Arizona’s training camp is already giving the Wildcats a few important reinforcements, and a couple of familiar names are officially back in the mix.
Max Harris and Ismail Mahdi have both been added to Arizona’s roster after receiving an extra year of eligibility following a federal judge’s ruling last month. For now, the biggest question isn’t whether they’re back - it’s how quickly they’ll be ready to help.
Mahdi, who led Arizona in rushing last season with 859 yards, was around for practice Monday, though he wasn’t dressed to participate. Harris could be with the team as early as Tuesday. The linebacker finished third on the Wildcats with 78 tackles in 2025.
“They’re great human beings and they’re also really great football players,” UA coach Brent Brennan said. “So like that, it’s a win-win for us.
We’re not bringing someone into our family that won’t be welcome back. Everyone’s excited that they’re rejoining us, which is cool.”
How fast they ramp up physically will be handled by strength and conditioning coach Cullen Carroll and his staff. Their actual availability for games remains unsettled.
“No one knows,” Brennan said. “Come on, you know the answer to that.
Come on, no one knows that stuff. Yeah, everybody’s waiting.
Everyone’s waiting to see how this thing unwinds with the NCAA, with all the decisions that are being made in courts all over the country right now. But we need to get them here and start getting them acclimated.”
Mahdi steps into a running back room that already has Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig back. Those two combined for 760 yards and 12 total touchdowns last season. Arizona also added former Marshall back Antwan Roberts and has second-year players Cornelius Warren and Wesley Yarbrough expected to be more involved this fall.
Harris enters a linebacker group that returns seniors Taye Brown and Chase Kennedy, while several transfers and underclassmen are also fighting for playing time in camp.
“I think that’s going to be the the delicate thing, because not knowing what the eligibility status of those guys is going to be, we’re going to have to be smart about how we rep them,” Brennan said. “At the same time, both of those guys played a lot of football.
That’s one of the benefits of them being as old as they are. They’ve played a lot of football.
So there’s some trust there also, because they played a lot of football, they know our scheme, so I think that makes that transition a little bit easier.”
On the defensive line, Arizona has some promising young bodies making noise early. Five of the Wildcats’ 22 true freshmen in camp are linemen, and while the room is deep enough to avoid rushing anyone, a few of them are making it tough to ignore them.
Keytrin Harris, Kaisi Lafitaga and Prince Williams have all stood out so far with a mix of size, speed and agility that isn’t common for first-year players at that spot.
Williams, a 3-star prospect from the 2026 recruiting class, chose Arizona over BYU, Utah and others. The 6-foot-3, 272-pound edge was the MaxPreps Nevada Player of the Year last season.
“There comes along a certain type of raw talent, and he has those qualities and redeeming qualities,” defensive line coach Joe Salave’a said. “He wants to be coached, and he’s a great teammate.
That’s one of the things that I’m really impressed with Prince. If there’s one person that you want to take to the back alley, Prince obviously is that guy.”
Harris is listed at 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds and, like Williams, comes from Las Vegas. Lafitaga is a 6-foot-2, 300-pound lineman from American Samoa and was a two-way player in high school. Salave’a beat out OL coach Josh Oglesby for his commitment.
“His ceiling is so high right now, he doesn’t even know it,” Salave’a said of Lafitaga. “He hasn’t even begun to understand that. I owe Coach Josh a couple a Snickers bars and some Powerbars for letting Kaisi be in our room.”
Arizona’s offensive line also has a heavyweight standout in Alexander Doost, who landed on The Athletic’s annual College Football Freaks List. Bruce Feldman ranked him 84th after detailing a monstrous offseason in the weight room: a 440-pound bench press, 405-pound power clean and 650-pound back squat. Feldman also noted that Doost, who weighs almost 350 pounds, vertical jumped 30 inches, broad jumped nine feet, reached 18 mph on the GPS and climbed a 25-foot rope to the ceiling.
The 6-foot-7, 332-pound Doost - nicknamed “The Hulk” - has started 22 straight games for Arizona at right guard.
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