Offensive line is considered one of the toughest—and most expensive—positions to acquire from the NCAA transfer portal. Last offseason Arizona added seven linemen from the portal, and three ended up combining to start 34 games despite not being among the top 30 transfers at their position.
And one of those starters, Tristan Bounds, had hardly seen the field in four years at Michigan before starting eight times at right tackle for the Wildcats.
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The UA could be hoping for a similar story with ex-BYU offensive tackle Jake Griffin, who committed on Monday. He’s the third offensive lineman Arizona has gotten in this portal cycle, but unlike the other two has no starting experience.
The 6-foot-5, 305-pound Griffin will have two seasons of eligibility after spending three years at BYU. He’ll be among the oldest players on the UA roster as he graduated in 2020 and took a 2-year LDS mission before starting his college career.
Griffin did not play his first two seasons with the Cougars but this past fall appeared in 11 games, mostly on special teams including six at Arizona. He got on the field with the offense for 27 snaps at both left and right tackle.
The UA has to replace both starting tackles and one of the other portal additions (San Jose State transfer Nate Hale) started 10 games at RT in 2025.
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Griffin is the older brother of fellow Wildcat offensive lineman Jaxon Griffin, a 3-star prospect from the 2025 recruiting class who redshirted this season. That will give Arizona three sets of brothers on the roster in 2026, joining quarterback Noah Fifita and incoming freshman linebacker Dash Fifita as well as receiver Tre Spivey and recent cornerback commit Kingston Spivey.
Arizona is now up to 18 known transfer commits, with nine on offense.