Son of former Heisman-winning quarterback chooses SMU over Arizona Wildcats

It’s been a disappointing season, to say the least, for the Arizona Wildcats in their first campaign as a member of the Big 12, and the hits just keep coming.

Quarterback has been a problem for the Wildcats this year, with sophomore Noah Fifita failing to make the move from the much weaker (and now defunct) PAC-12, and while this hasn’t been the only reason for the team, it certainly didn’t help.

While Arizona has committed two three-star recruits to the program so far for the class of 2025, it’s never too early to look even further into the future.

One target on the Wildcats’ radar has Heisman Trophy-winning pedigree in Matt Leinart’s son, Cole Leinart, but the recruit has announced he will commit to the SMU Mustangs according to Hayes Fawcett of On3 Sports.

According to 247 Sports, Leinart is a three-star recruit out of Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California.

He is ranked as the 81st best quarterback recruit for the 2026 class in the country and the 158th best recruit from California.

In addition to Arizona and the Mustangs, Leinart also received offers from the UNLV Rebels, the San Jose State Spartans, the Utah Utes, the Georgia Southern Eagles, the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Colorado Buffaloes.

SMU’s dominance this season, and now being part of the ACC, has helped the program on the recruiting trail, as they currently rank as the 28th ranked class in the country for 2025, and the fifth best in their conference, although it is too early to tell to rank the classes of 2026.

The Wildcats will now have to go back to the drawing board to determine who the next quarterback for the class of 2026 will be that they will try to bring to campus.