Arizona Tight End Makes Decision on his 2026 Season

After having a rough first year under head coach Brent Brennan where the Wildcats started behind the eight ball with injuries and key players like running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt ruled ineligible after playing in the first game of the season, Arizona has managed to recollect and start off the 2025 season with a 4-1 record putting the team two games away from a bowl berth.

Although the season has started off on the right foot for the Wildcats, like many teams across the country you will have ups and downs not only in terms of wins and losses but also navigating a roster with injuries, playing time, academics and all the things that come in a 12-game college football season.

Arizona has now seen tight end Keyan Burnett making the decision to redshirt the remainder of the season. Burnett has played in four games, which is the cut off for players to redshirt before losing a year of eligibility.

Arizona tight end Keyan Burnett is redshirting and will miss the remainder of the season, per sources.

Burnett suffered a hamstring injury in training camp and never fully recovered. Burnett played four games this season and will have another season of eligibility.

Burnett…
— Justin Spears (@JustinESports) October 7, 2025

The choice to redshirt was a mutual decision between Burnett, Brennan and the coaching staff making it an easy transition for the player and the program.

This season, Burnett has totaled two catches for 11 yards and has been battling injury issues through different parts of the early quarter of the schedule.

In his Arizona career, Burnett has racked up 26 catches for 272 yards and a touchdown in 33 games in four years with the program. The lone touchdown came against Utah in the WIldcats’ 23-10 road win.

Following the end of the 2024 season, Burnett entered the transfer portal and left for Kansas. However, after spending the spring practice season with the Jayhawks he re-entered the portal and came back to the Wildcats.

Aug 31, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; New Mexico Lobos safety Christian Ellis (8) goes in to tackle Arizona Wildcats tightend Keyan Burnett (88) while he catches the ball during first quarter at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

With Burnett redshirting the remainder of the season, the tight ends room has become thin for the Wildcats that have already lost starter Tyler Powell for the season and now will be two tight ends short with seven games left on the calendar.

Right now, Arizona has Sam Olson, Cameron Barmore, John Hart, Kayden Luke and Tyler Mustain still available and ready to go. Keep in mind that freshman Kellan Ford has been listed as out in the last two availability reports.

Nov 25, 2022; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats tight end Keyan Burnett (89) against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the Territorial Cup at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

When coming into Arizona as part of the legendary 2022 recruiting class, Burnett was one of the highest rated recruits and was a four-star on many of the recruiting platforms and even had USC highly interested in his talents.

Now that Burnett is redshirting and there was a mutual agreement between him and the program, it is hard to see him back with Arizona next season and this just has the feeling that he will be with a new program come the 2026 year.

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