Former Texas football DE Byron Vaughns enters transfer portal again

For the second time in his collegiate career to date, the former Texas football senior defensive end/defensive lineman Byron Vaughns has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal. Vaughns decided earlier this week to put his name in the transfer portal after spending two seasons with the Utah State Aggies in the Mountain West Conference. He announced on social media on Dec. 30 that he will be entering the portal as a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.

Prior to his time in Logan at Utah State, Vaughns spent two years on the Forty Acres with the Longhorns.

The first time that Vaughns put his name in the portal was in the fall of 2020. He landed with Utah State and had a really productive two seasons in Logan where he registered 100 combined tackles, 19.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks, 61 quarterback pressures, 19 missed tackles, 55 stops, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.

Vaughns’ most productive season in Logan came during the 2021 campaign. He led the team in pass breakups, ranked second in quarterback pressures, and was tied for third on the team in tackles for loss. His efforts last season on and off the field earned him the Mountain West Championship Game Defensive MVP.

In a dominant 46-13 win for Utah State over the No. 19 San Diego State Aztecs in the Mountain West title game last season, Vaughns was stellar as he posted a half-dozen combined tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and four quarterback pressures.

The 6-foot-4 and 230-pound Vaughns played most of his snaps at Utah State this season as a defensive end out of the three-technique. But he started out last season (his first year playing for the Aggies) playing as an outside linebacker/edge rusher.

Ex-Texas football DE/EDGE Byron Vaughns puts his name in the transfer portal for the second time

Vaughns was originally a three-star recruit out of Fort Worth Eastern Hills High School in Texas. He signed with defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and the Longhorns in the 2018 recruiting class.

He was also recruited pretty hard by the likes of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Oklahoma Sooners, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Texas A&M Aggies out of high school.

Since announcing his intentions to enter the transfer portal a couple of days ago, Vaughns has received offers from the USC Trojans, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and Houston Cougars, among others.

It looks like Vaughns is getting a lot of Power Five interest in the last couple of days, as he’s working his way north of a half-dozen offers.

And while Texas does have a need to add an impact edge rusher out of the portal this offseason, I haven’t heard anything about Pete Kwiatkowski and the Longhorns’ defensive staff going after Vaughns.

Texas has added two portal players so far as part of the 2023 transfer class. During the Early Signing Period a couple of weeks ago, Texas signed the former Stanford Cardinal senior punter Ryan Sanborn and Wake Forest Demon Deacons redshirt sophomore cornerback Gavin Holmes.