Tetairoa McMillan leaves lasting impression on Chris Klieman
Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan lines up before a play during the second quarter against Kansas State Friday September 13, 2024 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The All-American wideout put on a stellar performance Friday night, despite Arizona losing by 24 points on the road to Kansas State.
It didn’t matter if Tetairoa McMillan was out on the edge, in the slot, or in motion because he created a mismatch every time he touched the ball. McMillan kept the Wildcats’ secondary on their toes, and forced Coach Chris Klieman to alter his game plan with the way they defended him.
McMillan was Noah Fifita’s top weapon, which is why the quarterback targeted him 14 times. Once the smoke cleared McMillan hauled in a game-high, 11 passes for 138 yards. Not to mention most of his production came in the first half. Klieman thought his defenders did a great job of containing McMillan, despite him eclipsing the century mark in receiving yards.
“Try not to let him have 20 catches, and he made some really unbelievable catches, even the one they called him out of bounds on, holy cow,” Klieman said. “I thought coverage was pretty good, he’s just really special and we were trying to keep the ball in front of us, and we thought that was important for him not to have passes.”
There’s a reason why ‘T-Mac’ is projected as a first-rounder in next year’s NFL Draft. The six-foot-five, 212-pounder uses his frame to catch balls at its’ highest point. In Klieman’s eyes, McMillan is a player that requires double coverage on any given play, and most of the time that’s not even enough.
The Hawaii native knows how to run crisp routes, isn’t afraid to go over the middle, and makes acrobatic catches look easy. Kansas State’s defensive backs Marques Sigle and Jacob Parrish had their hands full early on. It even got to the point where Klieman had his secondary shadow McMillan, just to make sure they didn’t allow anything deep.
“His long was 38 on the one play in the second quarter, I think, just trying not to give up the 60 yarders, and he’s going to catch some balls in front.” he said. “We were playing press and playing over the top, but he’s six-foot-five, and with a huge catch radius that we were excited when it was catch tackle, because that got him in second and six or second and five, and kind of kept us ahead of the sticks a little bit.”
After Kansas State built a comfortable lead in the second half, McMillan was no longer a factor. The Wildcats were able to pin their ears back defensively, and forced Fifita to find other targets, and he couldn’t. Arizona (2-1) must find new ways to move the ball downfield offensively, and a bye-week is coming at the perfect time.
Regardless, McMillan’s impact on the game, and his production was noteworthy to Klieman. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise why he’s currently second in the FBS in receiving yards per game, and is likely going to be the best receiver Kansas State will see all season.
