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The College Football Playoff is three times bigger. Players are being paid directly by schools. They have more freedom of movement than ever before.

could slow because of the House settlement, which at least gives programs a salary floor, but I doubt it. The total number of entries has climbed every year as transfer restrictions have been eased or removed altogether.

Newly arrived freshmen — of which Arizona has about two dozen — are entering into a new world. Or so you’d think.

Given the aforementioned changes, I assumed the approach to coaching and managing freshmen had shifted accordingly. After all, if they don’t like the way things are going, they can leave without consequence as soon as the portal window opens in December.

Maybe that’s the case at other programs. Not so at Arizona.

I asked six UA coaches in separate interviews whether they’re handling freshmen any differently during the transfer-portal era than before it. None said they are.

Some acknowledged that certain aspects have changed, including players’ readiness for college and their expectations for playing time. But all said that relationships and long-term development remain pillars of building a program — at least this one.

“The hard part for all these freshmen is that they were ‘The Man’ last year, wherever they were,� UA head coach Brent Brennan said. “They were the best player on their high school team, they were the best player in their district, they were the best player in their state. They’re all super-high-level kids. But there’s a developmental process to getting ready to play on this level, playing in the Big 12.�

The timeline is different for different positions. Barring catastrophic injuries, I would expect all of Arizona’s freshman offensive lineman to redshirt this year. That’s the norm for football’s most physically demanding and athletically unnatural position. Jonah Savaiinaea — an immediate starter who’s now a first-team rookie for the Miami Dolphins after three years at the UA — was an outlier. He was the rarest of Cats.

Freshman running back Wesley Yarbrough could start this Saturday if he had to. He neither looks nor sounds like a raw rookie. Listed at 5-foot-10, 211 pounds, Yarbrough is stout and strong. In his first interaction with Tucson media last week, he spoke confidently.

“Whatever school I was going to go to, I wanted to be the best to ever go there,� Yarbrough said. “That’s just the standard I set for myself. I want to get on the field fast. I want to get in the playbook fast.�

As it stands, Yarbrough is the Wildcats’ No. 4 running back. They’re likely to give three veterans — Ismael Mahdi, Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig — most of the playing time.

But Yarbrough is one injury away — at an especially susceptible position — from jumping into the top three. In the meantime, he’s embracing special teams as a means to get on the field. It’s a must for any player — running backs in particular — with NFL aspirations.

“I take every single rep seriously,� Yarbrough said. “I make it a priority.�

Since 2018, coaching staffs have had another way to keep freshmen engaged: They can appear in up to four regular-season games while retaining their redshirt year.

Nowadays, that tactic carries some risk: If a player stands out in that four-game window, he could get poached by another program. General managers and other front-office types are constantly scouting other teams’ rosters. If a player performs well under the lights, he becomes that much more attractive on the portal market.

Staying the course

In 2021, the NCAA ratified a : Athletes in any sport could transfer once without having to sit out a year.

ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV offensive tackle Ty Buchanan was part of that inaugural class. After spending his freshman year at USC, he transferred to Texas Tech.

Buchanan might have left anyway because he wanted to be closer to home; he’s from Corpus Christi. But the rule change made the move more appealing.

“It helped a lot,� Buchanan said, “because I knew that I wouldn’t be penalized if I transferred.�

Buchanan appeared in three games for the Red Raiders in 2022 and ‘23, starting once in each season. He became a regular last year.

Even with tools at his disposal to accelerate his personal timeline, Buchanan knew it would take time and patience to establish himself. Such is the way for most offensive linemen.

Buchanan weighed 260 pounds when he enrolled at USC in July 2021. Four years later, he’s listed at 314.

“It’s challenging,� Buchanan said. “It’s a process. You gotta grind every day. Get the footwork right, get your body (mass) up, all of the above.�

Buchanan’s position coach, Josh Oglesby, began his college coaching career in 2013. He’s seen the sport evolve.

The way Oglesby goes about his job hasn’t changed. It’s still about building relationships and maintaining open lines of communication.

