Texas Longhorns LB Liona Lefau Makes Shocking Transfer Portal Decision

The Texas Longhorns suffered their first major blow of the post season on Monday.

According to reports from Inside Texas's Eric Nahlin, Longhorns starting linebacker Liona Lefau has left the team and intends to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Lefau's decision to leave Austin comes as a major shock to the program, and now creates a major need for the Longhorns at the linebacker spot.

Originally part of the Longhorns' 2023 class, Lefau came to Texas as the No. 2 player in Hawaii and No. 32 linebacker in the country, per 247Sports.

What Texas is Losing with Lefau Gone

Texas Longhorns linebacker Liona Lefau College Football Playoff. — Texas Longhorns linebacker Liona Lefau against the Clemson Tigers during the College Football Playoff. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Unfortunately, there is not much behind that the Longhorns can count on, and with Lefau now gone, the they will almost certainly turn to the portal to help find a replacement in the middle of their defense.

In his three ensuing seasons with Texas, Lefau played in 42 games with 22 starts under his belt, racking up 139 tackles, eight tackles for loss three sacks, one interception, five passes defended, and one fumble recovery. He took that fumble back for a touchdown in the Horns' massive 27-17 upset of the Texas A&M Aggies a few weeks ago.

Lefau became a major part of the rotation over the last two seasons, however, with 132 of his 139 tackles, and all 22 of his starts coming over the last two seasons.

Not only that, but Lefau became a major leader within the program as well, both on and off the field.

On the field, he rose to the occasion in a major way, filling in and playing fantastic football when star linebacker Anthony Hill went down with an injury and was kept out of the last two games.

Off the field, he also because one of the best leaders on the team, with Steve Sarkisian raving about him prior to the 2024 season.

“If you polled our team of the top two or three teammates on the team, there wouldn't be one of those 120 guys that wouldn't have Liona Lefau,” Sarkisian said of his locker room presence. “He is an amazing teammate. He embodies what our culture (is) trying to be every single day. He definitely goes about his business to serve others and to continue to try to pick up his teammates in any way that he can. I think that’s a great quality to have for us."

"Obviously, he's still a really good football player on top of that, so we're lucky to have him.”

Fortunately, Texas will still return Ty'Anthony Smith, Brad Spence, Bo Barnes and will also have incoming freshman Tyler Atkinson to help fill the void left by his absence.