In-depth breakdown of Arizona football's transfer portal class

The transfer season is slowing down, especially with the portal closing for new entries this past Friday.

Arizona had more pickups (22) in the transfer portal than departures (21) in 2026.

Last season, Arizona had 35 players leave the program via the transfer portal, and the Wildcats signed 28 players — 17 of them were one-year players. Arizona has seven one-year transfers this season, so most of the portal pickups could be in Tucson for the 2027 season.   

The Wildcats signed seven defensive backs, three tight ends, three offensive linemen, three wide receivers, three linebackers, a running back, a punter and a long snapper for their 2026 transfer portal class — 10 offensive and defensive players with two special teams additions. Arizona's newcomers in the transfer portal played a combined 7,451 snaps in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus.

Here's our in-depth breakdown of Arizona's activity during college football's free agency frenzy over the last few weeks. 

DBU

The defensive secondary was one of Arizona's biggest strengths and a key cog to the Wildcats' defensive success in Year 1 under defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales this past season — and it quickly became a position of need for them in the offseason. 

Arizona lost the NFL-bound trio of Treydan Stukes, Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith — who combined to play 6,700 defensive snaps in their UA careers — along with starting cornerbacks Michael Dansby and Ayden Garnes.

The Wildcats also had safety Jack Luttrell, safety Devin Dunn, cornerback Gianni Edwards and Marquis Groves-Killebrew — who started six games for the UA in 2024 — enter the transfer portal. Groves-Killebrew signed with Cal, and Luttrell recently signed with Auburn. 

Gonzales, safeties coach Brett Arce, cornerbacks coach Chip Viney and Arizona's scouting department — now led by new general manager Aaron Knotts — quickly went to work to restock the room and pair veterans with the rising young talent that's returning in 2026.

Arizona added eight defensive backs this offseason — seven in the transfer portal: Oregon safety Daylen Austin, Nebraska safety Malcolm Hartzog, Wyoming cornerback Tyrese Boss, Northern Colorado safety Cam Chapa, Fresno City College cornerback transfer Brandon Holmes, UConn safety Lee Molette III, Charlotte cornerback Dwight Bootle II and Howard cornerback Zuri Watson. 

Between Hartzog (1,700 defensive snaps), Chapa (1,495), Molette (1,354), Boss (643), Watson (598), Bootle (461) and Austin (248), Arizona is adding a combined 6,499 defensive snaps of experience to its defensive secondary via the transfer portal, according to Pro Football Focus.

Boss, Holmes, Bootle and Watson will be in the mix at cornerback, a position group that returns starter Jay'Vion Cole, who's entering his senior season. Cole was second in the Big 12 with four interceptions. Cole had a pick-six in Arizona's 48-3 win over Weber State in 2025. 

Other returners at cornerback include freshmen Swayde Griffin and Dajon Hinton, who started in place of Stukes in the Holiday Bowl but suffered a leg injury in the first half. Redshirt junior Johno Price, who played 81 defensive snaps in 2025, is expected to return. 

The Wildcats signed four-star cornerback Xaier Hiler, a 6-4, 180-pound Dallas-area product, and Chandler Hamilton cornerback Kingston Spivey, the younger brother of Tre Spivey and son of former Tucson Sidewinders star Junior Spivey. The youngest Spivey is joining Arizona as a preferred walk-on.

Arizona's safety group includes redshirt junior Gavin Hunter, redshirt freshman Kason Brown and sophomore Coleman Patmon, who started Arizona's 24-19 loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl. Arizona signed three-star Georgia safety Hannibal Navies for its 2026 high school recruiting class. Hunter started the first two games at nickel back in place of the rehabbing Stukes.

Arizona currently has 20 defensive backs on its roster for 2026. Many of the newcomers have multiple years of eligibility. Chapa, Austin and Bootle have two years of eligibility remaining, while Watson, Boss and Holmes have three years of eligibility left. Hartzog and Molette are the only one-year newcomers Arizona is adding for 2026.

Hartzog, Molette and Chapa — who all play safety — are the most experienced defensive backs the Wildcats are bringing in.

Hartzog, who had a game-sealing interception against Cincinnati this past season, recorded 108 tackles, 4½ tackles for loss, 21 pass deflections and eight interceptions during his four-year career at Nebraska. Hartzog played multiple positions in Nebraska's secondary, including 909 snaps at cornerback, 474 snaps at slot cornerback, 237 snaps at strong safety and 67 at free safety.

