TTU Football Preview: Spring Football kicks off

2024 Texas Tech Spring Football Preview
Spring Season: March 19-April 20

KEY DATES

March 19: Practice No. 1
March 28/30: Big 12 Pro Day | The Star (Frisco, Texas)
April 20, 1 p.m.: Spring Game | Astound Broadband Stadium (Midland, Texas)

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech officially starts its spring football season on Tuesday, which will be the third under the leadership of head coach Joey McGuire. It will be the first of 15 practices for the Red Raiders, who will wrap their spring season on April 20 with the annual Spring Game held this year at Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland, Texas due to ongoing construction at Jones AT&T Stadium.

While Texas Tech lost 28 lettermen from the 2023 Red Raiders team that earned a second bowl win for McGuire in as many years, 35 lettermen return to the 2024 squad, including seven that have made 20 or more career starts compiled between Texas Tech, or Texas Tech and a previous institution. McGuire also bolstered his depth by adding nine Division I transfers, including six that have earned 20 or more starts in their respective careers.

Additional new faces to be on the lookout for are 13 of the 23 (Class of 2024) early signees, that enrolled early and joined the Red Raiders in time for spring ball. Also be on the alert for 15 returning players that will be sporting new numbers in 2024, including returning starters Bralyn Lux (#0) sporting Rayshad Williams’ previous number and Brenden Jordan (#7) wearing the number formerly worn by Steve Linton.

YEAR THREE OF MCGUIRE ERA

Texas Tech football enters its 100th season in 2024 and third under head coach Joey McGuire.
The first two seasons of the McGuire era brought a 15-11 (.577) record and back-to-back bowl wins after a decisive win last December.
The win made McGuire the first Tech coach to win two bowls in his first two years.
In a new age of Big 12 football in year three, the Red Raiders open conference play versus Arizona State (Sept. 21) and play three of their first four league games at home in their pursuit of a Big 12 Championship and another bowl game.

TAHJ BROOKS RETURNS

The Red Raiders received much-welcome news last December when Tahj Brooks announced his decision to return to Texas Tech and utilize his final year of eligibility in 2024.
Brooks enters his super-senior season as undoubtedly one of the top backs in the nation and will be chasing the Texas Tech all-time career rushing yardage mark in the process.
Brooks, an All-Big 12 first-team honoree and Doak Walker Award semifinalist last season, finished 2023 as the nation’s fourth-leading rusher after totaling 1,538 yards.

NEW BIG 12; NEW JONES AT&T STADIUM

The 16-team Big 12 is on the horizon as well as the completion of the approximated $240 million football project giving Jones AT&T Stadium a new south end zone building, as well as a new team facility, the Dustin R. Womble Football Center, which will be connected by a sky bridge.
In addition, visitors in this new age of the Big 12 will have a new locker room on the northeast side of the stadium.
The Red Raiders will host seven home games in 2024 as they ring in the new era, which will welcome five teams that have not been to Lubbock since at least 2017.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

9: Texas Tech returns nine starters in 2024. Five will return on the offensive side of the ball while four will return on the defensive side. In 2023 the Red Raiders returned 16 starters and in 2022 returned 10 starters.
81: The Red Raiders added nine transfers from Division I teams to their 2024 roster who have accumulated 184 starts over their respective careers. Three of those are offensive linemen that makeup 81 of the 184 starts.
100: The spring football season signals the next step toward the Red Raiders’ 100th season of football set to start this fall. The first-ever Tech football game took place Oct. 3, 1925, in front of approximately 4,500 fans.
Jacob Rodriguez

