Arizona football training camp preview: offensive line

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. We recently evaluated Arizona's quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. Up next: offensive line. 

Position coach: Josh Oglesby

Departures: LT Ty Buchanan, LG Chubba Maae, C Ka'ena Decambra, OG Michael Wooten, OG Jordan Brown

Returners: RT Tristan Bounds (R-Sr.), RG Alexander Doost (R-Jr.), OG Rhino Tapa'atoutai (R-Jr.), LT Matthew Lado (R-So.), C Javian Goo (R-Fr.), OT Louis Akpa (R-Fr.), C Grayson Stovall (R-Sr.), OG Sione Tohi (R-Fr.), OG Isaac Perez (Sr.), OT Jaxon Griffin (R-Fr.), OG Keona Peat (R-Jr.)

Newcomers: C Zachary Henning (R-Jr.), OT Nathan Hale (R-Jr.), OT Khalil Sanogo (Fr.), OT Jake Griffin (R-Jr.), OT Justin Morales (Fr.), OT Malachi Joyner (Fr.)

The rundown: Arizona's offensive line has a few moving components, but the Wildcats have a better idea of who their starting five will be entering this season, which wasn't the case last season. 

Last season, the Wildcats moved defensive tackle Chubba Maae to left guard at the end of the spring, and former guard and tackle Ka'ena Decambra didn't fully commit to center until after spring ball.

Additionally, Texas Tech transfer Ty Buchanan settled into his role at left tackle, while right tackle Tristan Bounds competed for the starting right tackle spot with Rhino Tapa'atoutai, who moved from left tackle to right tackle, recovering from a season-ending leg injury he suffered halfway through the 2024 season.

After the dust settled from training camp and the first few games of the season, Arizona's go-to offensive line (from left to right) was Buchanan, Maae, Decambra, Alexander Doost and Bounds.

Bounds and Doost return for another season and will anchor Arizona's right side again. Doost has played just over 1,500 snaps at right guard in his two-year career with the Wildcats. Doost, who was initially recruited to play tackle at Arizona, has become one of the leaders on Arizona's offensive line.

During Arizona's summer workouts, Doost power-cleaned 405 pounds and squatted 620 pounds for two reps. The 6-7, 340-pound Doost also climbed the rope hanging from the ceiling in the Wildcats' weight room inside the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility.  

"Doost, not only does he power-clean 405, he weighs (around) 335 pounds and is broad-jumping 9 feet-plus, and he's running the best I've ever seen him run," said Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege. "You should see how he leads on conditioning days and in the weight room. He's a brand-new person, and I know why he does it, because he's a great teammate."

Bounds, after suffering a season-ending ankle injury against Cincinnati last season, was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA, resulting in "the biggest sigh of relief in the office," said Arizona offensive line coach Josh Oglesby. 

Bounds, who was limited this spring due to ankle rehab, has played 669 offensive snaps in his collegiate career — 628 of them at Arizona. Bounds evolved into one of the Wildcats' top offensive linemen and started eight games at right tackle in 2025, allowing three sacks in 372 pass-blocking snaps.

"For all of the things Tristan is, the biggest part is the experience," Oglesby said. "We don't have to break someone completely new at that position. The experiences that he brought with him from his previous school, as well as the things he learned and took from this past season, it has been invaluable for the room and for him. Once we got word that we were good there, it was a giant sigh of relief. 'Alright, let's push forward.' "

Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita "was probably the happiest when I got to hear" about the Wildcats returning the 6-8 Bounds, who added 15 pounds in the offseason and is now listed at 306 pounds. 

"When I got the news, I was super excited," Fifita said. "You talk about a professional, he's been that way since he came in. He has a contagious personality. Everybody that's around him loves being around him. Talk about the professional he is on the field, he's been so dominant and so successful, so I'm excited to get him back." 

At center, the Wildcats won't have to worry about their leader learning the position, like Decambra. Arizona explored the transfer portal this offseason and signed Washington transfer Zachary Henning, who played two seasons in Seattle under former UA head coach Jedd Fisch. 

Henning played in 13 games last season and recorded 333 offensive snaps in place of starter Landen Hatchett, who broke his hand. Henning will start at center, with redshirt senior Grayson Stovall and redshirt freshman Javian Goo as backups. Doege called Henning "an athletic freak." 

