Speaking to reporters on Tuesday ahead of training camp beginning on Wednesday, Arizona head coach Brent Brennan discussed the most difficult positions to recruit in the Transfer Portal. Brennan stated the offensive line is the hardest to recruit transfers other than quarterback.
Brennan was responding to a question if he felt it was easier to recruit OL through the portal. After laughing at the question as a response to Arizona general manager Gaizka Crowley doing the same, Brennan stated QB is the only position harder to recruit out of the portal than OL.
Arizona added seven OL to their 2025 roster and lost six who transferred out. Texas Tech transfer Ty Buchanan, who began his collegiate career at USC, is expected to start at one tackle and Hawaii transfer Ka'Ena Decambra is projected to start at guard for Arizona in 2025.
Arizona returns Rhino Tapa'toutai, who missed most of the 2024 season and Michael Wooten at tackle. Four transfers in addition to Buchanan and Decambra more than likely add depth more than competition to be a starter for Arizona entering the 2025 season.
"Outside of quarterback, offensive line is the hardest position to recruit out the portal...It has the most competition. It is the most intense. The hard part...we're recruiting them to come in here and compete for a starting job right now. A lot of the young men that are entering the portal as an offensive lineman, they don't know that they're getting recruited to another school to go be a backup. They don't know that because, you know, someone on the other side of that equation is not telling them the truth, right? But those guys, we're expecting them to compete for a job."Arizona head coach Brent Brennan
Arizona added the 52nd-best 2025 transfer class according to the 247Sports composite rankings, despite only 12 programs ahead of them in the rankings signing more players. Four of the Arizona incoming transfer OL are from power conference schools and the others are from Group of Five or FCS programs.
All of the Arizona incoming transfers OL were three-stars or less as prospects and through the 2025 portal. Although Brennan was not hired until January 2024, Arizona still added five transfer OL in that class. That included Wooten, who played in nine games for Arizona during the 2024 season.
In addition to Wooten, Alexander Doos and Ise Matautia remain on the OL among the transfers added during the 2024 cycle. Doost played in all 12 games in 2024 with nine starts. Matautia did not have an appearance for Arizona during the 2024 season.
The differences between Doost and Wooten being key players for Arizona on the 2024 OL and Matauta not playing help illustrate the difficulty of adding transfers at the position. Transfers who are moving up a level or more often are more difficult to evaluate.
Brennan mentioned that they often do not know for sure if a transfer is ready to move up a level until the player is competing in practice with the other Arizona players. After last season, Arizona needs the 2025 OL transfers to produce in 2025.