The Texas Tech football team is in the middle of the preseason camp, but the roster may not necessarily be finalized. Recent movement in the eligibility space, primarily focused on basketball right now, has opened the door for Class of 2022 recruits to have an additional year to play their respective sports. The Texas Tech men's basketball team has benefitted from this, adding Darrion Williams and Jamichael Stillwell recently, so there's an opportunity for Joey McGuire to add a piece or two to the football roster. McGuire hasn't ruled out bringing in somebody else before the start of the season, though there are a number of factors to consider before doing so. "I don't think there's necessarily a spot," McGuire said, "(James) Blanchard and I, not only just daily, we're talking throughout the day of what everybody's hearing. ..." While there are several cases going on at the same time, the main one centers in Colorado, where a judge ruled the entire 2022 class can play this season if they want. However, that judge clarified that players who didn't enter the transfer portal during that sport's window (for football, it came in January) then their only option is to return to their previous school. Texas Tech doesn't have anybody that fits that bill with the likes of David Bailey, Caleb Douglas and Reggie Virgil already showing out for their respective NFL teams in the preseason. However, a number of players (like Williams and Stillwell for basketball) did enter the portal expecting the five-for-five legislation to pass, seeing the opening to return to college ball. "If something changes, the rule changes, we're always going to look to make this roster better," McGuire said. The tricky part, though, is rosters are mostly set this time of the year with the regular season just a few weeks away. Adding another player now would likely bump off somebody else who's been with the team during the spring, which McGuire said has happened throughout the country and would not happen under his watch. "That should be a red flag to all parents," McGuire said. "I'm not sending my kid there because you're just a number. You're not part of this family. We are very fortunate." Teams are only allowed to have 105 players on the active roster. However, players are able to be given a designated student athlete label, meaning they can't play games but can still be on the team, akin to a scout team member. And if players are ruled out for the season — such as offensive lineman Holton Hendrix — they do not count against that roster cap. "You got to get to 105," McGuire said, "and we have some guys that will not be able to play this year, so we'll be able to designate between our designated student athletes that we already have that we don't have to count and then some guys that are insured for the entire year. We should be in good shape numbers wise."
Joey McGuire talks Texas Tech football's first scrimmage of preseason The Red Raiders held their first scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday inside Galaxy Stadium. McGuire said the defense came out strong and the offense responded to close things out. McGuire noted that John Curry had an interception of Will Hammond during a two-minute drill. Brock Golwas also had an interception and Stone Harrington booted a 64-yard field goal. Terrance Carter (thrown by Hammond) and Jett Carpenter (from Kirk Francis) each had touchdown catches during the team's red zone lockout period. Among the team's focuses this fall, McGuire said, is production in the red zone, namely getting touchdowns instead of field goals and avoiding pre-snap penalties. The Red Raiders had a few false start infractions during the scrimmage, though the first team offense didn't have any such troubles. McGuire also said the team ran two-back sets throughout the day to get a combination of Cameron Dickey, J'Koby Williams and Quinten Joyner on the field together. "We've got a lot of stuff that we could do with that," McGuire said, "and a lot of it has to do with guys we feel really good about." This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Joey McGuire not shutting door on Texas Tech football adding to roster