Ismail Mahdi, Max Harris return to Arizona football for final season

Arizona running back Ismail Mahdi and linebacker Max Harris — as part of the NCAA’s new five-in-five ruling — are returning to the Wildcats for one final season, the program announced Monday morning.

U.S. District Court Judge Charlotte Sweeney’s recent federal ruling in Colorado allows class of 2022 student-athletes, who weren’t grandfathered in the NCAA’s new five-in-five rule, to compete for the upcoming 2026-27 sports season.

Arizona has taken advantage of the ruling, signing Clemson basketball transfer RJ Godfrey, who was among a number of athletes who took the eligibility issue to court.

The five-in-five rule allows student-athletes to use up their eligibility in five years — with their eligibility clock starting upon their freshman year in college or after their 19th birthday. Several 2022 athletes competed in four years, but weren’t granted an additional year of eligibility, like Harris and Mahdi.

The NCAA attempted to appeal Sweeney’s injunction, but was unsuccessful — and now two leaders from Arizona’s Holiday Bowl team — who went undrafted — return for one final season in Tucson. Mahdi and Harris, players Arizona head coach Brent Brennan called “high-character people,” will be welcomed back to the Arizona football program with open arms.

“They’re obviously good football players, but they’re tremendous young men,” Brennan said at the start of fall training camp last week. “Any time we can add a late addition like that, with that kind of talent, combined with high-level character, we’re excited about that.”

Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said the addition of Harris and Mahdi “gives this football team great depth.”

“They’ll help our football team,” Gonzales said. “Both of them are really good football players. Now, they probably won’t be in shape like the rest of those guys.”

Mahdi, who recently became the co-owner of Dickey’s Barbecue Pit on Thornydale Road, led the Wildcats in rushing with 134 carries for 859 yards and five all-purpose touchdowns in his fourth season of college football, after spending one season at Houston Christian and two seasons at Texas State. The 5-foot-9, 184-pound running back was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week following his 189-yard performance in Arizona’s 23-17 win over Kansas State in Tucson.

Mahdi led a UA running backs room that also featured Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig — who are both seniors this season — and freshmen Wesley Yarbrough and Cornelius Warren III.

Reescano, Craig, Yarbrough and Warren all returned for the 2026 season, and the Wildcats added Marshall transfer Antwan Roberts in the transfer portal this offseason. The latter was added to replace Mahdi.

Considering the wear and tear running backs endure throughout the season, a deep running backs room is a good problem to have.

“That running back room can be scary sometimes when you have one or two guys go down,” said Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege. “If you bring Mahdi back, you end up being loaded in that room. I don’t want to take anything away from Ked, Quincy, Antwan and Wesley, because the spring and summers that those guys have had, they’ve grown and they’ve gotten bigger and faster and more explosive.

“I don’t see it as, ‘Oh, Mahdi is back, he’s the guy.’ He’s going to have to earn it, too. Quincy is running better than I’ve ever seen Quincy run. Ked is as strong as I’ve ever seen Ked be. And Antwan is moving better than I’ve seen Antwan move. The youngsters, Wesley and Corn, they got a ton of reps this spring because of necessity and it was huge for them. I’m excited to see who emerges in that room. Any time you can bring a good player back, it’s a no-brainer.”

Added first-year Arizona running backs coach Lyle Moevao: “If anything, it adds another body of experience to the room. The one thing he does bring is his experience. The snaps he has played his whole career, it’s irreplaceable. … If you have a four-headed monster as opposed to a three-headed monster like last year, that just gives you more confidence. Now it’s just about practicing and getting those guys ready for game day.”

Harris — who started his college football career at Incarnate Word, Louisiana Monroe and Texas State — had the third-most tackles (78) for the Wildcats last season, trailing safety Dalton Johnson and linebacker Taye Brown. Harris played the fifth-most snaps (612) by an Arizona defender last season.

“He’s a great off-the-ball linebacker,” Gonzales said of Harris. “His leadership, his dynamic skills for dissecting plays as they go, that’s stuff you often times can’t coach.”

