Photo Courtesy of UTRGV Athletics
On Tuesday, the UTRGV Department of Intercollegiate Athletics unveiled the highly anticipated schedule for the Vaqueros’ inaugural football season in 2025.
Head Coach Travis Bush welcomed more than 30 new Vaqueros to the team, marking the second recruiting class in the program’s history.
The team is set to play a total of 12 games, with seven taking place at home.
The Vaqueros will play their first game against Sul Ross State University Aug. 30 at the Robert & Janet Vackar Stadium in Edinburg. Conference play will begin Sept. 27 against Southeastern Louisiana University in an away game.
Bush addressed the challenges of the upcoming season and the tough schedule ahead.
“Definitely going to be a challenging schedule,” he said. “Southland conference is a tough conference and looking at the teams we got at home and on the road, we’re going to play the top teams in the conference this year. Some of these teams are very talented. You look at Southeast, you look at Incarnate Word, they’ve won the conference and SFA’s back in the top. Nicholls [and] McNeese, they’re going to be solid, so it’s always tough.”
The introduction of new players, ranging from freshmen to graduate transfers, has created a significant imbalance in the team’s experience.
Bush emphasized the importance of integrating upperclassmen to help lead the team to reach its full potential.
“We had 90 guys out there this fall, but 75 of them were true freshmen, so we need to balance out,” he said. “The maturity [and] the age difference, from 18 to 22, is a big age difference, especially when you’re talking about down in the trenches and emphasis was [on] offensive line and defensive line. But you’ll still see some more additions here coming up in the next window to really balance out those top two classes before we kick off.”
With four years of college football experience at UTSA, Redshirt junior quarterback Eddie Lee Marburger is one of the new recruits this spring.
Bush emphasized the impact Marburger’s leadership skills will have on shaping the future of the younger quarterback athletes.
“He’s played college games which is different than any other quarterback we have in our room right now,” he said. “There’s no substitute for experience and being in those games, [and] being in those situations against the caliber of defense, that maturity, that confidence, he’s been there. He’s experienced things that can help mold these young quarterbacks along the way so we’re excited. We have expectations for him but he’s going to have to come in, learn the system and then compete with these guys for that job.”
The football team consists of over 100 athletes with more expected to try out and join the team later this spring.
This is Leonardo Guajardo for Vaquero Radio.
