Breaking: UNLV Rebels Defensive End Tunmise Adeleye To Enter Transfer Portal

UNLV Rebels defensive lineman Tunmise Adeleye is set to enter the transfer portal after one season in Las Vegas. He had a strong year for the Rebels, culminating on Tuesday, December 23, in Texas at the 2025 Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl in a 17 - 10 loss to the Ohio Bobcats. In his final game, he recorded five tackles with four of them being unassisted.

He helped lead the Rebels to a third-consecutive Mountain West Championship Game, where they once again fell short to the Boise State Broncos for the third straight year. This season, Adeleye was the Rebels' best pass rusher. He finished the season with 48 total tackles, with 19 of them being solo, a team-high six sacks, and three pass defenses. His 48 tackles and three pass defenses both led all defensive linemen at UNLV.

Coming out of high school back in 2022, he was a 5-star recruit and ranked as a top 25 player in the country. He landed with the Texas A&M Aggies; however, he only lasted one season there. Following his exit from the Aggies, he then went to the Michigan State Spartans in 2023, and the Texas State Bobcats in 2024, before landing at UNLV in 2025. Things did not pan out in any of those other schools. In the three years prior to joining the Rebels, he totaled 22 tackles (11 solo) and three sacks. He really turned things around at UNLV, but will now be looking for his fifth team in five seasons after a breakout year with the Rebels.

Adeleye has one more year of eligibility and is expected to land with a bigger school and get himself some NIL money. The favorites to land him are the Houston Cougars, who play right near his hometown of Katy, Texas. However, the Baylor Bears and Texas Longhorns are also in the mix as well. Another team could always emerge with an offer, too. The transfer portal has gotten more difficult to predict.

Wherever he lands, the team will be getting an excellent player coming off by far the best season of his career. This will be a tough loss for UNLV, but this is something head coach Dan Mullen knows he has to deal with, and we are confident he'll find a way to replace his production. We also hope the move works out well for Adeleye.

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