Arizona football training camp preview: tight ends

Following a 9-4 season last year, the Wildcats kick off the 2026 season against in-state rival Northern Arizona on Sept. 5 at Casino Del Sol Stadium. Arizona begins fall training exactly a month before the season opener on Aug. 5.

Leading up to fall training camp, the Star is providing a position-by-position preview. Up next: tight ends. 

Position coach: Josh Miller

Returners: Tyler Powell (R-Sr.), Kellan Ford (R-Fr.), Tyler Mustain (R-Jr.)

Departures: Sam Olson, Cameron Barmore, Keyan Burnett, Kayden Luke

Newcomers: Cole Rusk (R-Sr.), Shane King (R-Fr.), Arthur Ban (R-So.), Henry Gabalis (Fr.), Lachlan Teissier (Fr.)

The rundown: No offensive position group will experience more turnover this year than Arizona's tight ends room. Even the returners lack game experience. 

Arizona's top returning tight end is redshirt senior Tyler Powell, one of four players from the Wildcats' 2022 recruiting class still at Arizona, who suffered a season-ending leg injury on the first play from scrimmage in the season opener against Hawaii last season. Powell has 131 offensive snaps in his UA career. 

With the 6-7, 249-pound Powell out for the season, "we lost the girth and size to really be a butt-kicker at the line of scrimmage that we were hoping that he would be," said tight ends coach Josh Miller.

"He hasn't gotten to showcase that he's got some real vertical juice," added Miller. "We missed that a little bit."

Powell hasn't "had any bumps in the road and no hiccups with my recovery and everything is going smooth," he said.

"The opportunities I missed because of the injury just gives me more of a drive that I'm going to have when I'm back, healthy and ready to play," Powell said.

Arizona brought in five newcomers at tight end this offseason — three from the transfer portal, one from the high school ranks and an international player. This year was the first offseason Miller had an influence on recruiting, after he was hired in late January of last year, missing the transfer portal window and the recruiting cycle. 

"I'm really excited about the guys we brought into the program this year," Miller said. "This was really my first cycle. ... I'm excited to bring my vision to what the room should look like." 

Cole Rusk, who hails from a mixed-martial arts background, started his college career at Eastern Michigan in 2021 before transferring to Murray State for a year and Illinois, where he played the last two seasons. Rusk had 19 catches for 217 yards and a touchdown last season at Illinois. Rusk showed promise as a pass-catching tight end this spring. 

"Cole's got a lot of upside he hasn't been able to showcase before," Miller said. "He's going to play in an offense that is suited for his skillset. We're going to line him up all over the place and use his size and athleticism to manipulate matchups."

But if Rusk wants to influence Arizona's passing attack this season, he must master blocking. As often said in the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility, "no block, no rock."

"I'm really excited about diversifying his portfolio, to help him with his journey and what he's chasing, which is becoming an NFL player," Miller said of the 6-5, 250-pound Rusk. "In return, I think we're going to be extremely happy as a program for what he does this year." 

Shane King was recruited by Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege and 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. 

Nicknamed "Suge," King's path to playing tight end has shades of former Wildcat Cameron Barmore, who was a big-bodied wide receiver and converted to tight end, according to Miller. The 6-3, 236-pound King grew up in Gainesville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, and mostly played receiver until his final season at Gainesville High School.

"His big thing is cleaning up the run game," Miller said of King. "We'll get him there. He'll get there, because he's got the mentality to do it. He's got it, he'll get there and he's going to be a great player for the Wildcats for many years." 

In the spring, Miller said King "has the ability to be an elusive receiver, and he's got naturally gifted hands." Doege recently said on ESPN Tucson's "Spears & Ali" that King is "emerging as an athletic freak." 

"The way he's able to stretch the field vertically while maintaining his speed and changing direction is different," Miller said of King. 

San Diego State transfer Arthur Ban, a 6-4, 245-pound Portland native, "is a little bit more similar to (Powell) with some girth and size to protect the edges, and then has enough mobility and athleticism to hold you accountable in the throw game," said Miller, who added Ban and King "had unbelievable offseasons." 

Henry Gabalis, a four-star tight end from the Seattle area, "is the most athletically gifted" tight end and was clocked at running 21 miles per hour this spring. The 6-6, 232-pound Gabalis, who was one of the Wildcats' top recruits for 2026, played in a "Wing T" offense at Archbishop Murphy and spent the spring — as an early enrollee — "playing in a modern system, so some of the moving parts and teaching has been a lot for him to handle," Miller said.

Second-year tight end Kellan Ford was injured all of last season, but was one of the Wildcats' top recruits for the 2025 recruiting class. Tucson native and former Pusch Ridge Christian standout Tyler Mustain, a walk-on who converted from linebacker, is going into his fourth season at the UA. 

After the spring, Arizona added another tight end from the Aussie market. 

In recent years, the Wildcats have signed multiple players from Australia, but they've been punters: Chase Ridley, Isaac Lovison and Lachlan Bruce; Ridley will start at punter this season. 

The same agency that represents Ridley "put on our radar that we have a rugby player on our campus that is interested in playing football. They told us he was about 6-8, 250 (pounds)," Miller said. 

Lachlan Teissier, a freshman from Perth, Australia, lived up to the hype. 

"(Arizona's rugby team) practiced out there on Bear Down Field just outside of our facility, so we all nestled up in the windows and watched him run around and move and things like that," Miller said. "He sent us his quote-unquote highlight film of him playing rugby. He's a long body that moves OK, and he's a great kid. He's a great kid.

"It's going to be a fun project and he's working really hard. It's been a little overwhelming for him, not just figuring out what we're doing offensively, but also understanding American football. It's a lot of fun. He's a great kid."

When Miller and Teissier first talked about tight ends to admire, Arizona's tight ends coach mentioned Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce. Teissier thought a better comparison was Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington, a 6-7, 264-pound fourth-year player from Georgia.  

"'You're going to be a butt-klcker? That's what you want to be?'" Miller told Teissier. "He earned a little bit of respect from me when he threw out that name." 

The Wildcats have plenty of unique options at tight end in 2026. Last season, the Wildcats "were pigeon-holed with our lack of depth" after Powell went down with a season-ending injury and Keyan Burnett left the program at the start of Big 12 play.

The added bodies could result in Arizona having more flexibility to utilize 12 or 13 personnel with multiple tight ends, especially inside the red zone. 

"Now that we've added more depth and more pieces and skillsets, we're going to have that option," Miller said. "I tell the guys all the time: my title is the tight ends coach, but my job is to protect and grow the University of Arizona football program in a positive direction. Just because we have those skill sets, you have to earn the right to be in that situation.

"If you don't earn that right, it's not best for the program going forward. While they've put in a lot of positive work and they're growing and we have high expectations for this room, they still have to earn that right and show up every day and put in the work needed."