Jabari Mann transfers to Arizona

This was not Mann’s original destination. The three-star football recruit initially signed a National Letter of Intent in December to play at San Jose State University. Then a seismic shakeup in the collegiate coaching ranks saw Brent Brennan step down as San Jose State’s head coach to take the job at University of Arizona. The following month, after decommitting from San Jose State, Mann opted to follow Brennan to Tucson by signing Feb. 19 to play at Arizona.

“It was a good thing for me because going from the Mountain West to the Big 12,” Mann said, “now I can really show that I belong up with the big dogs.”

Brennan’s departure from San Jose State was part of a coaching carousel that started with Nick Saban announcing his retirement after 17 seasons as head coach at University of Alabama. As a result, Kalen DeBoer left his post at University of Washington to take over as head coach of the Crimson Tide. This spurred head coach Jedd Fisch to leave University of Arizona to take the job at Washington. Brennan was then hired at Arizona, with San Jose State tabbing Ken Niumatalolo to take Brennan’s place with the Spartans.

“It hit hard when I found out they left because [Brennan’s staff] offered me my sophomore year … and I had a strong relationship with all of them,” Mann said. “It was really me just going from having a strong bond with the coaching staff to me going into school not knowing most of the coaching staff.”

Brennan took a majority of his coaching staff with him to Arizona, including assistant head coach Alonzo Carter, offensive line coach Josh Oglesby, tight ends coach Matt Adkins, defensive line coach Joe Seumalo, cornerbacks coach Chip Viney, and strength and conditioning coach Cullen Carroll.

“I chose them because, yeah, the coaches, I knew a majority of them,” Mann said. “And just the Power Five conference chance, that was another thing.”

With the Pac-12 Conference disbanding after the 2023-24 school year, a majority of the schools are joining Power Five conferences. Stanford and Cal will go to the Atlantic Coast Conference starting in August, while USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are headed to the Big Ten. Arizona State, Colorado and Utah will be joining Arizona in the Big 12, which will feature 16 teams in 2024. Washington State and Oregon State are the only two schools not to land in a Power Five, playing in the Mountain West Conference.

Prior to signing with San Jose State, Mann had an offer from Oregon State, and was wowed by the fanbase. He had a similar sense of wonder touring Arizona, especially when he walked onto the field at Arizona Stadium.

“When I was on the field, just the feeling of going into the stadium and seeing how everything rises up from the field, and just how many seats there are, that’s going to be a big thing,” Mann said.

Arizona enlisted former University of New Mexico head coach Danny Gonzales to take over as linebackers and special teams coach in 2024. The two departments are near and dear to Mann’s heart. He was not only a punishing middle linebacker at Serra, but was a weekly highlight reel blocking punts on special teams.

“I’m 99.9% sure that I’m fully on defense,” Mann said. “I’ll be on special teams and stuff too. But I’ll be on defense for sure.”

Arizona touts three other San Jose State transfers on roster: redshirt junior defensive lineman Tre Smith, senior running back Quali Conley, and redshirt junior offensive lineman Ryan Stewart.

The Wildcats’ linebacker corps features plenty of depth, with interesting names such as redshirt freshman Leviticus Su’a, a 2023 graduate of Mater Dei, where he played against Mann and Serra as a junior in the CIF Open Division State Championship Bowl in 2021; redshirt junior Justin Flowe, who totaled 44 tackles in 2023 and earned a spot on the Butkus Award Watch List; and junior Jacob Manu, an All-Pac-12 player who led the conference with 116 tackles, and was dubbed “the best linebacker in the Pac-12” but Gonzales in an interview with the Arizona Daily Star.

“It’s going to be very difficult (to get playing time at Arizona),” Mann said, “because there’s more linebackers.”