Former Arizona cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew is transferring to the Wildcats' former Pac-12 foe, the Cal Golden Bears, he announced on Tuesday.
The Golden Bears are led by first-year head coach Tosh Lupoi, who was previously a defensive coordinator on Dan Lanning's staff at Oregon for four years.
Cal has three players in its 2026 transfer portal class with Arizona ties: Groves-Killebrew, former UA tight end Dorian Thomas and running back Adam Mohammed, who was signed to play for the Wildcats in 2024, but followed former head coach Jedd Fisch to Washington and left after two seasons as the backup to ex-Wildcat Jonah Coleman. Thomas transferred to New Mexico in 2025 and had 56 catches for 560 yards and four touchdowns for the 9-4 Lobos.
Cal is Groves-Killebrew's fourth school in five seasons.
In 2022, the 6-0, 185-pound Groves-Killebrew signed with Texas A&M as a four-star recruit after staring at Atlanta-area North Cobb High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. Groves-Killebrew played in the 2022 All-American Bowl, which also featured former UA star wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan and former running back Rayshon “Speedy” Luke, who was the game’s MVP after scoring two touchdowns.
Groves-Killebrew appeared in three games at Texas A&M before transferring to Louisville, where he spent the first roughly dozen years of his life before moving to Atlanta. After a season at Louisville, he transferred to Arizona for his redshirt sophomore season in 2024.
Groves-Killebrew started six games in his first season at Arizona and had 26 tackles, four pass deflections and one stop for loss in 2024. He briefly entered the transfer portal and committed to Nebraska, but withdrew his name from the transfer portal and returned to Arizona for a second season.
Groves-Killebrew appeared in seven games this past season for the Wildcats and had seven tackles. After suffering an undisclosed injury in October, Groves-Killebrew missed the final five games of the season. The cornerback played nine snaps in Arizona's 24-19 loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl.
Find out the latest updates on Arizona football's activity in the transfer portal with the Star's tracker on Tucson.com and The Wildcaster mobile app.
