A handful of former Texas defensive transfers are carving out real roles at their new schools this fall, with a few already firmly planted as starters and others contributing mostly on special teams.
The biggest workloads belong to Elijah “Bo” Barnes and Liona Lefau. Barnes has started every game for Kentucky, where the Wildcats are 5-1, while Lefau is listed first at one inside linebacker spot on Colorado’s latest depth chart after starting three of five games for Deion Sanders’ team.
Barnes, who spent a redshirt season at Texas, has opened six straight games at middle linebacker for Kentucky. He has 37 tackles, including 17 solo stops, which rank fourth on the team.
He also has 2.5 tackles for loss, a pass breakup and two quarterback hurries. His best outing came in Kentucky’s 35-34 overtime win over LSU on October 10, when he posted 12 tackles.
Kentucky’s game notes list him with four appearances and no starts at Texas in 2025.
Lefau was a full-time starter at Texas last season, starting all 12 regular-season games as a junior. At Colorado, he has played in all five games and started three, while ranking fourth on the team with 31 tackles.
He also has 1.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup. His top performance came at Baylor on September 26, when he piled up a team-high nine tackles, including 1.5 for loss.
He followed that with six tackles and his first Colorado pass breakup against Texas Tech.
Colorado’s October 17 depth chart for Utah has Lefau first at one inside linebacker spot, with Gideon Lampron on the other side and Gage Goldberg as the backup at both spots. He also shows up on Colorado’s list of core special-team players, and the 6’1, 230-pound linebacker has played 35 special-teams snaps.
Elsewhere in the front seven, Lavon Johnson has logged starts for Maryland after returning there following the 2025 season at Texas. Maryland’s game-by-game starting chart had him in the opening lineup for the first three games, against Hampton, UConn and Virginia Tech.
Through Maryland’s October 10 loss at Ohio State, the Terrapins credit him with three games played, three tackles and a tackle for loss. Two of those tackles came in the opener against Hampton, and he is also listed with two missed tackles this season.
Johnson has not played in the last two games because of an undisclosed injury.
At UConn, Melvin Hills III has appeared in all six games and has eight tackles plus a pass breakup. He made two tackles against Southern Miss and two more in the Huskies’ October 10 win at Temple, but he has not posted a tackle for loss or a sack.
UConn’s Temple depth chart lists him third at one defensive tackle spot, behind Esean Carter and Desmond Aladuge, who are separated by an “or” at the top of the chart. He has not started, with UConn’s starting chart covering the first five games and the Temple game book listing him among the reserves.
In the secondary, Caleb Chester has played in all five of Arizona State’s games without starting. He has nine tackles, seven solo, with no interceptions or pass breakups.
He made four tackles against Morgan State and five against Baylor, then did not record one in the October 10 win over Hawai‘i. Arizona State’s depth chart for that game had him second behind Ashton Stamps at one cornerback spot, ahead of AJ Belgrave-Shorter and Nasir Stephens.
Chester has also become a regular on special teams, logging 54 snaps across four units, mostly on kick return and punt return.
Santana Wilson finally made his college debut at Louisville, though it came only on special teams. After two seasons at Texas without appearing in a game, he got five snaps on kick return against SMU in Week 3. He has not yet played on defense for Louisville.
Graham Gillespie has seen action in three games for North Texas after four seasons at Texas, where he appeared in five games as a walk-on. The fifth-year safety has totaled 25 special-teams snaps, with most of his work coming on kick return. He has no defensive stats through October 10 and does not appear on North Texas’ latest depth chart for the Charlotte game, which lists CJ Coombes and Jason Cross Jr. as the first-team safeties.
One former Texas specialist has already become a key piece at his new stop. Will Stone has taken over place-kicking duties at UCF after mainly handling kickoffs at Texas.
Through six games, he is 5-of-6 on field goals, has made all 25 extra points and has 26 touchbacks on 34 kickoffs. His first college field goal came in the opener, a 34-yarder against Bethune-Cookman, on a night when he made 10 extra points to tie UCF’s single-game record.
Stone’s lone miss came at Oklahoma State on Oct. 10, when he was perfect on four extra points but missed a 45-yard try late in the third quarter with UCF trailing 24-21. Oklahoma State went on to win 42-28 and hand UCF a 3-3 record, and four of Stone’s five kickoffs in that game resulted in touchbacks.
In Other News...
Arch Manning Is Giving Texas A Season-Altering Offensive Question
Arch Mannings first five games have left Texas with a much bigger offensive question than anyone expected at this point in the season. The senior quarterback has shown the kind of talent that keeps the Longhorns believing, but also the kind of uneven play that has made the offense harder to trust, especially in a recent loss to Oklahoma where two critical interceptions helped swing the game the wrong way. Through those five games, he has thrown for 1,122 yards with 10 touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 63 percent of his passes.
The bigger issue for Texas is that Mannings inconsistency is only part of the picture. The Longhorns offensive struggles have been tied to more than one source, with coaching decisions and offensive line play also shaping how the unit has looked from week to week. Even so, Manning is the center of it all, because Texas needs steadier quarterback play if it wants the offense to settle in and stop leaving so many drives unfinished. [Read more 🡒]
Texas May Be Catching A Huge Break Before Florida Arrives
Florida may be heading into Saturdays trip to Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium with a new wrinkle at quarterback. Aaron Philo has reportedly been limited in practice because of an undisclosed injury, and if that keeps him from going, the Gators would be turning to backup Tramel Jones for what would be the first start of his career.
For Texas, it is the sort of development that can change the feel of a matchup before the opening kickoff. The Longhorns are already bringing a defense that figures to present a serious challenge, and now Florida is trying to sort out its quarterback situation against that backdrop. How the Gators handle the position leading into the game could shape the entire night in Austin. [Read more 🡒]
Arch Manning Is Raising A Texas Question Fans Cant Ignore
Arch Mannings first season in the spotlight has looked a lot like a young quarterback learning on the fly at Texas: the kind of flashes that remind everyone why the hype existed, followed by stretches where the operation around him feels unsettled. He has shown he can make impressive plays, but the issues have been harder to ignore too, from decision-making to footwork to how he handles the pocket when the rush closes in.
Steve Sarkisian has openly acknowledged the mixed results, and the bigger question hanging over the Longhorns is how much of this is on Manning and how much belongs to the coaching staff that has had four years to shape him. Texas expected growth by now, and the debate around Manning is no longer just about talent. It is about whether the Longhorns are getting the most out of it. [Read more 🡒]