The Wildcats have yet to announce a new defensive coordinator, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to add instant impact players through the transfer portal. On Thursday, Arizona received a commitment from former Montana linebacker Riley Wilson.
Wilson is the second FCS linebacker the Wildcats have added this offseason, alongside All-American Blake Gotcher from Northwestern State. The former Grizzly chose the UA over Boise State, Houston, and Memphis.
The 6-foot-2, 224-pound, Prosper, Texas native spent the past two seasons at Montana. During that time, Wilson appeared in 26 games, tallying 136 tackles, including 26.5 TFL and 13 sacks, and three PBU. This season, he recorded 83 tackles and 11.5 TFL. He was also a back-to-back Second-Team All-Big Sky Conference selection, and led the Big Sky in 2023 with 13 solo tackles for loss (15 total TFL).
Prior to his time at Missoula, Wilson spent three seasons at Hawaii, where he began his career as a tight end. He earned Academic All-Mountain West Honors in 2020 and 2021.
The commitment from Riley Wilson is a critical one for Arizona, which lost defensive captain Jacob Manu, who led the Pac-12 in tackles in 2023, to former UA coach Jedd Fisch and Washington. Linebacker Kamuela Ka’aihue is also in the transfer portal. The Wildcats are set to return Taye Brown, Justin Flowe, redshirt freshman Leviticus Su’a, freshman Stacy Bey, and have added three-star linebackers Carter Jones and Myron Robinson in their 2025 recruiting class.