'Tough sucker' Riley Wilson 'going to be a household name' for Arizona Wildcats

The Arizona football coaching staff has often compared recruiting out of the transfer portal to “speed dating.”

Coaches don’t have the luxury of recruiting players over a two- or three-year period in the same fashion as recruiting high school prospects. It’s a few phone calls and an official visit for a player out of the transfer portal.

When Arizona recruited Montana transfer linebacker Riley Wilson, UA defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales reached out to longtime friends and colleagues to acquire information.

Montana head coach Bobby Hauck was San Diego State’s special teams coordinator while Gonzales was the Aztecs’ defensive coordinator under head coach Rocky Long.

When Gonzales was interested in the veteran linebacker entering his final season as a college football player, he reached out to Hauck, who asked his former colleague to convince Wilson to stay at Montana, but said, “’You should take him and do everything you can to get him,’” Gonzales said.

“I had someone I really trust in this business validate him before I ever talked to him, so it made it simple,” Gonzales said.

Wilson described Gonzales’ defensive philosophies as “aggressive.” Ditto for his recruiting.

“When I was in the portal I had a lot of schools contacting me, but what stuck out about Arizona and Coach G was that he was the only coach that consistently — even after I left Arizona (following an official visit) — called me and sent me messages,” Wilson said. “’Hey, man, we still need you here. What are you going to do when you go to this other school? We know what you’re going to do when you come here.’

“He was the only coach that stuck out and consistently texted me. He’s a real one. ... Coach G is amazing and he’s a big part of why I’m here now. I’m excited for this team and I’m excited for him to be back in a role that he’s really confident in and just thrive again.”

Wilson “is a tough sucker and he’s got great leadership skills,” Gonzales said.

“All of that was learned in one conversation (during his official visit),” said Arizona’s defensive coordinator.

Since joining the Wildcats in December, the 6-2, 230-pound Wilson has been as advertised.

“Riley Wilson is going to be a household name in Tucson by the end of the season,” Gonzales said. “He’s got some dynamic things he can do both on and off the football and he’s smart. I’ve yelled at him four or five times over the last two days about not running into somebody because we’re not even in pads. It’s great to have to slow him down.”

Wilson grew up in Prosper, Texas, which is about 37 miles north of Dallas and graduated from Prestonwood Christian Academy, where he mostly played wide receiver. The high school football culture in Texas “is like a religion,” Wilson said.

“All the stereotypes are true,” Wilson said. “I’m grateful to be from the state of Texas and represent them. It’s been a blessing to be from that state. It allowed me to build on my foundation going into college. ... Carrying over the things I learned in my life from the state of Texas, that brought me to where I am today.”

Then a 6-foot, 177-pound receiver, Wilson was “very under recruited” and “was definitely not fitting the demographic of a wide receiver to say the least, but I had fun playing that position,” he said. Wilson signed with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in 2020 and played receiver, tight end, safety and linebacker under former head coach Todd Graham and current coach Timmy Chang.

When Arizona kicks off the season against Hawaii later this month, Wilson’s first-ever game at Arizona Stadium will be a “full-circle moment.”

“God works in mysterious ways,” Wilson said. “It’s a great opportunity for me. This is my last year of college football and I started my career at Hawaii, so I’m going to finish it by opening up against some old-time friends, and I think it’s a great opportunity for us as a team to showcase what we can do. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

After three seasons in Honolulu as a reserve player, Wilson “bet on myself” and entered the transfer portal, with hopes of more playing time at his next destination. Wilson’s scenery went from palm trees and the Pacific Ocean to Ponderosa Pine Trees and mountains after he transferred to Montana, “which really made me bloom into the person I am now,” said Wilson.

“I had no film, no experience at all and they took a shot at me,” Wilson said.

When determining what position Wilson would play, Hauck and linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator Roger Cooper “sat down with me and I was like, ‘This is what I can do, here it is,’” said Wilson.

“They said, ‘No, we know exactly where you need to be and you’re going to love it,’” added Wilson. “They put me at ‘Mike’ linebacker and I took off and ran with the opportunity.”

In two seasons in Montana’s 3-3-5 defense, the same scheme Gonzales is expected to implement this season, Wilson was a back-to-back second-team All-Big Sky Conference choice as a linebacker-edge rusher hybrid. He had the second-most tackles for loss (15) in the Big Sky in 2023. Wilson rounded out his career at Montana with 136 tackles and 26.5 stops for loss.

Hauck “was really invested in what we did on defense (at San Diego State (and) they took what we did at San Diego State and took it to Montana,” Gonzales said. Hauck “instills an old-school type of coaching, a great loving type of coaching, but he expects a lot out of you,” said Wilson.

“Coach Hauck was a tremendous leader and had a big influence on my life. I’m just blessed to go there and make relationships,” said Wilson. “Transitioning to the tackling and the mindset of ‘Go get the ball,’ it’s the same mentality here. It was an easy transition.”

