Arizona’s Big 12 Media Days group has plenty of familiar faces, but few carry more weight than Tristan Bounds.
The sixth-year offensive lineman is one of seven Wildcats heading to Frisco, Texas, for the conference’s annual Media Days on July 7-8, with Arizona set to make its appearance on July 8. In a program that Brent Brennan and his staff are trying to shape, Bounds fits the bill as one of the clearest examples of what they want in the room and on the field.
His 2025 line tells part of the story: 10 games played, eight starts, 628 snaps, a 72.3 PFF offensive grade, an 80.3 PFF pass blocking grade and a 63.3 PFF run blocking grade. But the bigger development for Arizona was getting him back for another year after he was granted extra eligibility.
That news landed with a jolt for Bounds and, apparently, for offensive line coach Josh Oglesby too.
“Obviously super excited to be able to be back with this team, kind of for a while I was just waiting to see what was going to happen,” said Bounds. “Once I got that, I was actually on the plane and got a text from coach all fired up and I had no idea what he’s talking about, because I couldn’t get my email.”
For the Bethesda, Maryland native, the recovery process has come with its own challenge: staying locked into the present instead of chasing the next checkpoint. Bounds said the hardest part is keeping himself from racing ahead.
“It’s really easy to want to look ahead to the next milestone of what’s coming, but just being where my feet are is the hardest thing,” he said. “Makes it a lot easier when you have great teammates. You can lean on them, and those guys are always with me, always supporting me throughout this whole process.”
Noah Fifita knows exactly what Arizona gets when Bounds is on the field. The quarterback called him a professional and pointed to the kind of presence Bounds brings every day.
“You wanna talk about a professional and he’s been that way since he came in,’ said Fifita about Bounds. “He has a contagious personality.
Everybody that’s around him loves being around him. Then you talk about the professional he is on the field.
He’s been so dominant, been so successful. So I’m excited to get him back.”
The best example of Bounds’ grit came in Arizona’s road upset at Cincinnati last season. Fifita said he didn’t realize how serious the injury was until Seth Doege went over the film the next week.
“TB got hurt on the second down, and he knew that we’re going gas tempo, and he knew that if he stayed down Cincinnati would have a chance to sub,” said Fifita. “So with the broken ankle he lined up, and in a cover zero pressure, he kicked step one leg and pushed enough to allow me to step up and make a third down conversion, which ended up being the game winning touchdown. So you talk about toughness, that’s the model of toughness, for sure.”
Bounds said he understood the situation in the moment and knew Arizona needed the drive.
“We kind of sputtered out a few times before that, I knew that that drive was super important for us,” said Bounds. “The only thing on my mind is that we got to win this game. That’s kind of the way that I try to approach every game, every snap, just focusing on our team and putting ourselves in the best position.”
With Bounds back, Arizona’s offensive line gets a stabilizing piece, and Fifita gets a little more protection and peace of mind. As camp gets closer, the rest of the front will be expected to match the standard Bounds has set.
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Former Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa, who spent three seasons in Tucson and helped the Wildcats reach the NCAA tournament under both Sean Miller and Tommy Lloyd, is now dealing with a far more serious off-court situation than anything he encountered in college basketball. After moving on to West Virginia, he also served a nine-game suspension there for impermissible benefits, a reminder that his path through the sport has already included more than a few detours.
Kriisa is now preparing to appear in court after being extradited to West Virginia, where federal authorities say he faces wire fraud charges tied to a scheme that stretched over several years. For Arizona fans who remember him as a high-energy point guard, the latest chapter is a jarring one, and it leaves a once-familiar name attached to a case that is still working its way through the legal system. [Read more 🡒]