The season was the Wildcats's 118th overall, 40th as a member of the Pac-12 Conference, seventh within the Pac-12 South Division, and the sixth and final year under head coach Rich Rodriguez.

After Rich Rodriguez was fired, Kevin Sumlin was named the Wildcats' new full-time head coach on January 14, 2018.

The Wildcats would lose twenty-nine (twenty seniors due graduation) football players.

The Wildcats would lose nine more players from the 2016 team due to various reasons (transfers and withdrawals will be filled out once spring practice occurs).

The Wildcats signed 39 players including 10 HS walk-on players, 24 high school recruits, 3 JC transfers from junior colleges and 1 transfers were from NCAA Division I (FBS) programs.

The 2017 Arizona football spring game will take place in Tucson, AZ at a date and time to be determined.

Arizona returns 30 starters in 2017, including 14 on offense, 9 on defense, and 7 on special teams.

Arizona was not scheduled to play Pac-12 North opponents Stanford and Washington in the 2017 regular season.

Arizona's out of conference opponents represented the American, Big Sky, and C-USA.