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Texas gets transfer portal commitment from seventh-year senior LB
Darius Snow. Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Texas gets transfer portal commitment from seventh-year senior LB

By Andrew Kulha  |  Last updated Apr 16, 2026 8:43 PM ET
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Redshirt seniors used to be the norm in college football. Sometimes they were known as "super seniors" or graduate players.

It used to be that freshmen would redshirt in year one, which would save one year of eligibility to use after they graduated as seniors. There were, of course, players who left for the NFL before that. Some players committed to one school early on in their college careers and then transferred to another, but they would lose a year of eligibility in the process. They also rarely transferred more than once.

Those were the "good old days" at this point, because now we're talking about a world where the transfer portal allows a college player to be at a different school every year. 

We're also talking about seventh-year seniors, which will be the case for linebacker Darius Snow in 2026.

Snow, a three-star recruit from the class of 2020, committed to the Texas Longhorns on Thursday out of the transfer portal. He spent the past six seasons at Michigan State, which, to his credit, is extremely rare nowadays. 

So, how did we get here, heading into Snow's seventh collegiate season?

He was granted an extra year of eligibility for the COVID-19-impacted season in 2020. Michigan State played just seven games that season.

Snow was a sophomore in 2021 but then took a medical redshirt year in 2022 due to a season-ending injury in the season opener. That made him a redshirt junior in 2023, but he played in just four games that season due to injury.

He got healthy and played in all 12 games in 2024 and 2025. He entered the transfer portal not knowing if he'd get a medical redshirt waiver for that 2023 season, but it was granted to him.

Darius Snow brings experience to Texas Longhorns

That's how we get to seven years, and it's worth noting the Longhorns are getting quite the experienced linebacker as a result of Snow's journey.

He'll turn 25 in December, and he heads to Austin with 48 games under his belt, including 10 starts. He's a versatile player, having played slot corner, safety, linebacker and EDGE at Michigan State

He notched 161 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, two passes broken up, one sack, one interception and one fumble recovery.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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