UIL rules two star Texas athletes ineligible for 2025 season

Despite appeals, North Crowley quarterback Jacob Torres, Prosper Walnut Grove volleyball standout Brynn Stephens will not be allowed to play varsity games this season

The UIL has ruled a pair of top high school Texas athletes ineligible for the 2025 season after determining they transferred schools for athletic reasons. / Jordan Hofeditz/Reporter-News via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Per a story from The Dallas Morning News, two high-profile Texas high school athletes - North Crowley quarterback Jacob Torres and Prosper Walnut Grove volleyball standout Brynn Stephens - will not be allowed to compete at the varsity level this season after the University Interscholastic League upheld eligibility rulings this week.

The UIL requires all transfers to be reviewed first by a local District Executive Committee. That panel determines whether a move was made for athletic reasons. Families can appeal those rulings to the UIL’s state executive committee, but in both cases this week the state panel affirmed the local decisions.

Torres, a junior who transferred from Burleson Centennial to North Crowley, was denied eligibility after officials ruled his move was athletically motivated. His family said a lightning strike had made their home near Centennial uninhabitable, prompting the relocation. The transfer placed him in North Crowley’s attendance zone, where he sought to play for the defending state champions.

Burleson ISD officials countered that Torres could have continued attending Centennial while the family dealt with home repairs. The district committee sided with that view and ruled the transfer athletic in nature. The UIL’s executive committee upheld that ruling. Torres remains eligible to practice with North Crowley but cannot appear in varsity games.

Torres had a standout sophomore season at Centennial. He passed for more than 2,000 yards and 23 total touchdowns and was named the District 7-5A Division I Co-Offensive Player of the Year.

Stephens, also a junior and already committed to SMU, was one of the most prominent volleyball transfers in Texas this year. She attended Prosper Rock Hill as a freshman and sophomore but did not compete during her second season. Coach Angel Mauterer said the family had concerns about the district’s level of competition and the risk of injury if she continued playing there. Stephens remained active in club volleyball during that time.

At Rock Hill, she proved herself as one of the state’s most versatile players. In 122 sets as a freshman, she totaled 728 assists, 383 kills, 76 aces and 373 digs. She has earned recognition on multiple national lists and a spot on the JVA All-National Team.

She transferred to Prosper Walnut Grove ahead of the 2025 season, joining a program that opened ranked No. 4 in Class 5A. A district committee ruled her ineligible, and the UIL upheld that ruling this week.

The Stephens family said the decision to move was also influenced by her younger brother, who they said faced bullying. Because Brynn often drove him to school, they argued her transfer was tied to his needs rather than her volleyball career. The family said she would have remained at Rock Hill if the move had not been necessary.

UIL rules state that student-athletes are presumed ineligible when they transfer schools unless they can demonstrate that the move was not made for athletic purposes.

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