Next orders of business for Texas Tech football with spring practice on horizon

Posted by author February 18, 2025 Football

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Texas Tech is tasked with trimming its roster from 123 players down to 105 before the July 1 deadline.
The Red Raiders must foster team unity amongst a mix of returning players and numerous veteran transfers.
New offensive and defensive coordinators will be tasked with teaching both players and the largely holdover coaching staff.
With the departure of Tahj Brooks, Texas Tech needs to revamp its running game and determine a starter.
The Red Raiders will focus on rehabilitation for several key players, including quarterback Behren Morton, who underwent shoulder surgery in December.

The Texas Tech football team is nearly eight weeks removed from a Liberty Bowl loss to Arkansas and looking ahead to a March 10 start to spring practice.

A ton’s happened during the off-season. Between college football’s early national signing day and the NCAA transfer portal, Tech’s added 36 new players — so many that Joey McGuire’s staff stood pat during the traditional February national signing day. The Red Raiders got good news in the form of extended eligibility for offensive guard Davion Carter, linebacker Bryce Ramirez and defensive back Devynn Cromwell, all of whom were seniors in the two-deep in 2024.

They knocked out two of the objectives on our off-season to-do list from early December: Hang on to Jacob Rodriguez and get a kicker you can count on. Rodriguez, the Big 12’s leading tackler last season, announced he’ll stay for his last year of eligibility rather than declare for the NFL Draft.

And to succeed departing kicker Gino Garcia, who made 19 of 20 field goals in 2024, they fished from the transfer portal the University at Buffalo’s Upton Bellenfant, who made 18 of 21.

Oh, and Tech handled a crisis that was perhaps unexpected, but shouldn’t have been: It kept James Blanchard, the architect of that portal class, after College Football Playoff runner-up Notre Dame tried to hire the Red Raiders’ general manager.

Now what? Here are the next orders of business.

Get a handle on the roster

To be clear, we feel sure McGuire, his assistants and the personnel department already have a good idea how they’ll go about it. McGuire’s simply not detailed publicly how he’ll trim the 2025 roster from the currently projected 123 players to 105, other than acknowledging some will have to be cut. He’ll have to do that by July 1 if the House v. NCAA settlement proposal receives final approval — not a sure thing, given that more than 35 objections have been filed.

If judge Claudia Wilken signs off, Tech will decide how to split 85 scholarships and $15 million in revenue sharing among 105 players.

Foster team unity

Nearly all of Tech’s 17 portal additions were starters or key players at their previous schools. Putting a boatload of veteran newcomers with credentials on the field and in the locker room with returning experienced players and up-and-comers yields the potential for personality clashes.

Not that McGuire wants to give back any of the new guys. They’ll just need to work it out during winter conditioning and spring practice.

Teach, teach, teach

Speaking of new guys, that also describes the top assistants. Offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich and defensive coordinator Shiel Wood have been here less than three months.

In addition to coaching the players, they’ll largely be coaching the coaches. Often, wholesale staff changes come with two new coordinators. That’s not the case here. It’s not common for an eight-win bowl team to have new coordinators leading a largely holdover staff.

Wood added two staff members with whom he has a history: safeties coach Rob Greene and senior defensive analyst Jack Teachey. New secondary assistant Collin Shank came from Army, where he worked under defensive coordinator Nate Woody, a longtime mentor for Wood.

Leftwich added assistant quarterbacks coach Lindsey Scott Jr., who he coached at Incarnate Word.

Design the running game

The departure of two-time 1,500-yard rusher Tahj Brooks means the running-back roles are likely to look vastly different. There’s youthful promise here, but the Red Raiders are more or less starting from scratch.

Quinten Joyner, from Brooks’ hometown of Manor, rushed for a career-high 478 yards last season as a sophomore at Southern Cal. J’Koby Williams and Cameron Dickey rushed for 236 and 225 yards, respectively, as true freshmen for the Red Raiders.

Joyner, coming out of high school, was ranked the No. 36 prospect in Texas on the 247Sports composite index. Williams finished strong with 123 yards and a touchdown in the Liberty Bowl, earning the award for Tech’s outstanding offensive player.

All three have already shown they’re power-conference material. So has senior Cam’Ron Valdez, who has 511 career rushing yards in backup duty. He’s coming off a season-ending knee injury.

Whether the rushing offense features a lead dog or a committee remains to be seen.

Rehab, rehab, rehab

Behren Morton underwent elective surgery on his throwing shoulder on Dec. 10 in Los Angeles. He said the shoulder injury that dates to September 2023 didn’t bother him in 2024, when he finished eighth in the FBS in passing yards per game and 16th in touchdown passes.

Nevertheless, the Red Raiders want to see Morton stay on schedule in rehabilitation. Same goes for defensive linemen Joseph Adedire, Dylan Spencer and Dooda Banks, guard Vinny Sciury, linebacker Justin Horne and Valdez. They’re all likely to be out or limited for spring after season-ending surgeries.