The Dallas Renegades might have seen some major shakeups with the roster and coaching staff, but fans were ecstatic to see one of their top players make his return to the team in 2026: wide receiver Tyler Vaughns,
Over the last three years in the XFL and UFL, Vaughns has been considered one of the best wide receivers in spring football, putting up great stats in the process. Those numbers have included 302 yards and one touchdown in 2023, 503 yards and three touchdowns in 2024, and 475 yards and four touchdowns in 2025. His 2025 campaign was a highlight for him as he ended up earning his first All-UFL selection.
Now going into his fourth season, Vaughns is back and ready to prove why he is still one of the best wide receivers in the UFL. He sat down with UFL NewsHub at UFL Media Day to talk about training camp and prepping for the 2026 season.
Tyler Vaughns on Renegades training camp
Vaughns has always been a standout at training camp from his ability to run precise routes to having reliable hands in the offense. He talked about how training camp was going for the team entering Year 4.
"I think it's been going very well individually. Your body gets banged up early on. Kind of figure out what you need to work on, just getting prior nicks and crannies out. Offense and everything is looking better, just in terms of operation. Early on, like I said, you kind of don't know the formations. You're kind of hearing words left and right. It kind of sounds like your previous offense, so it's like We're trying to separate playbooks and get in and hone into what the offense is this year, especially on the defensive side in terms of being a different new defensive coordinator. The guys is really sealing into what we need to seal into just in terms of structurally the schemes and concepts. Things have been going better just in terms of the last week of this training camp, I can tell."
Handling coaching change from Bob Stoops to Rick Neuheisel
Former Dallas Renegades head coach Bob Stoops was the longest tenured coach in spring football since 2019 as he coached there for four years, winning an XFL league title in 2023. Now with Stoops stepping away from coaching, Neuheisel takes over as he coaches for the first time since being with the Arizona Hotshots of the AAF in 2019. Vaughns had some high praise for his former coach, but is excited about what Neuheisel brings to the offense for wide receivers.
"I think Coach Stoops is one of the best coaches I've ever had in my life. I'm not gonna lie to you. Coach Neuheisel is a great coach, though. He's allowed us to have that availability in terms of mind and spatial awareness on the field. He lets you create a lot of different things for yourself. So the matchup itself is not about losing. It's just about doing the right thing, and that's just you getting open. I think him allowing us to be more free as a receiver, it allows us to be more creative. And it's very limited in some people's offenses, or it can be, because they want things so structured and ran a certain way. In this offense, we're able to be more flexible, and he's an offensive type of guy, so we pick and like go back and forth with plays and stuff like that. So where he'll come up and create more and more. And that just gives us more ammo as receivers, and as well as the offense as a whole and as a team."
Luis Perez and Tyler Vaughns are back together for 2026
Renegades quarterback Luis Perez has had his fair share of great pass catchers he has connected with over the years like tight end Sal Cannella, but Vaughns is about to be his longest tenured QB-WR combo in Year 4. Vaughns shared how the connection has been going at practice and how they haven't lost a step.
"I feel like it always just takes like a day. Just talk to him, have coffee with him, you know. It's not that long as far as like being in camp and having that discussion with him. We talk about a few things here and there because we have new, newer guys and stuff like that, newer plays. So it could be a timing thing, just rather than being like us being on the same page because we're mentally at the same page about a lot of different things. Would it just be, okay, we got this new concept and we got to figure out how to run it. Figure out what the coach wants to do and how we really like relate that to us. And that right there is fairly easy in terms of the operation."
What drives Tyler Vaughns to keep returning to spring football?
Vaughns has becoming one of the longest tenured spring football players of the non-quarterbacks in the league. There's only one reason that keeps him coming back year after year.
"Opportunity. I love the game itself, and it gives me the time off to where you can come back and still enjoy the game itself, and it gives you the opportunity to get a chance to go play in the NFL. That right there alone gets me coming back."
From observations in practice, Vaughns hasn't seem to have lost a step. In fact, he's getting better each year. Watch for him to have another stellar season in the UFL this year.