Chapa is the latest player Arizona signed from the FCS market — and he's been one of the most productive defensive players at that level the last two seasons. The 6-1, 193-pound Chapa recorded 171 tackles, eight interceptions, 12 pass deflections, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Chapa, who was a first-team All-Big Sky selection in 2025, led the conference with 63 solo tackles. 

Molette, who's a Nashville-area native, had 124 tackles, eight pass deflections, an interception and a fumble recovery for the Huskies from 2022-25. Molette played all four years under former head coach Jim Mora, who's now the head coach at Colorado State. Molette played 1,677 snaps on defense and special teams, per PFF. 

Additionally, Austin — despite having a limited role in Oregon's secondary for the last three seasons — was a highly touted recruit in 2023. Many players in the transfer portal era have left perennial powers for more playing time at Arizona, including Cole (Texas), defensive tackle Bill Norton (Georgia), right tackle Tristan Bounds (Michigan) and running back Kedrick Reescano (Ole Miss). 

Arizona finished this season seventh in passing defense nationally and second in turnover margin behind the buzzsaw Indiana Hoosiers. The Wildcats had more takeaways (31) than touchdowns allowed (28) this season and led the Big 12 in interceptions. 

The Wildcats were a no-fly zone in 2025. They're losing three defensive backs who received All-Big 12 honors and are likely to be selected in the upcoming NFL Draft.

It won't be easy replicating — or even improving on — Arizona's success in the secondary from the 2025 season, but the UA staff made it a top priority this offseason. Roughly one-third of Arizona's transfer portal class are defensive backs. 

Cats stock up at receiver, tight end 

Wide receiver wasn't a position of need, but the offseason has made it a strength. 

Arizona signed three wide receivers in the transfer portal: Rodney Gallagher (West Virginia), Jordan Ross (Colorado State) and DJ Jordan (USC). 

Gallagher grew up in Uniontown, Pennsylvania — a small town near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border — and signed with the Mountaineers in 2023.  

The 5-10, 180-pound Gallagher was a four-star prospect and was recruited as a receiver and defensive back. Gallagher signed with nearby WVU over Michigan, Oregon, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Penn State and Texas, among others. 

In three years at West Virginia, Gallagher had 64 receptions for 605 yards and three touchdowns. Gallagher had the second-most receptions (28) for the Mountaineers this past season.

Jordan was also a highly touted recruit as a Los Angeles-area native and Sierra Canyon High School product. After redshirting his freshman season, the 5-11, 175-pound Jordan had five catches for 38 yards in his second season at USC.

Ross, who's also from L.A., had 26 catches for 302 yards and a touchdown during his two-year career with the Rams.

Ross, who played in Snoop Dogg's youth football league in Los Angeles, was a part of the CSU team that lost to Miami (Ohio) in the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop. Ross had four catches for 58 yards in his first performance at the now-called Casino Del Sol Stadium. 

The Wildcats are losing their top two receivers in Kris Hutson and Javin Whatley, who combined for 1,250 yards and nine touchdowns, to graduation. Arizona is also losing veteran wide receiver and special teams standout Luke Wysong. 

Arizona returns its third-leading receiver in redshirt junior Tre Spivey, along with redshirt senior Chris Hunter, sophomores Gio Richardson and Isaiah Mizell and third-year receiver Brandon Phelps. Spivey, Hunter and Richardson were a part of Arizona's six-man rotation in 2025 and could conceivably be Arizona's starting trio at receiver in 2026. Spivey, Hunter and Richardson combined for 1,052 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns this past season. 

Arizona signed four-star Northern California wide receiver RJ Mosley, who is the Wildcats' highest-rated recruit in the 2026 recruiting class, according to 247Sports.com, along with three-star Allen, Texas receiver Caleb "Jet" Smith. 

Arizona has a total of five newcomers at wide receiver in 2026. The Wildcats have four newcomers at tight end in '26, including three from the transfer portal: Cole Rusk (Illinois), Shane King (Southern Miss) and Arthur Ban (San Diego State).

Arizona also signed four-star Seattle-area tight end Henry Gabalis for 2026.

After losing Cameron Barmore, Sam Olson and Keyan Burnett, along with returning injured tight ends Tyler Powell and Kellan Ford, the Wildcats needed to bolster their tight end room for the '26 season. Between his stops at Murray State and Illinois, Rusk has played 642 offensive snaps. Rusk and Powell will be the elder statesmen of Arizona's tight end group, while King, Ban, Ford and Gabalis all have 3-4 years of eligibility remaining. 

The 6-5, 230-pound King was recruited by Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege and tight ends coach Josh Miller at Marshall. The tight end signed with the Thundering Herd, but followed former Marshall head coach Charles Huff, who's now the head coach at Memphis following one season at Southern Miss. 

