1. Why fear the Red Raiders? The surprise team from the Big 12 last year (excluding TCU of course) and Texas Tech was really fantastic in year 1 of Joey McGuire. This is going to be a generic write-up because the previous previews of other teams have been, but you all know this team better than I do. The biggest areas where the team needed to improve was offensive line, where Dennis Wilburn didn’t get enough preseason love, a healthy Spencer Cole and a returning Caleb Rogers will help a ton along with transfer center Rusty Staats. At linebacker, Texas Tech chose a different route than TCU, which is they are developing players and Jesiah Pierre, Jacob Rodriguez, Tyrique Matthews, Ben Roberts, Bryce Robinson, and Ty Kana are going to replace those players rather than hitting the transfer portal. I think I like this method better, but we’ll see about the success. I think everything will be fine.
2. The Best Jimmy’s and Joe’s. This is a list of players on preseason All-Big 12 teams and when I first put this list together, I thought that the list seemed really light on players, especially for a team that’s been thought of being a top half team. For comparison purposes, Texas had 14 players, Oklahoma had 9, but TCU had just 7. I thought that there were surely more players than this, but let this be a lesson for two things. It’s not always an indication that the team is bad, i.e. that there aren’t many good players there, or that because has a long list that the team is great.
- QB Tyler Shough
- RB Tahj Brooks
- WR Jerand Bradley
- DL Jaylon Hutchings
- DL Tony Bradford, Jr.
- CB Malik Dunlap
3. Transfer Report. Defensive ends Terrell Tilmon from Oregon and Steve Linton from Syracuse may be projects, although I think Linton is closer than Tilmon in contributing. Also the addition of CJ Baskerville from San Diego State and Bralyn Lux in the defensive backfield. Offensively, there were just two players that were added, inside receiver Deandrae McCray from Austin Peay and offensive lineman Rusty Staats from Western Kentucky, following Wes Kittley and Stephen Hamby.
4. Tough to Replace. Tyree Wilson and every linebacker from last year. They were huge cogs of the defense and they are almost entirely brand new players at each of those positions. Replacing Wilson almost seems monumental because players like him don’t happen all that often at Texas Tech. Myles Cole, Steve Linton, Joesph Adedire, etc. will likely do a good job of replacing Wilson, but Wilson’s shoes are big one’s to fill.
Previous 4 Things Preseason Previews: Baylor; BYU; UCF; Cincinnati; Houston; Iowa State; Kansas; Kansas State; Oklahoma; Oklahoma State; TCU; Texas; Texas Tech; West Virginia
Ed Note. This is what I worked on while on flights. I tried not to get too deep because that would be incredibly difficult to do this for 14 teams and I think most of us want a cursory idea of what opposing teams are. I also found the idea of who is transferring in as more important than the freshmen arriving. That’s definitely changed over the course of years. I also thought that knowing who is being replaced is relevant more than most things.