ESPN’s Matt Miller, Jordan Reid, and Field Yates: 2026 NFL combine: Top draft prospects, best workouts, risers

David Bailey, Edge, Texas Tech

Bailey’s participation was noteworthy, and he delivered. The 6-foot-4, 251-pounder ran the fastest 40 of any defensive lineman, posting a blazing 4.5 to go along with a 35-inch vertical jump and 10-foot-9 broad jump. Bailey came into the combine having a strong chance of being picked as high as No. 2, with a floor that probably wasn’t much below No. 5. Bailey’s testing numbers, combined with the violence and power he showed during bag drills, reminded people why he’s ranked so high. — Yates

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Texas Tech defensive tackle Lee Hunter’s results in the vertical and broad jumps were discussed by scouts Thursday, as he managed just a 21½-inch vertical and an 8-foot-4 broad jump. Though Hunter’s game is not predicated upon explosion, those numbers are far from ideal. The 6-foot-4, 318-pound Hunter had flashes of absolute dominance — none more so than against Oregon in the playoffs — but also other games that weren’t at that level. My best forecast is him landing somewhere in the second round.

ESPN: College football’s defining games in 2026 for every Power 4 team

Texas Tech Red Raiders
Sept. 19 vs. Houston. The Red Raiders have become the game circled on every Big 12 team’s schedule. They will certainly want revenge for last year’s loss against Arizona State, but Houston arrives first, and Willie Fritz has already worked his magic with the Cougars, getting them up to 10 wins in Year 2, including a Texas Bowl win over LSU. The Red Raiders’ season sets up for another run like last season’s. But this game, in Week 3 in Lubbock, will be their first real test and it will mark a huge test for Houston and Fritz to see if he can level up once more. — Wilson

The Athletic’s Manny Navarro: Grading the Big 12’s transfer portal classes, from Texas Tech’s ‘A’ to Iowa State’s ‘D’

Texas Tech
2025 record: 12-2
Portal players added/lost: 20/20
Career snaps added/lost: 17,990/6,589
Top players added: QB Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati), WR Malcolm Simmons (Auburn), iOL Jordan Church (Louisville), DL Mateen Ibirogba (Wake Forest), edge Adam Trick (Miami, Ohio)
The Red Raiders said goodbye to a dozen starters from last year’s Big 12 championship team, but none were lost to the portal. General manager James Blanchard followed up his stellar transfer haul in 2025 by signing nine starters from other FBS schools and seven other FBS players who played at least 200 snaps last season. Most importantly, the Red Raiders upgraded at quarterback and reloaded one of the best defenses in the country. The four receivers added via the portal each had at least 25 catches and 450 receiving yards last season. The eight new defensive linemen include Division II All-American Amarie Fleming, who produced 18 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks as a sophomore at Allen University in South Carolina.
Grade: A

CBS Sports’ Brandon Marcello: Big Ten, SEC urge Congress to reject proposal that would consolidate FBS broadcasting rights

The two power conferences counter that media growth is already occurring under the current conference-based model. Recent conference renewals led to a 2.8-fold increase in average annual value, matching the NBA’s most recent media cycle. The memo states that college football media revenue is projected to surpass SCS’s forecast by 2033 without pooling rights or federal oversight.

The paper challenges SCS’s assertion that the NBA’s recent windfall proves aggregation creates value. It argues the league’s gains stemmed from market competition and the sale of smaller packages to multiple distributors. Roughly 80% of NBA games are still sold through local agreements rather than a single consolidated package.

The Big Ten and SEC also question the logistics of federal administration. The SCS proposal calls for a 14-person committee to oversee negotiations, scheduling and revenue distribution across 136 schools, 26 sports and more than 32,000 games annually. The conferences describe that scope as unworkable and warn that it could erode institutional control over scheduling and rivalries, while imposing uniform national branding at the expense of individual traditions.

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“The posture of these two commissioners indicates that they do not care about the fate of the other conferences or smaller schools, nor do they care about the life-changing opportunity provided to women and to athletes in our Olympic sports,” Campbell said on X. “It seems they have chosen to disregard the directives of the President and the will of the American people. Change is difficult, I get that, especially when it means dismantling a long-held, broken, backwards system. My sincere hope is that, instead of throwing up roadblocks to our congressional momentum, we can work together on solutions that put the student athletes first and preserves (sic) the viability of the great American institution of college sports.”

That’s a wrap on Day 1 ✔️ pic.twitter.com/YlRIC2XZMk

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) February 27, 2026