Texas Tech may be living in the NIL era as aggressively as anyone, but Joey McGuire isn’t buying the idea that the Red Raiders are college football’s biggest spender.
The Texas Tech coach pushed back on that label in an interview with On3.com’s Pete Nakos, saying the program is not sitting atop the sport’s payroll rankings - and isn’t even second. “I don’t know the exact number, but I know we’re not the number one team in the country payroll-wise, and we weren’t last year either.
And we’re not the number two,” McGuire said. “There are teams spending way more than us that didn’t win a national championship last year.”
Texas Tech has certainly leaned into the current pay-for-play landscape, and it has paid off on the field. The Red Raiders have embraced what McGuire described as a “hunting” mentality while putting together the first 12-win season in school history. Reports have pegged the roster investment at roughly $50 million, but McGuire says that figure still doesn’t place Texas Tech at the very top nationally.
That mindset carries into 2026, and McGuire made it clear that the Orange Bowl loss to Oregon is still fresh in the program’s memory. Texas Tech was shut out in that playoff defeat, and McGuire said that’s the image the team keeps coming back to.
“People are saying, ‘You’ve got a target on your back, man.’ I just keep going back to the Oregon game,” the TTU coach shared.
“We’re hunting because the last thing we have, the reminder we have, is us getting our butts kicked and getting shut out.”
The Red Raiders will open the season against Abilene Christian on Sept. 5, and they’ll do it without projected starter Brendan Sorsby after the fallout from his NCAA gambling probe. That leaves sophomore Will Hammond in line to take over as QB1 after spending the last two seasons behind Behren Morton. In 2025, Hammond completed 69 passes for 680 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions.
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Texas Tech Has Real Reason To Believe The Hype This Time
Texas Tech is heading into preseason camp with a level of national attention it has not seen before, and there are reasons the buzz feels different this time. Coaches Joey McGuire and Shiel Wood met with local media ahead of camp and pointed to the rosters depth as one of the biggest reasons for optimism, with the program expecting clear improvements after building toward this moment.
The Red Raiders checked in at No. 12 in the preseason coaches poll, the highest ranking in school history, which only raises the stakes for a team trying to turn promise into proof. The schedule offers an immediate test, with Abilene Christian on Sept. 5 to open the season and conference play starting Sept. 18 against Houston, giving Texas Tech little time to let the hype settle before it has to show what it really has. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Opens Camp With Big Expectations And Bigger Questions
Texas Tech is heading into preseason practice with the kind of optimism that usually comes after a good year, and the kind of uncertainty that keeps camp interesting. Media day on Aug. 4 set the table, and the first workout on Aug. 5 marked the real start of a 2025 season shaped by returning starters, portal additions and the lingering impact of quarterback Brendan Sorsbys departure.
The roster looks deeper than it did a year ago, but the early questions are the ones that tend to matter most once pads come on. Will Hammond and Quinten Joyner are among the names to watch for health and availability, while the offensive line is sorting out guard spots and the defense is adjusting after losing key players. Safety could be one of the most competitive areas on the field, which makes the opening stretch of camp feel less like a formality and more like the beginning of a long evaluation. [Read more 🡒]
Texas Tech Now Faces A Painful Wait On JT Toppin
JT Toppins rehab remains one of the biggest swing points for Texas Tech as the program moves deeper into the offseason. The forward tore his ACL in February, and Grant McCasland said the recovery process is moving in the right direction, even as the Red Raiders continue to plan without knowing exactly when one of their most important pieces will be back.
McCasland stopped short of putting a target date on Toppins return, but the message was clear enough for Texas Tech fans hoping for an early-season boost. The coach said Toppin will come back only when he is fully recovered, leaving the Red Raiders to wait through the start of the schedule with patience as much as optimism. [Read more 🡒]