Last offseason, Doege and Miller inherited the pieces in Arizona's offense with the timing of their hire. This offseason, they both have an influence on the weapons surrounding Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita for his last season in Tucson. 

Special teams reinforcements

The Wildcats added three special teams players since the season ended: Arkansas State long snapper Drew Nicolson and punters Ryan Harris and Chase Ridley.

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Harris is coming to Tucson after two seasons at Washington State. Harris, who has a year of eligibility remaining, is joining the Wildcats as a punter, but the WSU transfer has experience kicking field goals and kickoffs. 

He appeared in all 13 games as a punter for the Cougars in 2025, averaging 40.7 yards per punt — and a long of 60 yards. Harris pinned 15 punts inside the 20-yard line. Harris also attempted 60 kickoffs, with 45 touchbacks.

Nicolson joins Arizona after playing the last two seasons at Arkansas State. He started his college career in 2023 at Akron. The 6-2, 220-pound Tempe native appeared in all 12 games at Akron and transferred to Arkansas State in 2024.

Nicolson redshirted his first season with the Red Wolves and became the starting long snapper this past season. Arkansas State went 7-6 and beat Missouri State, 34-28, in the Xbox Bowl in Frisco, Texas. 

Ridley, who hails from Perth, Australia, is the latest Aussie to play at the UA. The 6-2, 233-pound Australian initially signed to play for former Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia, but was granted release from WVU and signed with the Wildcats. Ridley will start his Arizona career as a true freshman. 

Arizona had Australian native Isaac Lovison at punter last season. Lovison, who's out of eligibility, was ninth in the Big 12 in punting average (42.6) during his lone season in Tucson. 

Ridley joins Arizona via the ProKick Australia program that has produced several NFL punters, including Mitch Wishnowsky, Michael Dickson, Cameron Johnston and Lou Hedley, among others. Lovison, who was one of the first additions since the hiring of Arizona special teams coordinator Craig Naivar last year, was also a part of the ProKick Australia program as an Aussie rules football player.

The aforementioned trio will join the other specialists at Arizona in kicker Michael Salgado-Medina and long snapper Broden Molen. Walk-on kicker Tyler Prasuhn recently entered the transfer portal.

The importance of having specialists available in the spring? Chemistry. Arizona didn't have its starting long snapper (Avery Salerno), punter (Lovison) or field-goal holder (Ian Wagner) until the summer of last year.

The chemistry inconsistencies led to Salgado-Medina going 19 for 31 on field goals in 2025, the most misses in a season at the UA since 1999. Salgado-Medina was 5 for 12 at field goals between 40-49 yards, but displayed leg strength with a 57-yarder against Oklahoma State and a crucial 51-yarder against Cincinnati.

The one-time transfer portal window and newcomers added in the spring give Arizona at least six months to work on the field-goal operation between the snapper, holder and kicker. Harris and Ridley will likely be the two competitors for Arizona's starting punting job.

Influx of offensive linemen

Maybe the best news of the offseason for Arizona was the return of Bounds at right tackle. 

Bounds was granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA and is returning to the Wildcats. The veteran offensive lineman is one of two starters returning to Arizona in 2026, along with right guard Alexander Doost.  

Bounds signed with Michigan in 2021 and has played 669 offensive snaps in his collegiate career — 628 of them at Arizona. Bounds, who was a part of Michigan's national championship-winning squad in 2023, transferred to the UA after having a reserve role for four seasons. 

The 6-8, 291-pound Bounds was one of the Wildcats' top offensive linemen and started eight games at right tackle this past season and allowed three sacks in 372 pass-blocking snaps, but suffered a season-ending leg injury in Arizona's upset win over No. 25 Cincinnati in November and missed the final three games of the season, including the Wildcats' loss to SMU in the Holiday Bowl.

Bounds was replaced by redshirt freshman Matthew Lado, who did a serviceable job, but gave up a team-high four quarterback pressures in the Holiday Bowl, according to PFF.

With Bounds and Doost returning, the Wildcats need to replace left tackle Ty Buchanan, center Ka'ena Decambra and left guard Chubba Maae.

Arizona likely found its successor at center in Washington center transfer Zachary Henning. The 6-5, 310-pound Centennial, Colorado native signed with Washington as a three-star prospect in 2023 played three seasons for the Huskies — one season under former head coach Kalen DeBoer and the last two seasons under former UA head coach Jedd Fisch.

Henning appeared in 13 games in 2024, but primarily played special teams for the Huskies in his second season. Henning played in 13 games this past season and recorded 333 offensive snaps. Henning took over starting duties in November after starter Landen Hatchett broke his hand. Hatchett is returning to Washington next season.

