Buckner

The University of Arizona football team has added a wide receiver transfer from the University of Texas.

Dan Buckner has enrolled at Arizona for the spring semester and will sit out next season under NCAA transfer rules, the UA announced today. He will have two seasons of eligibility left.

Buckner and the Longhorns parted ways last week soon after he was arrested in College Station, Texas, on charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest.

“We’ve talked to Dan and his family about his recent situation and they’ve assured us that he doesn’t think he did anything wrong and they’re confident that it will be cleared up through the legal process,” Texas coach Mack Brown said last week.

“During our discussion with Dan and his family, we all decided that the best thing for him would be to transfer to another school and get a fresh start.”

Buckner (6-4, 215 pounds) caught 29 passes, four for touchdowns, through the first five games of the 2009 season. Listed as a “flex tight end” on the depth chart, Buckner and his position was phased out during the season as the Longhorns went with fewer four- and five-receiver sets later in the season.

Buckner ended up with 45 catches for 442 yards, the third-best reception total for Texas, which lost to Alabama in the national championship game.

He was a rated the 95th-best prospect in the nation, according to Rivals.com, in the 2008 recruiting class. Buckner is from Allen (Texas) High School, where he was teammates with Matt Brown, who is expected to sign with Arizona in February.

Arizona also officially announced the December signing of a pair of junior college transfers — linebackers Derek Earls and Paul Vassallo. Both should contend in spring ball for starting roles at a position where UA loses all three starters.

“They appear to be physically ready for Pac-10 play and we’ll get a quick look in spring ball,” coach Mike Stoops said.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 2:05 pmand is filed under Sports.Tags for this post: Dan Buckner, Derek Earls, Matt Brown, Paul Vassallo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.