Tommy Castellanos is already making the kind of first impression that tends to win over a coaching staff fast: he’s staying late, grinding through film, and trying to catch up as quickly as possible.
“He was up 'til 9:30, past a lot of the coaches, last night,” offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich said on Monday, Aug. 31, “trying to watch extra film and learn as much as he can as fast as he can.”
That matters because Texas Tech opens the season at home against Abilene Christian at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, and Castellanos is arriving at the worst possible time for learning a new offense.
Still, the late court ruling that gave him the chance to play a fifth year of college football changed the equation. When a player brings 32 college starts and you think he can help, you make it work.
Castellanos’ path has already been a long one: he played in 2022 at Central Florida, then spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Boston College before playing the 2025 season at Florida State. Across his career, he has thrown for 6,449 yards and 48 touchdowns, matching former Tech standout Robert Hall, and he has run for 1,984 yards and 24 touchdowns. That includes 1,113 rushing yards and 13 scores in his first season at BC, plus 557 yards and nine touchdowns last year at Florida State.
Texas Tech announced Castellanos on Saturday, and the wording was careful, with the school saying he was joining the roster to compete for backup quarterback duties behind Will Hammond. On Monday, Joey McGuire and Leftwich laid out a clearer picture of how Tech plans to use him.
McGuire said the 5-foot-10, 190-pound fifth-year player could have the offense down by next week, when the Red Raiders face Oregon State.
“I mean, the guy's played a lot of football,” McGuire said, “and I do think that no matter when it is - not necessarily this week, but whenever we get him fully integrated - I think he's going to end up in every game.”
For now, Castellanos is being brought in strictly as a quarterback. Even though some NFL teams looked at him as a receiver this offseason, that’s not the path Tech is taking.
“It would be hard for him to come in, with how deep that receiver room is,” Leftwich said, “and compete for a spot there. I know talking to Tommy, he wants to be a quarterback and so that’s really where we're putting all our focus right now is trying to get him up to speed to run the offense and be a backup quarterback and have situational packages in that role.”
That still gives Tech something to work with. McGuire pointed to Castellanos’ production as a runner and said the staff can build around that skill set.
“You don't see a lot of quarterbacks that are not in a true triple-option offense that rush for 1,100 yards,” McGuire said, “and so the guy's really dynamic with the ball in his hands. We'll have packages for him at different times to get him in the game and get him going.”
The teaching process is being handled by Leftwich, assistant quarterbacks coach Lindsey Scott Jr. and running backs Garret McGuire, with all three helping Castellanos get a crash course in the offense. Leftwich said there’s only so much time to absorb everything.
“It’s incredibly difficult to try to learn a whole offense in a limited amount of time,” Leftwich said, “and I think we've got to be smart as coaches.”
Tech also checked on the human side of the fit before making the move. McGuire said some of Castellanos’ former coaches at Florida State vouched for him right away, including Gus Malzahn and Chris Thomsen.
“But Gus Malzahn reached out to me. Chris Thomsen reached out to me just immediately, like, 'You are really going to appreciate this guy.
He's a really, really good person,' ” McGuire said. “I think he's been a captain everywhere he's been, and so that just kind of tells you what kind of person he is.”
Malzahn coached Castellanos at UCF in 2022 and again last season as Florida State’s offensive coordinator. Thomsen, a former Texas Tech assistant, has been Florida State’s deputy head coach and tight ends coach since 2020. McGuire said those connections mattered because they know both him and the Texas Tech culture.
Now the Red Raiders are figuring out how to use a quarterback who gives them a different kind of option. Leftwich said the staff will keep building around him with a weekly package.
“My assistant quarterback coach, Lindsey Scott, has done a great job spending a bunch of extra time with him trying to get him up to speed as quick as we can,” Leftwich said. “So that'll be a work in progress over these first couple of weeks, but I can say he's definitely up for the challenge and willing to work at it.”
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