UTRGV football announced they are adding 26 Vaqueros to their 2026 recruiting class. 18 of those players have already joined the team ahead of spring sessions. 

“Excited about another signing class here, getting going in 2026. The majority of this class has already been in this semester, guys have been working hard and really just starting from scratch, starting new and really focusing right now off season on building this culture, building this chemistry," said UTRGV head football coach Travis Bush.

Head coach Travis Bush says this time recruiting wasn't as hard as last year. Only needing to fill a handful of spots on the roster.

“The big difference is mainly we weren’t looking for as many guys, you know we weren’t trying to sign a class of 70 or 50 or 60 like we did in the past couple of years. It was different too with the move of the transfer portal. For those guys that left, it was filling in that class, definitely a couple of receivers in that upper class and tight ends in the upper class," said Bush.

The list of recruits is headlined by quarterback Garret Rangel. He previously played at bigger programs like Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State.

“We weren’t trying to go find a starting quarterback, we feel good about the quarterbacks we have, our young guys and they’re developing well and they deserve an opportunity but we are going to have two sophomores, two freshman so we needed to add an upperclassmen so garret fit that mold for us with one more year," Bush said.

UTRGV will kick off their 2026 season on August 29th against UT Permian Basin. Official spring practices will start on March 2nd.