Arizona spring football preview: receivers and tight ends

The Wildcats begin spring practices on Tuesday, March 24, and will cap their month-long spring schedule with the spring 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, followed by running backs. Up next: wide receivers and tight ends. 

Position coaches: Bobby Wade (wide receivers) and Josh Miller (tight ends)

Key departures (wide receiver): Kris Hutson, Javin Whatley, Luke Wysong

Key departures (tight end): Sam Olson, Cameron Barmore, Keyan Burnett

Key returners (wide receiver): Chris Hunter (R-Sr.), Gio Richardson (So.), Tre Spivey (R-Jr.), Isaiah Mizell (So.), Brandon Phelps (R-So.)

Key returners (tight end): Tyler Powell (R-Sr.), Kellan Ford (R-Fr.)

Newcomers (wide receiver): Rodney Gallagher III (Sr.), DJ Jordan (So.), Jordan Ross (Jr.), RJ Mosley (Fr.), Caleb Smith (Fr.)

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

The rundown: The gadgets in Arizona's offense will be a blend of promising returners and additions in the offseason. 

Tight end is one of the few position groups at Arizona that will have an overhaul of talent, with Powell and Ford as the only scholarship returners — both of whom were held out due to injuries. Powell went down with a season-ending knee injury on the first play of Arizona's season-opening win over Hawaii.

Between the departures and the inexperienced returners, Arizona prioritized the tight end position in the offseason — and Rusk steps in as the most experienced player in the room. Between his stops at Murray State and Illinois, the 6-5, 250-pound Rusk has played 642 offensive snaps and recorded 729 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. 

The 6-3, 236-pound 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. 

The 6-4, 245-pound Ban prepped at Evergreen High School in Vancouver, Washington, and had a limited role in his first season at San Diego State in 2025. Ban was primarily used as a run-blocking tight end and logged 33 run-blocking snaps in his 38 offensive plays at SDSU.

Gabalis, a Seattle-area native, is one of three four-star signees in Arizona's 2026 recruiting class, along with the 6-3, 199-pound Mosley, a Northern California product. 

For the second straight season, the Wildcats are losing their top receiver. If history repeats itself, Jordan — a transfer from USC — is in position to become the third straight receiver to lead Arizona in receiving yards while donning the No. 4 jersey number.  

Jordan was a highly touted recruit as a Los Angeles-area native and Sierra Canyon High School product in 2023. After redshirting his freshman season, the 5-11, 178-pounder had five catches for 38 yards in his second season at USC.

Ross, who's also from L.A., had 26 catches for 302 yards and a touchdown during his two-year career with the Rams.

Ross, who played in Snoop Dogg's youth football league in Los Angeles, was a part of the CSU team that lost to Miami (Ohio) in the 2024 Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl presented by Gin & Juice by Dre and Snoop. Ross had four catches for 58 yards in his first performance at Casino Del Sol Stadium. 

Gallagher grew up in Uniontown, Pennsylvania — a small town near the Pennsylvania-West Virginia border — and signed with the Mountaineers in 2023.  

The 5-10, 177-pound Gallagher was a four-star prospect and was recruited as a receiver and defensive back. Gallagher signed with nearby WVU over Michigan, Oregon, Cincinnati, Nebraska, Penn State and Texas, among others. 

In three years at West Virginia, Gallagher had 64 receptions for 605 yards and three touchdowns. He had the second-most receptions (28) for the Mountaineers this past season — his only season under former Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez.

Arizona's haul at receiver is different than last year. The trio of Hutson, Whatley and Wysong combined for 5,091 offensive snaps prior to their lone season at Arizona. 

Ross, Gallagher and Jordan have combined for 1,732 offensive snaps (Gallagher with 1,253), albeit Ross and Jordan have at least two years of eligibility — and were both highly touted recruits in high school. 

Taking a chance on potential instead of experience in the transfer portal can be a dangerous game, but "part of it is getting to know them, whether it's previous history or getting to know them," said Arizona head coach Brent Brennan.

"When we do that, we look at it like we're taking a first- or second-year player who's still a freshman to us, because he hasn't played yet, but has been in a program and has played in some games and some high-level reps in some competitive situations," Brennan said. "The talent and the character of the kid is worth the risk, so to speak. You're trying to mitigate those risks, always, with every player that you bring into the program. That's how we look at it." 

The newcomers at receivers will join Spivey, Hunter and Richardson — who combined for 1,052 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns this past season. The aforementioned trio could conceivably be Arizona's starting trio at receiver for quarterback Noah Fifita's last year at Arizona.

Mizell, who is considered Arizona's fastest receiver, and Phelps will also be in the mix as returners to crack the UA receiving rotation. 

The ideal number of receivers in a rotation is six, however, the Wildcats will have plenty of options.