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Players on bowl teams receive a five-day window to enter the transfer portal, and teams enduring a change at head coach have a 30-day period to enter the portal.

Additionally, the spring transfer portal window is April 16-25, so there will be more chances for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to sign players in the next several months.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥’s 18-player transfer portal class ranks 18th nationally, according to — third in the Big 12. Rivals also ranks ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥’s transfer portal class third in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech and Kansas — 16th nationally.

The Wildcats have 11 offensive players and seven defensive players in their 2025 recruiting class. Here are notable takeaways from ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s transfer portal additions:

Adding size on the O-Line

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s offensive line had a plethora of issues protecting quarterback Noah Fifita and staying healthy. The Wildcats had seven different starting offensive line rotations this past season. To make matters worse, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ lost three starters from 2024: NFL-bound tackle Jonah Savaiinaea, veteran center Josh Baker and left guard Wendell Moe Jr., who transferred to Tennessee.

The only two returning starters for 2025 are left tackle Rhino Tapa’atoutai, who suffered a season-ending knee injury, and redshirt freshman guard Alexander Doost. Although ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has five offensive linemen signed for 2025, the Wildcats were in dire need of offensive linemen through the transfer portal.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has already signed four offensive linemen in the transfer portal: tackle Tristan Bounds (Michigan), tackle Ty Buchanan (Texas Tech) and tackle-guard hybrids in Ka’ena DeCambra (Hawaii) and Jordan Brown (Georgia Tech).

The 6-8, 305-pound Bounds played the last four seasons at Michigan and was a part of the Wolverines’ national championship team as a backup last year.

Bounds, a Bethesda, Maryland native, 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, per Pro Football Focus. Although Bounds wasn’t a premiere offensive lineman at Michigan, he could end his collegiate career as an impactful player at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, akin to defensive tackle Bill Norton’s impact at the UA in 2023 after playing multiple seasons at Georgia.

The 6-3, 300-pound DeCambra signed with Hawaii in 2021 out of Saint Louis High School in Honolulu, the same school that produced Savaiinaea. DeCambra played right guard and tackle at Hawaii. In three seasons with the Warriors, DeCambra played 1,573 snaps.

The 6-6, 310-pound Buchanan signed with USC out of Calallen High School in Corpus Christi, Texas, and redshirted his freshman season in 2021 before transferring to Texas Tech. In three seasons at Texas Tech, Buchanan logged 681 offensive snaps and allowed two sacks in 487 pass-blocking snaps, according to PFF.

In 129 snaps in two seasons, the 6-5, 315-pound Brown didn’t allow a sack and gave up seven quarterback pressures.

It’s unclear how ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s additions will fit in with the Wildcats, but the UA will have at least nine new scholarship offensive linemen for next season.

Diamonds in the rough

Half (nine) of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s additions in the transfer portal hail from FCS or Group of 5 programs.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s FCS pickups are FCS All-American linebacker Blake Gotcher, who led FCS in tackles (162) — the fourth-most in Northwestern State history. Gotcher joins a linebacker room that just lost preseason All-Big 12 linebacker Jacob Manu, who transferred to Washington to reunite with former UA head coach Jedd Fisch.

The Wildcats also signed edge rushers Riley Wilson (Montana) and Chancellor Owens (Northwestern State). In two seasons at Montana, the 6-2, 224-pound Wilson was a back-to-back second-team All-Big Sky Conference choice as an outside linebacker. He had the second-most tackles for loss (15) in the Big Sky in 2023. Wilson had 136 tackles and 26.5 stops for loss in two seasons at Montana.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s offensive addition at the FCS level is receiver-converted-tight end Cameron Barmore, a sixth-year senior from Mercyhurst (Pennsylvania). Barmore caught 73 passes for 978 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Lakers last season. Barmore will join a tight end room that recently lost Keyan Burnett, who transferred to Kansas. The Wildcats also have returning starter and former San Jose State transfer Sam Olson and three-star freshman Kellan Ford.

After losing Rayshon Luke and Brandon Johnson, who both entered the transfer portal, and Quali Conley to graduation, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ bolstered its running back room with Mike Mitchell (Utah) and Ismail Mahdi (Texas State), who was one of the top running backs and returners in the last two seasons for the Bobcats.

In two seasons at Texas State, Mahdi had 406 rush attempts for 2,322 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also had 31 kick returns for 760 yards and a touchdown. The 5-9, 180-pound 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 will likely headline the running backs along with redshirt freshman Kedrick Reescano, who is expected to have a more prominent role with Conley gone.

Loading up in the secondary

Sometimes, the best pickups in the transfer portal are the ones who withdraw their names. For the second straight season, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ had standout starters enter the transfer portal just to do an about-face: defensive backs Genesis Smith, Treydan Stukes and Dalton Johnson; the three have a combined 4,550 defensive snaps in their UA careers. Starting cornerbacks Tacario Davis and Marquis Groves-Killebrew are still in the transfer portal, while Gunner Maldonado, a two-year starter at free safety, is now at Kansas State.

Despite the losses of Maldonado, Davis (who could still return) and Groves-Killebrew, among other defensive backs, the Wildcats added cornerbacks Jay’Vion Cole (Texas) and Michael Dansby (San Jose State) and safety Jshawn Frausto-Ramos (Stanford), a former four-star prospect. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ also has former Tennessee transfer Jack Luttrell, who tied Smith for a team-high three interceptions this past season.

A unit trending towards depletion could be a strength of the UA defense in ’25.

Reinforcements at receiver

For the first time in over three years, the Wildcats will experience life without star receiver and likely first-round pick Tetairoa McMillan, who etched his name as one of the best offensive weapons in program history.

Replacing McMillan is a tall task, but ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has three wide receivers in the transfer portal: Tre Spivey (Kansas State), Luke Wysong (New Mexico) and Kris Hutson (Washington State).

In one season at KSU, Spivey, a Chandler native and former Hamilton standout, hauled in 14 catches for 160 yards and a touchdown. The 6-4, 217-pound Spivey is the son of former ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Diamondbacks second baseman Junior Spivey, who was a part of the 2001 World Series team.

The 5-11, 175-pound 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.

As a junior this season, Wysong hauled in a career-high 69 catches for 840 yards and a touchdown. In ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s season-opening win over the Lobos in August, Wysong had eight catches for 129 yards and a touchdown.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ returns two starters in slot receiver Jeremiah Patterson and redshirt sophomore Chris Hunter, who ascended in the second half of the season with 35 catches for 323 yards and two touchdowns.

Hunter had 102 yards on seven catches in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s loss to UCF, then made two acrobatic touchdown grabs against TCU. Hunter is the only player from ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s top five pass-catchers to return in 2025.

Bona fide backup

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ quarterback Noah Fifita is back under center as a soon-to-be three-year starter, but the UA bolstered its depth at quarterback after losing backups Brayden Dorman, Anthony Garcia and Adam Damante to the transfer portal.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ signed Rockwall, Texas, native and former Wisconsin Badgers quarterback Braedyn Locke. The 6-foot, 205-pound Locke completed 240 of 448 passes for 2,713 yards, 18 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in two seasons at Wisconsin.

Locke will likely compete with walk-on Cole Tannenbaum and freshmen Sawyer Anderson and Luke Haugo for the backup role to Fifita.

The Wildcats have six quarterbacks on the roster for ‘25.