Arizona spring football: OL coach Josh Oglesby confident in depth at tackle

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 02: Isaiah Smith #1 of the Southern Methodist University Mustangs works against Matthew Lado #73 of the Arizona Wildcats during the first half of the Trust & Will Holiday Bowl game at Snapdragon Stadium on January 02, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Acquiring quality offensive linemen from the NCAA transfer portal in general is tough, getting good ones at tackle is even more difficult. Yet somehow Arizona hit two bullseyes last offseason with the addition of Ty Buchanan and Tristan Bounds, who went on to make a combined 21 starts at left and right tackle, respectively.

This time around, though, the Wildcats weren’t nearly as aggressive in seeking transfers for the outside of the offensive line. They added Nathan Hale from San Jose State and Jake Griffin from BYU, but neither is expected to be a starter this fall.

Those jobs are reserved for Bounds, who received a medical redshirt to play a sixth year, and Matthew Lado, a redshirt sophomore who stepped in for Bounds after he went down for the season in mid-November.

“I’m extremely impressed and excited with Matthew Lado,” Oglesby said. “For him, having the opportunity to be in those games and be in the mix and be part of meaningful games and meaningful wins has just caused his confidence to explode. He is super exciting to watch. I won’t call it a surprise, because it’s something that everyone in the building knew was there, and now we’re excited to see it kind of come to fruition.”

The 6-foot-6, 318-pound Lado, one of three players the UA signed out of Glendale Apollo High School in 2024 but the only one that didn’t follow Jedd Fisch to Washington, logged 346 snaps last fall. Early on it was late in blowouts, at left tackle, but in the bowl eligibility-clinching win over Kansas on Nov. 8 he had to come in for Buchanan in the second half and helped clear the path for Quincy Craig’s game-winning touchdown run.

A week later at Cincinnati, Bounds went down with a leg injury and Lado played the final 17 snaps before starting the final three games including the Holiday Bowl.

“When you’re a (backup) you always have to ready to play,” Lado said. “And that’s the expectation in the O-line room, to always be ready to perform if someone goes down, next man up.”

It wasn’t known that Bounds would get a sixth year until after the season, which Oglesby said did cause some stress with how Arizona would pursue replacements. Once they learned Bounds was back, though, a “big sigh of relief” went through the football offices.

Bounds is not participating in spring practices, but in his place redshirt freshman Louis Apka has gotten a lot of run. Hale, Griffin and Griffin’s younger brother, redshirt freshman Jaxon Griffin have also been rotated in, and that’s not even mentioning Rhino Tapa’toutai, who has made the switch to guard but can still play tackle if needed.

“It’s one of the deepest tackle situations I’ve been a part of in a long time,” Oglesby said. “We are very deep at tackle. It’s one of those things where you look up and are like, how did that happen?”

Tapa’atoutai started six games at left tackle as a redshirt freshman in 2024 before getting hurt, then started at right tackle against Weber State and Kansas State last September before Bounds took over that position. The decision to move him inside, where he’s likely to take over for Chubba Ma’ae at left guard, was done to enable Arizona to play its best five linemen at the same time.

“Him moving inside is beneficial to him but for us as a unit, as a team,” Oglesby said. “Let him use his violence and physicality more on the inside. I think the inside suits him a little bit better.”