10 newcomers to watch during Arizona's spring football practices

When Arizona begins spring practices on Tuesday at Dick Tomey Practice Fields, the Wildcats are going to have some fresh faces and new blood.

Arizona currently has 53 scholarship newcomers for 2025, which is the second-most nationally behind a West Virginia (58) program led by former UA head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Not all 53 newcomers will be present for spring football — some of them are concluding the final semester of their high school careers — but between early enrollees, junior college transfers and transfer portal additions, there will be plenty of new names looking to turn around the Arizona football program after a rocky 4-8 campaign in head coach Brent Brennan’s first season at the helm.

Here’s a look at 10 of them leading up to Arizona’s first spring practice on Tuesday:

Tristan Bounds

Position: Offensive tackle

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 71

Height, weight: 6-8, 305 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Bethesda, Maryland (Michigan)

The rundown: Bounds played the last four seasons at Michigan and was a part of the Wolverines’ national championship team as a backup in 2023.

Bounds was a three-star recruit at Choate Rosemary Hall (Connecticut) and signed with the Jim Harbaugh-coached Wolverines in 2021. Bounds played 41 offensive snaps over three seasons at Michigan. Bounds will be among the names to potentially succeed NFL-bound Jonah Savaiinaea at right tackle.

Ty Buchanan

Position: Offensive tackle

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 75

Height, weight: 6-6, 310 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Calallen, Texas (Texas Tech)

The rundown: The vegetarian offensive lineman is finishing his career at Arizona after stints at USC and Texas Tech. In three seasons at Texas Tech, Buchanan logged 681 offensive snaps and allowed two sacks in 487 pass-blocking snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby told the Star earlier this month that Buchanan “is going to be a huge bonus for our room.”

Jay’Vion Cole

Position: Cornerback

Year: Redshirt junior

Jersey number: 9

Height, weight: 5-10, 191 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Oakland, California (Texas)

The rundown: The Wildcats return four starters in the defensive secondary: cornerback Marquis Groves-Killebrew, nickel back Treydan Stukes and safeties Dalton Johnson and Genesis Smith. However, Arizona lost star cornerback Tacario Davis, who transferred to Washington.

Cole, who also played at McClymonds in the Bay Area with San Jose State transfer Michael Dansby, recorded 54 tackles, 14 pass deflections and eight interceptions in three seasons at Cal Poly, San Jose State and Texas.

Ayden Garnes

Position: Defensive back

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 11

Height, weight: 6-0, 174 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Philadelphia (West Virginia)

The rundown: After starting his collegiate career in Pittsburgh at Duquesne of the FCS and playing three seasons with the Dukes, Garnes transferred to West Virginia. In his lone season with the Mountaineers, Garnes had 25 tackles and a pass deflection. In his final season at Duquesne, where he donated bone marrow, Garnes received an 87.4 defensive grade by PFF; he also had a 90.1 coverage grade.

Garnes played in six games at WVU before suffering a season-ending injury. Garnes has cornerback experience, but his skillset and body frame could make him a productive nickel back in Arizona’s secondary.

Blake Gotcher

Position: Linebacker

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 10

Height, weight: 6-1, 225 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Little Elm, Texas (Northwestern State)

The rundown: Gotcher joins a linebacker room that lost defensive captain Jacob Manu, who transferred to Washington to reunite with former Arizona head coach Jedd Fisch.

Gotcher had 162 tackles, 10.5 stops for loss, 4.5 sacks, two fumbles and an interception in Northwestern State’s winless season (0-12) in 2024. Gotcher led FCS in tackles and tallied the fourth-most tackles in Northwestern State history.

Gotcher, Texas State transfer Max Harris and Montana transfer Riley Wilson, who was a back-to-back second-team All-Big Sky Conference selection, were Arizona’s additions at linebacker in the transfer portal.

The Wildcats return junior Taye Brown, who had 69 tackles and 2.5 sacks as a starter last season, redshirt senior Justin Flowe, redshirt sophomore Leviticus Su’a and redshirt freshmen Stacy Bey and Jabari Mann.

Arizona also signed Southern California native Carter Jones and three-star Texas linebacker Myron Robinson, who played in the Navy All-American Bowl in San Antonio, to its 2025 recruiting class. Jones is an early enrollee this spring.

