Top 5 Former TXHSFB Stars Returning to State via 2026 Transfer Portal

Note: This list is based on how decorated the player was in high school, not on college production or schematic fit with his new team.

1. Baylor QB DJ Lagway (Willis High School), via Florida

Lagway is the only player on this list who earned Mr. Texas Football, the Dave Campbell’s Player of the Year Award, back in 2023. As a senior, he threw for 4,604 yards and 58 touchdowns and ran for 1002 yards and 15 touchdowns, leading Willis to the highest win total (12-1) since the program started in 1928. Lagway was the No.6 overall player in that year’s DCTX Hot 100.

Lagway’s commitment was a signature offseason moment for a Baylor program in desperate need of positive momentum. The university opted to retain head coach Dave Aranda for stability purposes after AD Mack Rhoades stepped down in late November, despite Aranda holding a 36-37 career record at the conclusion of his sixth season. 

2026 is Aranda’s final judgment year. Ok, ok, the last three seasons have been deemed a make-it-or-break-it year, too. But if Rhoades doesn’t resign as AD, Aranda is not the current coach. The Bears are betting his tenure on Lagway returning to form as the ESPN Freshman All-American. Interestingly, Florida bet head coach Billy Napier’s tenure on Lagway, too. For many other reasons than Lagway, Napier was fired after a 4-8 season. But Lagway was inconsistent and injury-riddled, leading the SEC with 14 interceptions. 

2. Baylor WR Dre'lon Miller (Silsbee High School), via Colorado

Baylor entered the offseason with a restless fanbase proclaiming the program as stuck in neutral, but the coaching staff has hit the nitrous by securing Transfer commitments from two TXHSFB legends. 

Dre’lon Miller was the only DCTX five-star player on this list. He comes in at No. 2 behind Lagway, however, because Lagway won Mr. Texas Football for the state’s top player when both were seniors. That’s not to take away from Miller’s illustrious Silsbee career. The four-year varsity player finished with 4,772 all-purpose yards and 51 touchdowns, leading Silsbee to a 25-2 record in his final two seasons. 

Miller is dynamic with the ball in his hands, illustrated by 337 of his 445 career receiving yards at Colorado coming after the catch.

3. SMU WR Jalen Hale (Longview High School), via Alabama

SMU lost both leading wide receivers, Jordan Hudson and Romello Brinson, to graduation this offseason. The good news for the Mustangs: transfer WR Jalen Hale makes an immediate impact on every team he joins. 

Hale was the first freshman to play varsity football for Longview in at least 15 years. He finished as the Lobos’ all-time leader in career receptions (141) and yards (2,953). Ranked the No.7-overall recruit in the 2023 DCTX Hot 100, Hale played in 13 games as a true freshman on Alabama’s College Football Playoff team, the last year under Nick Saban. 

Hale’s Alabama career was derailed by a medical redshirt that forced him out of the 2024 season. SMU hopes he can develop into one of the top targets for returning quarterback Kevin Jennings.

4. Texas DL Zion Williams (Lufkin High School), via LSU

Last season, Texas’s interior defensive line no longer had future NFL Draft picks that the program had developed over multiple years, a big factor (literally and figuratively) in the Longhorns missing out on a third-straight CFP appearance. T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy were All-Americans in 2023. Vernon Broughton and Alfred Collins were Day 2 Draft picks after the 2024 season.

Zion Williams, a redshirt freshman transfer from LSU, is Texas’s attempt to fix that one-year blip. The Longhorns heavily recruited Williams out of Lufkin, the No. 29 overall player in the 2025 DCTX Hot 100. But Williams followed Texas DL coach Bo Davis when he took the job at LSU. Now, the 6’4, 355-pound nose guard should compete for a starting spot in new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp’s defense.

Williams was a First Team All-District 9-5A DI selection as a senior, helping the Panthers to a 10-2 record.

5. Texas A&M OL Coen Echols (Katy High School), via LSU

New LSU head coach Lane Kiffin might have the No.1-ranked Transfer Portal class in 2026, but the state of Texas is taking back some of its best players from Tiger Land in Zion Williams (Texas) and Coen Echols (Texas A&M).

Echols, the No.47-overall player in the 2024 DCTX Hot 100, was originally committed to Texas A&M, but flipped to LSU after Jimbo Fisher’s firing. The Katy product was a versatile - and dominant - offensive lineman, playing tackle as a junior and center as a senior. At LSU, his 637 snaps at left guard last season ranked third-most on the team, and he’ll likely compete for an interior offensive line spot in College Station.

Texas A&M is losing four offensive line starters from the first CFP team in school history, including First Team All-SEC tackle Trey Zuhn and Third Team All-SEC guard Chase Bisontis.