At 106.6 yards per game last season, Arizona had its worst rushing offense since 2011. The only team in the Big 12 that ran for less was Colorado, which didn’t really run the ball.
That lack of balance made the Wildcats very one-dimensional and very easy to defend, hence their 37 percent drop in scoring from the season before.
Arizona’s offense is undergoing a complete overhaul this spring, with new coordinator Seth Doege implementing a much faster pace. His scheme at Marshall produced more than 200 rushing yards per game in 2024, something Arizona hasn’t averaged since 2018.
But changing the scheme is one thing. Having the right players for that system is another, and Arizona targeted a specific type of running back for the new offense.
“I’m very excited to have a room that fits what he wants to do with his visions,” running backs coach Alonzo Carter said Thursday, after Arizona’s eighth of 15 spring practices. “You can see how the backs are starting to get adjusted.”
Added from the NCAA transfer portal were Quincy Craig (Portland State), Ismail Mahdi (Texas State) and Mike Mitchell (Utah). They join returners Kedrick Reescano and Kayden Luke in a backfield that will be asked to do a lot this season.
“A lot of versatility,” Carter said. “Run, physical play, but you’ve also got to be able to catch as well as pass protect, which is something we emphasize anyway. My mantra is no block, no rock.”
Mahdi is the most accomplished of the additions, having rushed for more than 2,300 yards the past two seasons. He also caught more than 40 passes and returned kicks, and in 2023 his 2,169 all-purpose yards led FBS.
Texas State also ran an up-tempo spread, with former Arizona quarterback Jordan McCloud running the offense last year, giving Mahdi a leg up on acclimating to his new team.
“It’s very similar,” he said. “All the protections are similar as well, too.”
Craig had almost 1,100 all-purpose yards at Portland State last season, while Mitchell had 47 carries in 2024 for Utah.
“Quincy, I can give credit to Coach Bobby Wade and as well as Coach Doege, they found him in the portal and brought him to my attention during Christmas break,” Carter said.
Reescano, who joined Arizona last summer after spending his first season at Ole Miss, ran for 359 yards and a touchdown on 78 carries and added eight catches for the UA. Though not the oldest player in the running back room, he is the most experienced in terms of time with the program and Carter is looking to him to provide leadership.
“He’s just a quiet leader but I’m trying to get him little more vocal, because he had a lot of respect from his peers, his teammates, and he knows the offense,” Carter said. “He’s very comfortable.”
Carter said that Ismail was at the top of his list of running backs in the portal even before Doege was hired as offensive coordinator. Ismail and Craig both fit the bill of small-but-strong backs, each coming in at around 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds. Mitchell is bigger, at 6-foot and 213, the same measurements as Reescano.
That gives Arizona a bit of a thunder and lightning option with its backs, though all must meet the ‘Fast Violent Physical’ approach.
“The FVP thing that is mentality, we have to embrace that in every aspect of the game,” Reescano said. “You can’t just be fast one, play violent the next play, physical the next play, you have to be all that in one every single play.”