Arizona's Lyle Moevao Ready to Lead the Running Back Room
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The Arizona Wildcats football team is officially one week removed from the start of spring practice and the players are starting to look sharp and focused as they progress towards the start of the season.
One position group in particular is looking to evolve from last year. The running backs saw major improvement from 2024's 4-8 group that finished as the 15th rushing offense. In 2025, the Wildcats running back room ended as the 12th ranked group, Ismail Mahdi had the 10th most rushing yards and Kedrick Reescano had the fifth most touchdowns.
Arizona is looking to keep building and the Wildcats' new running back coach, Lyle Moevao is more than up to the challenge of making that happen.
Moevao Making The Transition
Former offensive assistant coach Lyle Moevao is the new running backs coach and is looking to build off of last year's accomplishments that saw them appear as if they were a completely different unit.
"It's been a fun transition, as far as taking the leading role of the running back coaching position," Moevao said. "I think the biggest difference between last year and this year, as far as being the assistant versus the running back coach is the recruiting part of it of being able to get out on the road."
"Going and seeing guys, having conversations with parents, talking to coaches when we're doing local recruiting out on the road and being able to just get to know those local coaches as well as some of the other high school coaches out of state."
Moevao Has Big Shoes To Fill
Moevao replaced former running back coach Alonzo Carter, who is now going into his first year as the head coach of Sacramento State. With plenty of coaching experience under his belt, Moevao was the right pick for the job. He was the running back coach for Northern Colorado and for the San Antonio Renegades.
Now that Moevao is the running backs coach, he had nothing but positive things to say about Carter, from his ability to connect with his players to bringing the best out of them.
"Coach Carter is a real people person," Moevao said. "He's able to understand the personalities, especially the different types of personalities amongst these young guys. Understanding that part of it and having his help with a lot of the communication that we were doing on how to handle different personalities of where guys were from and how it was."
"Being from Texas, being from the Bay Area, being from Orange County, there's different types of lifestyles in those areas. So, I think his help of breaking it down and giving me insight to what that is as he was hitting the road recruiting was really helpful with just creating a connection as he stepped on campus."
Moevao's Running Backs Bringing Leadership to the Room
Moevao is inheriting a running back room filled with veterans who all have unique skill sets that make for a dangerous committee. Although Arizona will be without 2025's leading rusher Ismail Mahdi, who ran for 859 yards and four touchdowns, it still has Kedrick Reescano and Quincy Craig.
Reescano ran for 396 yards and nine touchdowns and scored five in the last three games of the regular season. His gritty downhill running made him a top choice to use in the redzone. Craig ran for 354 yards and two touchdowns. His speed and agility has made him an elite level east-west runner.
With Wesley Yarbrough and Cornelius Warren returning and Marshall transfer Antwan Roberts joining the team, Reescano and Craig's leadership will be needed to guide the running back room.
"We've got a great group of men, of leaders and I think that's the number one goal as a position coach," Moevao said. "You're always trying to create leaders within your position group that can lead the charge rather than always being the spokesperson, always trying to reinforce things."
"When you've got guys that are experienced, that are veteran guys that have played a lot of college football, and really taking on that role, it's like having two assistant coaches in the room already. The expectations, not just from me or also from the guys in the room and I think that raises the level of competition. It raises the level of expectations as well as the standard."
Reescano and Craig have been limited through spring practice as they are both rehabbing injuries and getting back to being 100%. That leaves Yarbrough, Warren and Roberts to take more reps. By the start of the season. Arizona's running back room might be one of the better one's in the Big 12.
Nathaniel Martinez and a set of shoulder pads at 7 years old. He later graduated from Pima Community College in 2023, where he began writing for the Pima Post. He is working to achieve a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication and Media Studies.