PHOENIX – The last time Arizona hosted a No. 2-ranked team was in 2007, when the Wildcats stunned Oregon 34-24. Nearly 19 years later, the Wildcats will have another opportunity to upset the No. 2 team in the country in a must-win home game to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive when they welcome the Utah Utes and their Heisman Trophy candidate, Devon Dampier, into Casino Del Sol Stadium on Saturday.
Dampier, Utah’s senior quarterback, returns to his home state after a standout prep career played primarily at Scottsdale Saguaro High School, where he threw for 4,771 yards and 44 TDs and rushed for 2,241 yards and 26 more TDs.
Dampier threw 21 touchdown passes and rushed for 12 more during his senior season. He also helped lead Saguaro to the 2021 AIA Open Division state championship, throwing two touchdown passes and rushing for 134 yards to beat Chandler, 20-15, in the title game.
“Playing at Saguaro meant the world to me,” Dampier said at Big 12 media day earlier this season. “I happen to be one of the kids who got to watch Christian Kirk play a lot of ball, and he was a huge inspiration. To be able to attend the same school and have a similar impact, to win a state championship, it meant a lot.”
Dampier’s former high school coach, Jason Mohns, who now coaches tight ends at Arizona State, had nothing but praise for his former quarterback.
“He’s an elite competitor. He’s an elite leader. He’s a multiplier,” Mohns said. “He’s just one of those guys that brings such good, consistent energy every day.
“The thing with Devon is you couldn’t really measure what made him great. It wasn’t height, it wasn’t length, it wasn’t necessarily arm talent, it wasn’t speed, it wasn’t crazy combine numbers. It was the stuff that you really only see when you’re with him, when you’re coaching him, when you’re on the sideline.”
Dampier won the 2022 Ed Doherty Award, an honor presented annually to Arizona’s top high school football player. Despite that accolade, he was a three-star recruit out of high school and received only six FBS offers, according to 247Sports.
One of those offers came from a guy with whom Dampier will reconnect on Saturday. Dampier committed to New Mexico on Oct. 12, 2022, after being recruited by then-Lobos head coach Danny Gonzales, now Arizona’s defensive coordinator.
Dampier saw limited action during his freshman season at New Mexico, completing 40 of 64 passes for 525 yards and six touchdowns. He also rushed for 328 yards and four touchdowns before breaking out in 2024.
“I love Devon Dampier,” Gonzales said in his Tuesday press conference. “I made the decision as a head coach that the development of Devon Dampier was better than him being our starting quarterback (his freshman season).”
In his sophomore season, Dampier took over as New Mexico’s full-time starter, throwing for 2,768 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was even more dangerous on the ground, rushing for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Dampier entered the transfer portal in December 2024 and transferred to Utah to reunite with Jason Beck, his offensive coordinator at New Mexico, who left the Lobos to become Utah’s offensive coordinator under then-coach Kyle Whittingham, then followed Whittingham to Michigan in December 2025.
Dampier has led Utah to No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings, the school’s highest ranking in the CFP era and matching Utah’s highest ranking ever, which came in 2008 when Utah went 13-0 and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Dampier is listed with top-five odds to win the Heisman on most betting sites.
“I love that young man like he’s one of my own,” Gonzales said. “And I’m super happy for all the success he’s had and I hope he gets freaking annihilated on Saturday night and then I’ll pick him up after the game and love him and all those good things.”
After this season, Dampier will have the option to declare for the NFL draft or return to college for another season.
“He’s certainly a playmaker as a dual-threat QB,” said Justin Melo, who covers the NFL draft for Sports Illustrated. “The proof is in the numbers. He’s closing in on 3,000 career rushing yards and over 40 TDs on the ground.”
Arizona is ranked No. 23 in the latest CFP rankings and is currently 4-2 in the Big 12. Arizona’s two losses came against No. 12 Texas Tech and No. 10 BYU.
Arizona narrowly avoided a devastating loss to TCU on Nov. 6 after a dramatic finish. The Wildcats recovered a muffed pooch kick in TCU territory, set up a go-ahead field goal, and cornerback Tyrese Boss sealed the victory with an interception on the Horned Frogs’ ensuing possession.
A win over No. 2 Utah would help Arizona climb the College Football Playoff rankings, but one of the nation’s top teams and top quarterbacks stands in the Wildcats’ way.
The Utes are coming off their biggest win of the season, defeating rival BYU, 28-20, at home on Nov. 7. Dampier threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for two more in that win.
“Devon’s legs really were the biggest weapon in the second half,” Utah coach Morgan Scalley said at his Monday press conference. “Another great performance by him, making people pay.”
It wasn’t the first time Dampier took down a ranked opponent with his legs. Dampier rushed for 150 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-13 victory over then-No. 14 Houston on Oct. 24.
“He’s a tough football player,” Gonzales said. “I mean, he’s everything you want, and he is the life of that football team. He beat BYU with his legs. He beat Houston with his legs.”
Dampier leads one of the Big 12’s most prolific offenses, with Utah averaging 37.7 points per game and scoring 46 touchdowns this season. Both marks rank second in the conference behind Oklahoma State.
Utah has established itself as one of the fastest-starting teams in college football, scoring touchdowns on eight of its nine opening possessions, presenting an immediate challenge for Arizona’s defense.
“You got to give them a ton of credit because they’ve given everybody problems,” Gonzales said. “We better adjust fast so that they don’t just keep scoring and scoring.”
Gonzales emphasized he’s ready to embrace whatever threat Dampier brings to Arizona on Saturday night.
“The thing that Devon doesn’t get credit for is that Devon is an elite thrower,” Gonzales said. “People think that he can’t throw because of all the different things he does with the triple option. Devon can throw the damn football. So, we’ve got an unbelievable challenge, and I’m excited.”
Dampier is looking forward to his return home.
“My time in Arizona was amazing,” Dampier said in an interview that was part of the Fiesta Bowl’s Quarterback Conversation series. “It’s low-key a slept-on state. I try to tell them AZ’s got talent and they’re like, ‘No Texas or California.’
“AZ Is fun. We appreciate football. Every game for me was awesome.”
For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
