Before even playing his first snaps in the NFL regular season, former Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan will be inducted into the Arizona Ring of Honor during the Wildcats’ season opener against Hawaii on August 30.
McMillan, who played for the Wildcats from 2022-24, holds the Arizona record for receiving yards at 3,423 and was picked eighth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers.
McMillan overtook Wildcats receiver coach Bobby Wade (3,351) for the top spot, and Wade repaid the favor by breaking the news to McMillan of his Ring of Honor induction.
The greatest receiver to represent the Block A. pic.twitter.com/SVgVWyq1p6
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) August 4, 2025
“I think it’s an incredible honor, and I think it’s well deserved,” head coach Brent Brennan said Saturday in a press conference. “T-Mac has been just one of those guys that was always a great representative of the University of Arizona. Got to watch him play a little bit last night, which was fun, made a couple catches in his first preseason game.”
McMillan made his preseason debut for the Panthers last Friday, where he caught two passes for 43 yards.
A thing of beauty!
📺: NFL Network pic.twitter.com/YMbASkKTNz
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) August 8, 2025
“I think when you look at the Ring of Honor, there’s not a lot of wideouts in there, right? There’s not a lot of wide receivers on the Ring of Honor,: Brennan said. “I think it’s pretty special. It speaks to the caliber of player he is and also the caliber of person he is.”
Wildcats new receiving room
McMillan was nothing short of dominant during his time at Arizona. In his final season with the team in 2024, he logged 84 catches for 1,319 receiving yards and eight touchdowns.
McMillan was responsible for a monster 44% of the team’s total receiving yards (2,975) last season.
Among the many transfers arriving in Tucson over the offseason was Luke Wysong, who had a breakout season for New Mexico last year, hauling in 69 passes for 840 receiving yards.
Wysong was the lone Arizona receiver named to the 2025 Biletnikoff Award Preseason watch list last week.
Alongside Wysong, Kris Hutson is another receiver transfer hoping to earn a larger role this season.
Hutson is coming off of his best collegiate season at Washington State, catching 54 balls for 683 yards and two touchdowns.
“I think our expectations for Kris are really high,” Brennan said. “He’s a young man who’s played a lot of football, so he kind of matches high level talent with a lot of experience and then you see he plays with a lot of confidence out there. I mean, he is technically fantastic. He’s really clean that way, and so it’s fun. I think him and Noah (Fifita) are building some good chemistry, and I’m excited to see the things he’s going to do this fall.”
Besides Wysong and Hutson, the 2025 receiving core will feature returning players Chris Hunter and Jeremiah Patterson, as well as transfers Javin Whatley and Tre Spivey, the latter of whom transferred from Kansas State and has been earning first-team reps during camp.