TUCSON – Like most college quarterbacks with professional ambitions, Noah Fifita faces a difficult path to the NFL. It’s not necessarily because he doesn’t have the arm strength, or can’t read defenses on the fly. It’s because of something the University of Arizona signal caller can’t change. His height.
At 5-feet-10 and 190 pounds, Fifita is projected as a late-round draft pick or undrafted free agent partly because of his size, but his coaches are confident that he will make it to the next level despite being one of the smaller quarterbacks eligible for the 2027 NFL draft.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s drafted first or if he’s an undrafted free agent,” Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege said. “If he gets in that building, he’s staying in that building. I can guarantee you that he’s going to make that roster.”
Fifita is building his stock for a 4-1 Wildcats team that on Saturday plays 3-2 West Virginia. He has thrown for 1,415 yards and 13 touchdowns with three interceptions and a 166.3 passer rating, but that isn’t changing his draft stock in the eyes of some analysts.
“I do see him as an undrafted free agent,” said Justin Melo, who covers the NFL draft for Sports Illustrated. “There are some things to like on tape about him: He’s an accurate quarterback. The way he processes things really well at the line of scrimmage. Things like that, I do think will probably get him an opportunity in training camp.”
It is a rarity to find quarterbacks who are under 6-feet. The only two starting quarterbacks in the NFL under that height are the Carolina Panthers’ Bryce Young and the Minnesota Vikings’ Kyler Murray, both of whom are 5-foot-10.
“That’s just incredibly difficult to overcome,” Melo said. “In relation to what scouts look for and what they prefer from a size perspective – 5-10, 185, I believe, that’s just going to be 0 to 1 percentile in terms of NFL quarterback size. So, really, really tough to overcome. The size is by far the biggest concern.”
Quarterbacks under 6 feet have found success in the NFL. Dough Flutie, who was 5-foot-10, threw for 14,715 yards and 86 touchdowns. Flutie had a stint in the CFL from 1990 to 1997 before returning to the NFL.
Russell Wilson, 5-foot-11, achieved major success in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks and making 10 Pro Bowl appearances.
FIfita had his best season in 2025, passing for 3,228 yards and throwing for 26 touchdowns and six interceptions after struggling in 2024 with 12 interceptions when transitioning to a new coaching staff and offensive scheme.
Despite the rough year, Fifita returned to Tucson and put his name on the radar for scouts.
“Two thousand, nine hundred passing yards and 18 touchdowns certainly wasn’t the year he envisioned for himself,” Melo said, referring to 2024. “But you talk about sort of the mental fortitude, come back 2025, didn’t leave the program, right? He’s still there in Arizona and he throws for over 3,200 yards, Really impressive.”
Fifita and the Wildcats won nine games in 2025, knocking off No. 25 Cincinnati and No. 20 Arizona State.
“He had a big 2025. Really appreciated the way he bounced back. Probably one of the better years in program history from the quarterback position,” Melo said of last season when Fifita ranked 23rd in passing yards and ninth in touchdowns in all of college football.
“He’s an accurate quarterback. I talked about accuracy. I talked about the ball placement. I think he sees things really well pre-snap, especially at the line of scrimmage.”
Fifita said he doesn’t pay much attention to his draft stock, insisting his focus remains on the rest of the season. He has won 27 games with Arizona, just one shy of tying Ortege Jenkins for most wins by a Wildcats quarterback.
Fifita broke the school’s passing record this season when he threw for 297 yards against Northern Illinois in Week 3, leading the Wildcats to a 42-17 win and surpassing Nick Foles who held the previous record. Fifita now has 10,598 yards.
“How many games have you been a part of like that? The whole country should be talking about this kid,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “Not just based on how he plays, not just based on who he is and the choices he’s made throughout his career here. So many people have jumped ship and looked for something new where the grass was always greener.”
Fifita’s production in college has answered questions about whether his size stops him at the NCAA level. But will he be able to translate that into the NFL, or even hear his name called on draft day?
The people who witness Fifita play every day, in practice and in games, are pretty sure they know the answer.
“Anytime I get a chance to talk to a scout, I’m going to tell them exactly how I feel about Noah, and to me, Noah Fifita is the exception to every rule,” Doege said.
“One of my favorite things to say to anybody that’s that evaluating Noah Fifita is like if you spend a week with Noah. Come back and let’s talk after that and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”
This article first appeared on Cronkite News and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