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Playing at the FCS level “is fun, but it takes a lot of grit,” Wilson said.

“At that level, you’re just trying to prove yourself and prove that you can play at this level and make it to this standard,” he said. “Every game is hard-nosed, people are talking trash and it’s more like a professional and glorified (junior college), but there’s a lot of talent in the FCS. Look at the portal now and look at how many guys are getting picked up out of the FCS — or even drafted (to the NFL). You can find talent anywhere, you just have to be at the right place.”

Including Wilson, Arizona signed 10 players from the FCS level in its 2025 recruiting class. Wilson’s time at Montana was a “tremendous blessing” and Cooper “is the reason I am the type of player I am now,” said the Arizona linebacker.

“They bet on me when no one else saw what I had,” Wilson said. “Whenever I went there, they knew I could do this and they fully believed in me. I owe them everything, because they gave me this opportunity. I’m sitting here now because of them.”

In Wilson’s second go-around in the portal, “I knew what I needed and I knew what was best for me,” he said, and for his last year of eligibility, “I wanted to find a place to grow and get me to the next step.”

Between Gonzales and first-year Arizona linebackers coach Josh Bringuel, who played in Gonzales’ 3-3-5 system at San Diego State, “I knew it was going to be a perfect fit,” Wilson said.

“Just the mindset of being completely aggressive and relentless,” Wilson said. “The pursuit to the ball, I feel like that was an easy transition.”

Wilson and defensive end-converted-linebacker Chase Kennedy, who went from 220-pound edge rusher to a 232-pound linebacker, are expected to add an edge-rushing component to Arizona’s linebacker corps, with returning starter Taye Brown and Texas State transfer Max Harris as other leaders of the group. Gonzales compared Wilson to Kennedy, but with “more off-the-ball experience.”

“Those guys — and their body types — give us a one-two punch,” Gonzales said of Wilson and Kennedy.

Arizona veteran safety Dalton Johnson said work ethic and reliability have been the most noticeable traits about Wilson.

“He’s a guy that I can count on,” Johnson said. “He might mess up, but I can tell him and he’ll respond and get it right. Those are the guys you want in your defense. He’s going to be a great piece for us.”

Transitioning from the FCS level to Power 4 can be a challenge. The talent level across the board is superior, but “I’m not concerned at all about taking this jump up,” said Wilson.

“I’ve had great opportunities at the FCS level to play against some top-name talents, a lot of guys who’ve been drafted,” Wilson said.

Montana went a combined 22-7 the two seasons Wilson played for the Grizzlies, with two FCS playoff appearances, including an appearance in the national championship, a 23-3 loss to South Dakota State. North Dakota State, Idaho, UC Davis and Delaware were other FCS powers Montana faced during Wilson’s UM career.

“Those type of teams produce great talent and caliber of guys that would blow the smoke out here in the Big 12,” Wilson said. “I’m not scared at all of the talent in the Big 12. I’m just really excited for the opportunity to showcase that I can do this.”

Wilson’s hobbies and interests are adapting off the field, too.

“I do everything I can in the setting I’m in,” he said.

At Hawaii, he learned how to surf, which then turned into snowboarding at Montana. Wilson was also a hunter at Montana, and his roommates processed the meat and made venison-based meals and snacks.

“Montana has some great hunting,” Wilson said. “Whenever we got the chance, my roommates would show me how to really hunt — not sitting in no blinds or anything like that glorified Texas hunting.”

Now at Arizona, his new off-the-field hobby is golf, “especially now that it’s this hot, the rates are a lot lower, so for us college students, it’s a lot more (affordable) for us to go play some golf,” Wilson said.

“We’ll shoot 100, but it’s just fun to be with the guys and create relationships,” he added. “I’m an outdoorsy guy. Whenever it’s time to enjoy my hobbies, anything outdoors. Whatever it is, I just like to be in God’s creation and soak up the sun.”

Wilson said he’s “hopeful to play football for a long time,” but when his football-playing career comes to a close, “my dad has worked a lot of his life in the roofing business, so maybe something along the family lineage.” Wilson’s father, Buddy, played football for the legendary Woody Hayes at Ohio State.

If everything goes according to plan at Arizona, “Riley Wilson is going to be a name that people in Tucson remember,” Gonzales said.

Wilson’s journey gives him confidence the Wildcats will improve from their 4-8 campaign last season.

“This is my third school, so I’ve seen the highs and lows of a college football team,” Wilson said. “This is a special team, a player-run team. The standard is set through the players. It started with the coaches and now that everything is coming together, it’s going to be a lot of fun. ... I’m just tremendously blessed.

“This is my last year and I’ve worked up a lot of my life to be able to play at this caliber of football. It’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a little kid. God has blessed me and even if I didn’t get to play this year, I’ve already lived out my dream. I’m grateful for this opportunity God has given me.”