Former Tascosa football star Tayden Barnes signs with NMSU out of transfer portal

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The 2025-26 college football season has come to a close.

With the conclusion of every campaign, thousands of players across the country enter the NCAA Transfer Portal in search of new homes.

This year, one of those players was a former Texas Panhandle star, who landed in a familiar spot.

Tayden Barnes, who played at Tascosa in high school, signed with New Mexico State after spending the 2025-26 campaign at Cincinnati.

For Barnes, this won't be the first time the former Rebel has called Las Cruces home. Barnes spent the first two years of his collegiate career with the Aggies before heading to the Big 12 for his redshirt sophomore year.

With the Bearcats, Barnes notched 26 tackles, a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. After redshirting in 2023 at NMSU, the talented defensive back tallied 57 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and a forced fumble in 2024.

The 5-foot-8, 185-pound safety earned Conference USA Defensive Player of the Week, Conference USA All-Freshman and All-CUSA Honorable Mention honors in 2024. Now, barnes returns to the league for his redshirt junior year.

As a junior in 2021, the Amarillo native helped Tascosa reach the Region I-5A Division I semifinals, before helping the Rebels to an area-round appearance as a senior.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Former Tascosa football star signs with NMSU out of transfer portal

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