Arizona added arguably its most important commitment of the transfer season Saturday morning when Texas State running back Ismail Mahdi announced his pledge to the Wildcats over Arkansas.

The junior from Murphy, Texas (outside Dallas) began his career at Houston Christian before making the move to Texas State where he shined and became an All-American in the 2023 season.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Mahdi rushed for 1,331 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore to go with 275 yards receiving and another score through the air. He also returned kickoffs for the Bobcats and scored a touchdown on special teams last year.

That vaulted him to the FWAA All-America second team and helped earn him a spot on the Sun Belt all-conference team as an all-purpose player.

He followed that up with 991 yards rushing and four more rushing touchdowns this year on 183 carries. Mahdi also caught 24 passes for 195 yards and two receiving scores in his junior season.

In his career, the new Arizona commit has rushed for 2,781 yards and 15 touchdowns with 74 catches, 720 yards receiving and five more scores through the air.

Mahdi will help bolster the Arizona running back group, which is going through plenty of change again this offseason, and he has plenty of explosive performances under his belt.

In the 2024 season, the rising senior had four performances with at least 120 rushing yards including a 164-yard showing against Arkansas State in a win for the Bobcats. Mahdi averaged 9.6 yards per carry in that game.

He also only had three fumbles throughout the season on 207 touches.

Mahdi's 87.1 rushing grade from PFF ranks as the 28th-best among all FBS running backs this season. He has played 598 snaps in his career up to this point.

The Texas State running back is the 10th transfer to join the Wildcats in the cycle as Arizona looks to rebuild its roster following 30 portal entries in recent weeks. That list includes Rayshon "Speedy" Luke and Brandon Johnson leaving Kedrick Reescano as the only experienced option at the position.

UA signed high three-star recruit Wesley Yarbrough earlier this month.

Mahdi's experience should help make him an immediate option as a starter going into 2025.

- RB Ismail Mahdi (Texas State)

- DL Deshawn McKnight (UT Martin)

- OL Jordan Brown (Georgia Tech)

- OL Ty Buchanan (Texas Tech)

- WR Kris Hutson (Washington State)

- DB Jshawn Frausto-Ramos (Stanford)

- DB Jay'Vion Cole (Texas)

- DB Michael Dansby (San Jose State)

- DL Chancellor Owens (Northwestern State)

- WR Luke Wysong (New Mexico)

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