Arizona spring football preview: running backs

The Wildcats — known around the Lowell-Stevens Football Facility as "Team 123" — begin spring practices on Tuesday, March 24, and will cap their month-long spring schedule with a showcase on Saturday, April 25, at Casino Del Sol Stadium. 

Leading up to spring ball, the Star is providing a position-by-position preview. The quarterbacks room, led by record-setting veteran Noah Fifita, kicked off the preview. Up next: running backs.

Position coach: Lyle Moevao

Returners: Kedrick Reescano (Sr.), Quincy Craig (R-Sr.), Wesley Yarbrough (So.), Cornelius Warren III (R-Fr.), Anthony Wilhite (R-Sr.)

Departures: Ismail Mahdi

Newcomers: Antwan Roberts (R-Sr.)

The rundown: Arizona running backs unit won't have a substantial amount of turnover as other positions, but the Wildcats will have a new leader in the room in first-year running backs coach Lyle Moevao, who succeeds Sacramento State head coach Alonzo Carter. 

Carter coached running backs under Brennan at San Jose State and Arizona from 2017-25, before becoming the head coach of a Sacramento State program that's entering the Mid-American Conference (MAC) after competing at the FCS level for the last three decades. 

Moevao was Arizona's assistant running backs coach under Carter last season and will now take the reins of a position group that returns two players who played a significant amount of snaps for the Wildcats last season. 

"It's been a great fit, the guys love him," Brennan said of Moevao in December. "The transition has been seamless. It's really important. The response from the players when I told them was outstanding. We're really excited about that. ... With the way college football staffs are built now, with everyone having an assistant position coach, depending on who that guy is, sometimes they take more of a load than others. 

"Lyle was involved in every aspect of process for those running backs and those players will tell you that." 

Despite losing leading rusher Ismail Mahdi, who rushed for 859 yards and four touchdowns last season, starter-caliber running backs Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig return for another season — the third season at Arizona for Reescano, who started his career at Ole Miss.

Craig's 24-yard touchdown in Arizona's 24-20 win over Kansas lifted the Wildcats to bowl eligibility; he also caught a touchdown in the first half, which moved Fifita to a tie for the most career passing touchdowns. The following week, Reescano had a 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of Arizona's upset win over No. 25 Cincinnati. 

Reescano led the Wildcats with nine rushing touchdowns, the most by a UA running back since Zach Green in 2017. Seven of Reescano's touchdowns were inside the red zone.

Arizona's rushing attack hit a midseason lull, and the Wildcats were outrushed seven times and had fewer than 100 rushing yards collectively in two games. In the second half of the season, Arizona had 13 rushing touchdowns, including four in the home finale against Baylor. 

The power-and-speed tandem of the 6-foot, 217-pound Reescano and the 5-10, 189-pound Craig gives Arizona a versatile and experienced one-two punch at the top — and a combination that was productive and didn't accrue body hits after playing a combined 207 offensive snaps in 2025.

Arizona returns second-year running backs Wesley Yarbrough and Cornelius Warren III (known as "Corn" by UA players and coaches), who were both a part of the Wildcats' 2025 recruiting class. Yarbrough appeared in seven games on Arizona's special teams units, so even though he logged offensive snaps in four games, he'll be a sophomore this season. 

Yarbrough, a 5-10, 210-pound Houston-area native, rushed for 77 yards on 21 carries. Warren, a 5-9, 177-pound Dallas-area product, had seven carries for 32 yards and a fumble late in Arizona's blowout win over Colorado in Boulder. Both Yarbrough and Warren are in line for elevated roles this season, but they'll still be considered the future of Arizona's running backs corps. 

After four-star freshman Brandon Smith was granted release from his contract at Arizona, the Fresno, California, star flipped his commitment to Oregon. With Smith on the way out, Arizona signed Marshall transfer Antwan Roberts. 

The 6-foot, 204-pound Roberts reunites with Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege, who was Marshall's offensive play-caller in 2024. Roberts didn't play in 2024 due to injury. 

In 2025, the Nashville native had 90 rushes for 512 yards and four touchdowns, averaging 5.7 yards per carry. Roberts joined Marshall in 2023 after starting his collegiate career at Independence Community College in Kansas. 

Roberts is the newbie in Arizona's running backs room, but the Marshall transfer has the third-most offensive snaps (314) played by a UA running back behind Craig (1,013) and Reescano (431).

Every Arizona running back, Roberts included, has been around Doege for at least one college football season. The familiarity with Doege's uptempo, dynamic system could lead to a breakout year for Arizona's running backs.