Cole Rusk, the fourth-ranked 2026 Transfer Portal tight end, announced his commitment to Arizona from Illinois on Tuesday. Rusk is the 81st-ranked overall transfer in the 247Sports rankings. Rusk had 19 receptions for 217 yards and one touchdown in 2025.
Playing for Football Championship Subdivision Murray State in 2023, Rusk was a third-team All-American with 36 receptions with 485 yards and six TDs. After being on the John Mackey Award Watch List in 2024 with Illinois, Rusk missed the season after suffering a knee injury during fall camp.
Rusk redshirted as a true freshman in 2021 and played one game in 2022 at Eastern Michigan. Rusk has only played in two of his five college seasons, allowing him to have a sixth season of eligibility with Arizona in 2026.
Tight end is a position of need for Arizona with Keyan Burnett entering the Transfer Portal and Cameron Barmore and Sam Olson completing their eligibility. Barmore led Arizona TEs with 19 receptions for 189 yards and two TDs in 2025. Olson had 17 catches for 135 yards and two scores in 2025
Let’s rock! pic.twitter.com/vlnOectQ7F
— Cole Rusk (@ColeRusk1) January 6, 2026
Returning tight ends for Arizona in 2026
Arizona returns Kellan Ford and Tyler Powell to the 2026 roster. Ford and Powell missed the 2025 season with injuries. Three-star consensus TE Henry Gaballis signed with Arizona in the 2026 class. Arizona needed to add experience to a TE room that had zero college snaps without Rusk.
At 6'5 and 250 pounds, Rusk will provide Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita with a good target in the passing game in 2026. Rusk had season highs of five receptions for 68 yards in a 34-16 Illinois loss to Ohio State. In his one season at Murray State, Rusk had career highs of seven receptions for 88 yards and a TD at Missouri State in 2023.