"When you watched Zach's tape, he jumped off the tape at you," Oglesby added. "Being in an offense that was multiple was beneficial, he's been exposed to multiple things. His athleticism that you saw on tape was enticing. He wasn't an easy get, I'll tell you that. There were a lot of teams that wanted his services, but we preached to him the opportunity of truly being developed."

The left side of Arizona's offensive line will likely have two new starters who aren't new to the program: Matthew Lado at left tackle and Tapa'atoutai at guard. 

After returning from a knee injury last season, "we felt like there were times Rhino struggled on the edge last year," Doege said.

Doost said, "Rhino has always been the Swiss-Army man" for playing both right and left tackle. In 231 snaps last season, including a season-high 86 snaps in the Holiday Bowl, Tapa'atoutai surrendered 12 quarterback pressures and a team-high three sacks, according to PFF. 

"I think a lot of it had to do with his confidence coming back from a knee injury," Doege said. "There were moments where he looked like his old self, and then there were moments where he was like, 'Oh, no, am I ready?' That shook his confidence a little bit. Looking at his skill set and how strong he is, how explosive he is, it just seems like he's a better fit at guard.

"We felt like if we moved him to guard, that replaces a need in losing Chubba. We feel really strong about that move. That was something we talked to Rhino about it and Rhino was on board."

The Wildcats "have full confidence in Rhino" as a mainstay on Arizona's offensive line and "him moving inside is beneficial not only for him, but for us as a team," Oglesby said.

"The opportunity to be in close space, allowing him to use his violence and physicality a little bit more on the inside with the amount of counter that we run — getting him on the pulls and different things like that," Oglesby said. "The inside suits him a little bit better, especially with the development we've had at the tackle position. ... Prototypical guard is awesome for him, because of the way he plays, the mauler mentality." 

Lado, a 6-6, 318-pound Phoenix-area native, spent the last two seasons as a backup, but was thrust into playing time in the second half of last season. Lado stepped in for Buchanan in the final three quarters of the Wildcats' bowl-clinching win over Kansas, then played the final three-plus games at right tackle for the injured Bounds.

Including the Holiday Bowl loss to SMU, Lado didn't allow a sack in 183 pass-blocking snaps, though he surrendered nine quarterback pressures and two quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Focus.

"For him, having the opportunity to be in those games and be in the mix and be a part of meaningful games and meaningful wins has caused his confidence to explode," Oglesby said. "The offseason he's had in the weight room, now the strength is matching the confidence. He's super exciting to watch. I won't call it a surprise, because it was something everyone knew was there, and now we're excited to see it come to fruition."

Other players who competed for reps at tackle during the spring were redshirt freshman and Bay Area product Louis Akpa — who is "playing with a lot of confidence and playing a lot stronger than he is," according to Doege — along with Jaxon Griffin, a redshirt freshman from Mesa, and Nathan Hale, a 6-4, 307-pound redshirt junior and San Jose State transfer. 

Arizona signed three tackles in its 2026 recruiting class, including early enrollee Khalil Sanogo, a 6-4, 328-pound freshman from Dallas. The other tackles in Arizona's '26 class were Phoenix-area product Malachi Joyner and El Paso, Texas native Justin Morales — both four-star prospects. 

"Excited about Malachi and Morales," said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. "We think both of those guys can get into the mix. They're both super tough, they're really physical, strong and mature players. We're excited to get them here."

If Arizona's offensive line remains healthy this season, "we're going to love that group. It's going to be a lot of fun," Brennan said. 

Added Doege: "I feel like we don't talk about those guys enough, because that's probably going to be one of the strengths of our football team. We had 57 guys power-clean over 300 (pounds). That's a strong football team, and it was led by the O-Line and D-Line. ... Oglesby does a tremendous job with those guys, and I'm excited about them.

"We're in a healthy spot. When we decide who our starting five are, we're going to be really talented there. We also have some young guys that are developing into their own and will shock some people. ... We need to get to camp and see how they operate as a unit, which is really important.

"From my standpoint and my evaluation so far, I'm excited about the group and where they're going."