More importantly, Harris and Mahdi’s personalities fit Arizona’s culture under Brennan.

“If they weren’t good guys, we wouldn’t want them back and neither would their teammates,” Gonzales said. “They see the value in those guys. They’re good football players (and) they’re good guys. It’ll be great to have them. It gives us great depth. We’ve got some depth in the linebacker room, but it’ll be even deeper.”

Harris “was a great leader and obviously a big leader for the whole team,” said Brown. “He would fit right in with the chemistry and it’ll be good for us.”

“Max is a great locker room guy,” Brown added. “Very likable, very coachable and brings a veteran voice to the team.”

Arizona senior linebacker Chase Kennedy said Harris’ “ability to be comfortable in situations where he needs to speak up or address something, I feel like that’s big in being a leader.”

“I feel like not a lot of people want to be in that role, to be the voice of the team,” Kennedy said of Harris. “Max was able to do that at an elite level last year. Coach G doesn’t bring back problems and Max was nowhere near that. He’s an all-around great person.”

Mahdi “has a great reputation” on the UA football team and his personal life as a married businessman has garnered him the title of “the uncle of the room,” Moevao said.

“I always looked at Mahdi as a young gentleman with an old soul,” Moevao said. “Being married, that in itself is him showing that he’s a mature gentleman that’s going through real-life situations that these guys have yet to find out about.”

‘The more competition, the better’

The return of two highly productive players means Arizona’s depth chart will add more names.

Arizona is returning linebackers Myron Robinson, Jabari Mann, Coleman Patmon and Leviticus Su’a, among others, and the Wildcats added Memphis transfer Everett Roussaw and Georgetown transfer Cooper Blomstrom — and freshmen Dash Fifita and Jaden Parker — in the offseason.

Mahdi’s return will likely cut into the reps of the underclassmen (Yarbrough and Warren), who have both flashed potential in training camp this year. When asked if Mahdi coming back would disrupt team chemistry, Craig said, “Definitely not.”

“Izzy is a great person,” Craig said. “He’s a great football player. The chemistry is already there with the team now. It wouldn’t be a problem adding him back.”

Reescano said Mahdi “adds that level of leadership to the room.” Six running backs on the depth chart “is a good problem to have,” Reescano said, especially when most of them are experienced. Mahdi, Reescano, Craig and Roberts have a combined 1,182 carries for 6,504 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns, along with 179 receptions for 1,617 yards and 15 receiving touchdowns — and 3,536 offensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus.

“The lord works in mysterious ways, so whatever is supposed to happen, that’s what it’ll be,” Reescano added. “I’m excited.”

Mahdi and Roberts “have linked up and had good conversations” since the Marshall transfer joined the team, Moevao said.

Adding Harris “would make the linebacker group more competitive,” Kennedy said.

“We all love Max, so having him back would be a blessing,” said Kennedy. “His leadership, his skills, it’s something we can bring back into the mix because we know what kind of player and person Max was last year. To have that back would be a blessing and add to what we’ve been building in the summer. … We wouldn’t skip a beat if he came back.

“We all root for each other and we’re unselfish people. … He’ll be a great addition. We all know what kind of person and player Max is.”

Just because they’re cleared to play another season, it doesn’t mean Mahdi and Harris will assume starting roles like last season. After all, they haven’t participated in a mandatory team workout in several months and missed spring practices.

“When they do (get cleared), we’ll see what kind of shape they’re in,” Gonzales said. “It’ll take them a while to get into that phase. The ones we have coming back, I can’t say enough good things.”

"Both of those guys were core special-teamers (and) they played a lot of different roles for us,” Brennan said last week. “If they were jerks, maybe (there’s reluctancy to add Mahdi and Harris). But this team loves those two guys. Those guys were leaders and well-respected. … The more competition, the better.

“We want everyone to feel the pressure of competition in the practice environment. We’re trying to elevate the level of play. The more competition, the better. Let’s pour some gas on that fire.”