Arizona's Ismail Mahdi, Max Harris helping Wildcats on the practice field

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — If college football had an All-American Scout Team, the Arizona Wildcats could have first-team selections on their team this season.

Just over 24 hours before Arizona's 34-7 win over Cincinnati, UA running back Ismail Mahdi and Max Harris were ruled ineligible by the Pima County Superior Court.

After filing for a temporary restraining order against the NCAA in the Pima County Superior Court, a judge denied the order that would prohibit the NCAA from making them ineligible to compete this season. 

The preliminary ruling was made last Friday evening, a couple of days after Mahdi, Harris and several other “five-for-five” athletes were in a one-hour Order to Show Cause hearing at the Pima County Superior Court.

If they’re unable to complete an appeals process before the season ends, Mahdi and Harris will remain with the team and practice with the Wildcats' scout teams. 

When former Arizona running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt was ineligible after the first game of the 2024 season, he became a scout-team player and practiced in front of NFL scouts, which played a key role in him getting drafted by the Washington Commanders in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Mahdi, who was Arizona's leading rusher last season and was a key cog in the Wildcats beating Washington State, played the role of West Virginia running back Cam Cook on the UA's scout-team offense against Arizona's starting defense. 

Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege, who called Mahdi "the ultimate teammate," isn't surprised to see Mahdi's contributions in practice, "like he's playing," despite his eligibility yo-yoing. 

"Another thing, he still has hope (to play this season) and so do I," Doege added. "Maybe something happens that allows him to play and I hope it does, because he's such a good dude. I want it for him. Selfishly for us, it makes us better. For him, he's such a good kid, I want another opportunity for him." 

Their willingness to help the Wildcats, even if they don't get to suit up on game days, is “why they were welcomed back on this team, they're unselfish guys," said Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, who said Mahdi and Harris have carried the "same energy, same attitude" since the court ruling.  

"They're very mature and unselfish guys," Gonzales said. "It wasn't a surprise to me at all." 

For the time being, Mahdi and Harris will help the Wildcats prepare for West Virginia, Iowa State, Texas Tech, TCU, Utah, Kansas State and Arizona State. 

"From the beginning with those two players, we talked about the incredible human beings they are and how excited everybody was for those two to come back," said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan. "They're going to continue to give that and continue to contribute that way. We support the legal process and I'm disappointed for them; I'm disappointed for our team. But it's out of our control.

"Right now, all I'm focused on is getting our team ready to play our best game on the road on Saturday."