Since late 2018, the transfer portal has been open for business, but it didn’t boom until 2021. Since then, it has turned college football into an open-market economy and is what many college football purists consider to be a stain on the tradition-laden sport they love.
Every once in a while, though, it does what it was meant to do at its core: provide opportunity.
Welcome to college football national consciousness: high school zero-star, zero-offer, and zero-win wide receiver Tony Diaz.
After enduring a grueling 0-10 senior season at San Marcos High School, Diaz signed with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The brand-new start-up program didn’t play a game in its first season (2024), and he redshirted for the entire calendar year, practicing in internal squad scrimmages. For nearly two years, Diaz didn’t experience a single official football victory.
In 2025, when the Vaqueros finally took the field, not only did Diaz notch wins, he took the FCS by storm.
As a redshirt freshman, Diaz dominated his team’s passing volume, commanding 67 receptions, 875 yards, and 11 touchdowns, earning AP All-American Honorable Mention honors and placing 7th in the Jerry Rice Award voting, the FCS equivalent to National Freshman of the Year.
Diaz’s breakout at age 19 is not only an incredible feat on the football field but a massive indicator of future success. For the Vaqueros, Diaz wasn’t a part of the offense; he was the offense.
Dominating FCS competition is one thing; doing it on Saturdays in the Big Ten against Ohio State, Michigan, and other NFL talent-filled schools is an entirely different beast. But that’s exactly what Kirk Ferentz, Tim Lester and the Iowa Hawkeyes expect out of Tony “Boogey Man” Diaz. They were able to nab the coveted transfer portal star over Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, and Oklahoma State, to name a few. The hook was Diaz continuing the feature role that he thrived in at Edinburg in Iowa City.
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