also closed out his sophomore season with a career-high 25 total tackles and appeared in all 13 games.
In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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