If Henning is named Arizona's starter in 2026, he'll be the third center since Fifita became the starter in 2023, joining longtime starter Josh Baker and Decambra. 

The Wildcats have plenty of options at tackle between Bounds, Lado, Rhino Tapa'atoutai and redshirt freshman Louis Akpa, among others. Arizona added former San Jose State tackle Nate Hale and BYU tackle Jake Griffin, who is the older brother of Arizona redshirt freshman offensive tackle Jaxon Griffin. The older Griffin played 25 snaps at right tackle this past season at BYU.

Hale, who was recruited to San Jose State by Arizona head coach Brent Brennan and Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby, played 670 snaps at right tackle since signing with SJSU in 2023. 

Arizona also signed two four-star offensive tackles in its 2026 recruiting class: El Paso native Justin Morales and Phoenix-area product Malachi Joyner.

Potential players to compete for a spot at left guard are redshirt freshmen Javian Goo and Sione Tohi, and redshirt junior Isaac Perez. The Wildcats could also experiment with one of the tackles at guard. The left side of Arizona's offensive line will be among the most interesting position battles for the Wildcats in the offseason.   

The Wildcats currently have 20 offensive linemen on the roster for 2026, which is the same total as last season. 

No D-Line, no problem

Arizona had two position groups it didn't address in the transfer portal: quarterback and defensive line.

Arizona took a different approach with the defensive line in the transfer portal this year, after signing four in the transfer portal last season.  

The Wildcats are losing starting defensive tackles Deshawn McKnight and Tiaoalii Savea, along with rotational edge rusher Malachi Bailey.

However, the Wildcats return defensive captain and edge rusher Tre Smith, who went down with a season-ending shoulder injury, along with Palu, sophomore Mays Pese, defensive end Dominic Lolesio, defensive tackle Julian Savaiinaea and 6-6, 389-pound defensive tackle Zac Siulepa and 6-7, 274-pound freshman Porter Patton.

Smith, Palu, Pese, Lolesio and Savaiinaea have a combined 3,298 defensive snaps in their careers, with Smith owning a lion's share (1,610). 

Arizona is also adding junior college transfer and former Mater Dei (California) star Ezra Funa, who was on Arizona's roster in 2025 but redshirted.  

Arizona's newcomers from the 2026 recruiting class include Hutchinson Community College transfer Kevin Moorer, who Brennan said "was very impressive, just getting into the backfield, getting after the quarterback, playing with a physicality and edge that we really like."

The Wildcats also added 6-3, 290-pound defensive tackle Keytrin Harris and 6-3, 255-pound edge rusher Prince Williams. Williams was named the MaxPreps.com Nevada Player of the Year in 2025 after leading Bishop Gorman High School to its fifth straight state championship. Williams had 265 tackles and 34 sacks in his four-year career with the Gaels.

"Both of those are big-time players," Brennan said of Harris and Williams last month. "I think the good part about them is that they were identified early as guys we wanted to be a part of our program."

The Wildcats also get edge-rushing help from the linebackers in Gonzales' 3-3-5 scheme. Riley Wilson and Chase Kennedy were Arizona's top two edge-rushing linebackers. Kennedy returns for his final season, and Wilson's potential replacement is Georgetown transfer Cooper Blomstrom. 

The 6-3, 245-pound Blomstrom played in 31 games over three seasons for the Hoyas and recorded 117 tackles, 27 tackles for loss, 16 sacks, five forced fumbles and an interception. Blomstrom combined for 15 sacks in his last two seasons at Georgetown.

Blomstrom is one of three linebackers in Arizona's 2026 transfer portal class, along with Matai Tagoa'i (USC) and Everett Roussaw Jr. (Memphis). The Wildcats have six returners at linebacker, including senior Taye Brown, who was second on the team with 93 tackles in 2025. 

Extra points

— Arizona's transfer portal class is rated by 247Sports.com as the 11th-best class in the Big 12. Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Colorado and Baylor have the top five portal classes for ’26, according to 247Sports.com. Arizona's entire 2026 recruiting haul ranks seventh in the Big 12, per 247Sports.com. 

— The home states of Arizona's pickups in the transfer portal are Arizona, California, Florida, Colorado, New Hampshire, Washington, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Georgia and Mississippi. Harris is from Canada.

— Between graduation and departures, the Wildcats are losing 46 players from their 2025 roster, with 64 players expected to return. The Wildcats are bringing in 42 newcomers, which would put their 2026 roster at 106 players.