THIS-N-THAT

Texas Tech returns nine starters to the 2024 team. In 2023 the Red Raiders returned 16 starters and in 2022 returned 10 starters.
The Red Raiders return nine of 10 assistant coaches from the previous season while welcoming Clay McGuire who will coach the offensive line.
The Red Raiders’ 2024 recruiting class consisted of 23 individuals signing their intent to play at Texas Tech. There will be 13 of those 23 present for spring football.
Of Texas Tech’s 2024 scheduled opponents, just three are common opponents from 2023 in Baylor (Oct. 19), @TCU (Oct. 26) and West Virginia (Nov. 30).
Texas Tech will play four teams in 2024 that were previously members of the Pac-12 — Washington State, Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado.
Four of the Red Raiders’ 10 FBS opponents in 2024 qualified for a bowl game in 2023 — Oklahoma State (Texas), Arizona (Alamo), West Virginia (Duke’s Mayo) and Iowa State (Liberty). The 10 collectively went 64-73 (.467).
Of those that earned 2023 All-Big 12 honors, Texas Tech will welcome back the Defensive Freshman of the Year in LB Ben Roberts, First Team selection RB Tahj Brooks, as well as honorable mention honorees C.J. Baskerville (DB), Gino Garcia (PK), Bralyn Lux (DB), Drae McCray (KR/PR), Behren Morton (QB) and Caleb Rodgers (OL).
The program had 25 named to the First Team 2023 Big 12 All-Academic team while eight were named to the second team. Of those 33, 16 return in 2024.
Texas Tech had 33 players from its 2023 roster redshirt going into the 2024 season. Benefiting from the four-game redshirt rule the NCAA established, the following 13 players participated in 2023 but did not lose a year of eligibility — LB Jacob Rodriguez (RJr.), WR Brady Boyd (RJr.), QB Jake Strong (RFr.), DB A.J. McCarty (RJr.), LB Miquel Dingle (RFr.), LB Justin Horne (RFr.), LB Wesley Smith (RSo.), LB John Curry (RFr.), DL Jayden Cofield (RFr.), Ol Kaden Carr (RFr.), WR DJ Crest (RFr.), DL Braylon Rigsby (RFr.) and DL Amier Washington (RFr.).
Texas Tech had four invited to the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine – P Austin McNamara, DB Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, DB Tyler Owens and DL Myles Cole.

A NEW BIG 12 SCHEDULE

The 2024 season will mark the dawn of the 16-team Big 12 conference as Texas and Oklahoma depart the league while welcoming newcomers Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. The four aforementioned schools join the Big 12 from the dissolved Pac-12. Meanwhile, Big 12 charter members Texas and Oklahoma move to the SEC.
In addition to the four 2024 newcomers, the Red Raiders will meet one of the four 2023 Big 12 newcomers for the first time in 2024 as Cincinnati visits Jones AT&T Stadium on Sept. 28. Texas Tech faced each BYU, Houston and UCF in 2023 as a Big 12 foe for the first time. The Red Raiders will not repeat matchups with any of the three in 2024.
The Red Raiders will welcome seven teams to Jones AT&T Stadium in 2024; which will bring five teams that have not been to Lubbock since at least 2017. Arizona State last visited Lubbock for a nonconference matchup in 2017. The four others are Cincinnati (last played in 1968 in Lubbock) and Colorado (last played 2010, last played in Lubbock in 2007) and as well as nonconference opponents Abilene Christian (last played in Lubbock in 1949) and North Texas (last played 2001, last played in Lubbock in 2000).
Two of the seven home opponents in 2024 – Baylor and West Virginia – are common opponents the Red Raiders also welcomed in 2022. The Baylor game will be the 83rd all-time meeting between the former Southwest Conference members as the two schools have met annually since 1956 while the Mountaineers, who are relatively new to the league joining in 2012, will meet for the 13th year in a row.
Of the 2024 Big 12 additions, Tech plays three of the four schools this season, yet a matchup with Utah is not planned until a trip to Salt Lake City in 2025.

JOIN US IN MIDLAND

Texas Tech announced on Jan. 19 that its annual Spring Game will move to Astound Broadband Stadium, located in Midland, Texas, on April 20 due to the ongoing construction at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
The Red Raiders will return to the Permian Basin for the first time since hosting a Spring Game there in 2019.
Texas Tech regularly attracted several thousand Red Raider fans in its previous trips to Midland where the Red Raiders hosted either a spring scrimmage or its actual Spring Game over a seven-year stretch from 2013-19.
The area represents one of Texas Tech’s largest alumni bases and one of the state’s top recruiting bases for prospective football student-athletes.

-TECH-

Release Provided By MATT BURKHOLDER Texas Tech Athletics