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Jedd Fisch explains how Stanley Berryhill III, Jalen Harris won Arizona’s No. 1 jersey

Graphic via Arizona Athletics

The Arizona Wildcats formally announced Monday that wide receiver Stanley Berryhill III and defensive end Jalen Harris have earned the honor of wearing the No. 1 jersey this season.

At one point, the Wildcats had nine players vying to wear that number. Head coach Jedd Fisch turned it into a competition, awarding it to the player(s) who earned it in fall camp.

“They had to do a lot of different things,” Fisch said. “Number one, no misses. They had to be every practice, had to participate, had to go hard every play every day, can’t be late to any meetings, can’t miss really anything. Have to do well academically. Both of them graduated, both of them still maintain their GPAs and did a nice job there. They had to lead the team when the team is tired. They were certainly two guys that made sure everybody worked extremely hard. They really are everything that a Wildcat should be. They’re people that give back to the community. They are people that love the Arizona Wildcats. Both are Arizona natives. They’re both people that dreamt of playing here, and they both are accomplishing it. They both start and I’m proud of both of those guys.”

Berryhill and Harris are highly respected by their teammates too. They were two of the six players voted to be team captains.

Berryhill was Arizona’s leading receiver in the abbreviated 2020 season, catching 23 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns. Harris is one of Arizona’s top pass rushers, logging seven sacks in 32 career games. He is expected to excel even more in Don Brown’s blitz-heavy defense.

When asked why both players were given the No. 1 jersey instead of just one, Fisch said: “The beautiful thing about college football is that you double up on numbers. We’ve got guys with all different single-digit numbers, and it was one of those that it was really both of those guys deserve it, and they’re about the only two that were in that elite category for that jersey number.”