Texas Tech’s defense is getting plenty of preseason respect from the Big 12.
The Red Raiders placed a conference-best seven players on the 2026 Preseason All-Big 12 Team on Monday, with senior defensive lineman AJ Holmes Jr. earning the league’s Preseason Defensive Player of the Year honor. Texas Tech led the conference in total selections and did it with a mix of proven returners and transfer additions who arrive with big expectations.
Holmes is the headliner. The 6-foot-3 pass rusher put together an All-American season in his junior year in Lubbock, finishing with 38 total tackles, including 19 solo stops.
He was one of five Red Raiders to post at least 9.0 tackles for loss, and after opening the season as a backup, he appeared in all 14 games and started the final eight. Holmes also produced 4.5 sacks, the highest total of his college career so far, and enters 2026 as one of the country’s top established interior defensive linemen.
Now he adds preseason player of the year recognition to the résumé.
Senior linebacker Ben Roberts and senior cornerback Brice Pollock also returned to the preseason spotlight. Roberts is chasing a rare bit of Big 12 history, as he looks to become just the sixth player in league history to post four separate seasons with 80-plus tackles.
He finished last season as Tech’s second-leading tackler with 90 total tackles, 44 of them solo, under defensive coordinator Shiel Wood. Pollock, meanwhile, made the most of his first season in West Texas, earning All-Big 12 first-team honors after recording a career-high five interceptions.
That total helped lead the nation in takeaways last season.
Texas Tech also landed two newcomers on the list before they’ve played a snap for the Red Raiders. Senior linebackers Austin Romaine and Adam Trick both earned preseason recognition after arriving with strong production behind them.
Romaine, a 6-foot-2 linebacker, piled up more than 180 total tackles and more than 100 solo tackles across three Big 12 seasons at Kansas State. He was on the Butkus Award Watch List during his junior year and finished with All-Big 12 second-team honors before entering the transfer portal.
Trick comes over after a career year at Miami of Ohio, where he posted 8.5 sacks in his third season and was named first All-MAC in 2025. Both are expected to step in quickly for the Red Raider defense.
The defense dominated Texas Tech’s preseason haul, but the Red Raiders were represented on offense, too. Senior tight end Terrance Carter Jr. was the lone Tech player on the All-Big 12 offense after a strong debut season that featured career highs in receptions and touchdowns. Kicker Stone Harrington was the only Red Raider selected for special teams.
Texas Tech opens its 2026 season against ACU on Saturday, September 5, at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock.
In Other News...
A.J. Holmes Jr. Now Carries Texas Techs Biggest Defensive Burden
A.J. Holmes Jr. arrived at Texas Tech with some familiarity built in, having transferred from Houston in December 2024 after playing under defensive coordinator Shiel Wood. By the end of the 2025 season, the defensive tackle had moved into the starting lineup and turned himself into one of the Red Raiders most dependable front-line pieces, piling up production that brought both national attention and a clear sense that his role in Lubbock had grown far beyond a simple transfer addition.
That is why CFB HQ placing Holmes at No. 23 on its list of the top 25 most important players for the 2026 college football season feels less like a surprise than a reflection of what Texas Tech already knows. The Red Raiders are now counting on him to anchor a defense that cant afford many weak spots, and with the recognition he earned from the Associated Press and Pro Football Focus, the expectations around him are only getting heavier as fall approaches. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Is Getting Major 2026 Hype Despite One Lingering Doubt
Texas Tech is drawing plenty of attention heading into 2026, and not all of it is cautious. USA Today went as far as picking the Red Raiders to win the Big 12, while also stacking its preseason all-conference teams with multiple Tech names, including Terrance Carter Jr. and several others from a roster that has clearly impressed voters around the league. For a program trying to turn last seasons momentum into something bigger, that kind of recognition is a sign the national conversation has already started to shift in Lubbock.
Still, the broader preseason picture is a little less settled than the headline suggests. National publications have placed Texas Tech all over the board, with some seeing a top-10 team and others dropping the Red Raiders outside the top 20, a spread that says as much about the roster questions as the talent. The biggest reason for the hesitation is the same one that tends to follow any team with real expectations: what happens at quarterback, and whether the pieces around him are enough to justify all the hype. [Read more 🡒]