Kris Hutson

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Position: Wide receiver

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 4

Height, weight: 5-11, 175 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Compton, California (Washington State)

The rundown: Hutson, a former four-star recruit, is entering his sixth year of eligibility after four seasons at Oregon and this past season at Washington State, where he caught 54 passes for 683 yards and two touchdowns.

In four seasons at Oregon, Hutson caught 80 passes for 936 yards and two touchdowns. Hutson had two catches for 60 yards in the Ducks’ 49-22 win over Arizona in Tucson during the 2022 season.

Hutson will be among the names to potentially start at slot receiver under new offensive coordinator Seth Doege.

Ismail Mahdi

Position: Running back

Year: Senior

Jersey number: 21

Height, weight: 5-9, 185 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Murphy, Texas (Texas State)

The rundown: After losing four running backs from the 2024 season, the Wildcats were aggressive in acquiring running backs.

Arizona has six scholarship running backs for ’25: Mahdi, Kedrick Reescano, Utah transfer Mike Mitchell, Portland State transfer Quincy Craig, Houston-area native Wesley Yarbrough and Dallas product Cornelius Warren III.

Mahdi led FBS in all-purpose yards (2,169) in 2023 and was a two-time All-Sun Belt First-Team member in the last two seasons. Mahdi was named a first-team All-American by CBS Sports and 247Sports in 2023. Football Writers Association of America gave Mahdi a second-team All-American nod as an all-purpose player in ’23.

Mahdi started his college career at Houston Christian before he transferred to Texas State. In two seasons with the Bobcats, Mahdi had 406 rush attempts for 2,322 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also had 31 kick returns for 760 yards and a touchdown.

Tiaoalii Savea

Position: Defensive tackle

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 98

Height, weight: 6-4, 295 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Las Vegas (Texas)

The rundown: Savea, who played last season at Texas, isn’t as new as the others.

Savea played at Arizona for the 2022 and ’23 seasons and was a key component to the UA defensive line rotation under Fisch and former defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen, who just finished his first season as co-defensive coordinator at Texas.

Savea’s health at Arizona was inconsistent, but when he was available, he impacted the UA interior defensive line. Savea had 36 tackles, 7.5 stops for loss, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery — the takeaway was in the 2022 Territorial Cup game.

Savea also blocked a field goal in Arizona’s upset win over UCLA in 2022. In two seasons, Savea appeared in 19 games and made two starts for the Wildcats. Under new defensive line coach Joe Salave’a, Savea bolsters the interior defensive line in his final act at Arizona, which ranked near the bottom of the Big 12 in rushing defense.

Tre Spivey III

Position: Wide receiver

Year: Redshirt sophomore

Jersey number: 12

Height, weight: 6-4, 217 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Chandler (Kansas State)

The rundown: The best friend of Genesis Smith and son of former Arizona Diamondback Junior Spivey could be Tetairoa McMillan’s successor at “X” receiver.

Spivey played his preps career at Hamilton High School and had 984 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns in two seasons for the Huskies. Spivey signed with Kansas State over Arizona, Arizona State, Washington and Oklahoma State.

Spivey had 14 catches for 160 yards and a touchdown at KSU.

Luke Wysong

Position: Wide receiver

Year: Redshirt senior

Jersey number: 15

Height, weight: 5-10, 184 pounds

Hometown (previous school): Rio Rancho, New Mexico (New Mexico)

The rundown: Wysong was Arizona’s first addition in the transfer portal for 2025. Wysong signed with the Wildcats after four seasons with the hometown New Mexico Lobos.

In Arizona’s season-opening win over the Lobos in 2024, Wysong had eight catches for 129 yards and a touchdown against the Wildcats. Wysong finished his New Mexico career with 134 catches for 1,465 yards and three touchdowns. He was a Second-Team All-Mountain West selection last season.

In 745 offensive snaps at New Mexico this season, Wysong lined up as a slot receiver for 384 of them, according to Pro Football Focus.

Arizona returns a promising wide receiver in Chris Hunter, who emerged as a starter in the second half of the season and had 35 catches for 323 yards and three touchdowns. To complement Hunter, Arizona added speed in Wysong, Hutson and Chattanooga transfer Javian Whatley, among others.

“If you don’t have speed, you’re chasing it,” Brennan said last month. “I don’t want to be in a position where we’re chasing speed.”