There are still another two weeks before Arizona completes the 2025 season, doing so in 2026 at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego against SMU. That extra time will allow many banged up players to get healthy and make one last go of it.
Redshirt senior Tia Savea missed the Wildcats’ last three games due to injury and is out of eligibility after this season, which will make the Holiday Bowl his collegiate swan song. Many other seniors on the UA roster will be done with the sport soon and have a chance at one last hurrah.
But in the current state of college football, opting out of bowl games has become a regular thing, particularly for players who are hopeful to play professionally and who don’t want to risk getting hurt in a bowl game that isn’t for a championship. Arizona faced that two years ago when future first round pick Jordan Morgan sat out the Alamo Bowl.
To this point, though, Arizona has not had anyone opt out of the Holiday Bowl. Coach Brent Brennan confirmed as much during a press conference in San Diego on Tuesday, though he said that can still happen.
“I don’t know what opt outs look like for us yet,” he said. “I’m sure (SMU) Coach Lashlee would like to know. Where we’re at in college right now, all of those decisions are personal and family decisions. We have a really healthy culture. Our team in Arizona has been on an incredible journey this year. The vibe of this football team, the way they show up for each other, the way they compete, has really been a lot of fun. That is something that is holding us together. How it plays out over the next couple of weeks, I’m not exactly sure, but I do think our guys are excited for this bowl game.”
SMU’s Rhett Lashlee had a similar take, saying his team was excited to play Arizona and another Big 12 school. The Mustangs (8-4) lost to both Baylor and TCU in nonconference play earlier this season.
“Similar to Arizona, the reason we’ve won is that our culture is good,” Lashlee said. “We have a couple of guys who are banged up from the end of the year, who we’re hoping will be available. I’ll let Coach Brennan wait till kickoff to decide if they are or not. By and large, our guys are excited. We had our team banquet on Sunday. We honored 29 seniors, and all those guys are excited to play one last game at SMU. A lot of our young players are excited to get to play a great opponent from the Big 12.”
Though the NCAA transfer portal doesn’t officially open until Jan. 2, the same day as the Holiday Bowl, both Arizona and SMU have seen players announce their intentions to transfer. The Wildcats have five such players, including quarterback Braedyn Locke and offensive lineman Michael Wooten.
Wooten started the first two games of the season at left guard and also filled in on the line in other games, while Locke was Noah Fifita’s backup and saw some mop-up time. It’s uncertain if either, or Arizona’s other impending portal departures, will remain with the team for the Holiday Bowl.
SMU, according to 247Sports’ transfer portal tracker, has four players set to transfer but only one—edge rusher DJ Warner—saw significant playing time.
“Every team has players who may decide to go into the transfer portal for different reasons, every team handles that differently,” Lashlee said. “If players decide to transfer now, even though the portal is not open, they probably won’t be with us for the game. But in terms of opt-outs, I don’t expect that.”