It starts in the recruiting process. It continues during freshman year. Oglesby wants to make sure his players have a positive experience, regardless of when (or if) they play.

“Part of our job is to ensure that ... they feel that they’re getting developed, they feel like they’re getting better, they feel like they’re on the right path to eventually earn that spot,� Oglesby said. “You also have to be upfront with those guys in recruiting. There are certain positions that are easier to play younger than others. When you talk about our position, there’s so much that goes into the ability of a young guy to play early.�

Oglesby and others said it’s still possible to pitch a long-term development plan in the transfer-portal era.

“But you also have to follow through,� Oglesby said, “so that they feel that, ‘OK, what you said to me in recruiting is real.’ Once they get here, showing them that you can add value for them.�

One of my colleagues believes redshirting is a waste of time these days because all you’re doing is preserving a player’s eligibility for another program. It’s unavoidable on the offensive line.

Two of Arizona’s freshman linemen, Louis Akpa and Javian Goo, have shown promise during training. But those two and fellow rookie Jaxon Griffin need to put on substantial weight. The other two freshman offensive lineman need to lose a bunch.

No one wants to sit out. “I worked my butt off,� Buchanan said of his one season at USC, where he briefly moved up to second string. But offensive linemen generally accept the reality that they won’t play as freshmen.

“If you stay the course and trust the process,� Oglesby said, “your time will come.�

Uncertain future

Dalton Johnson figured he’d play more as a freshman in 2021 than he did. He appeared in three games for a team that finished 1-11.

“Coming to U of A at the point they were at,� Arizona’s veteran safety said, “I felt like I could come in and make a difference.�

Johnson became a regular on special teams in 2022. He’s been a starter the past two seasons.

Johnson has remained at Arizona through two head-coaching changes. He has played for four defensive coordinators in five seasons. Simply by sticking around, Johnson might be a rarer breed than Savaiinaea.

Johnson acknowledged being frustrated at times when he wasn’t playing. An hour-long walk-and-talk at Arizona Stadium with former UA assistant Beyah Rasool, , helped Johnson accept his path and envision where it could lead.

Johnson is the only remaining member of Arizona’s 2021 recruiting class — most of whom signed during the limbo period between Kevin Sumlin’s firing and Jedd Fisch’s hiring. Johnson and fellow defensive back Treydan Stukes (signing class of 2020) are the only redshirt seniors on the team who’ve been Wildcats for their entire college careers.

Even with all the coaching turnover, that feels anomalous. In the current environment, it really isn’t. Arizona had just five fifth-year Wildcats for Life each of the previous two years. Those numbers might’ve been lower if not for the COVID year of 2020, which didn’t count against anyone’s eligibility.

“In the old days, you took 25 (recruits),� defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said. “If you were a good football team, you’d have 17-21 seniors in their fifth year (from) that group.

“That was before the transfer portal, when they couldn’t leave. If you can get 12-15 now, you probably have a good football team.�

Gonzales might be aiming too high. The current staff’s ability to retain players — from freshman year through fifth year — is a complete unknown.

The early returns are promising. Only one freshman who signed with Arizona in the class of 2024 and was on the roster last year entered the transfer portal: tight end Dylan Tapley. One other player, running back Jordan Washington, spent most of the spring with the Wildcats before transferring to Washington.

None of those players were Brennan’s signees. The 2025 class is his first. We’ll see how that goes. So much can and will change between now and 2029, when any freshman who redshirts this season will be a fifth-year senior.

The staff can sell playing time as soon as next year. Arizona has about 20 projected rotation players who will be out of eligibility after this season.

It’s also possible that before the decade is over, — with buyouts — will become prevalent, deterring players from transferring after their freshman campaigns.

Brennan and his assistants don’t spend much time thinking about that stuff. If a freshman is ready to play, he will. If not, he’ll still be coached up and made to feel appreciated.

“If those guys feel like you genuinely care,� safeties coach Brett Arce said, “then I think they’ll hang around.