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2026 Texas Tech Football Preview - Offense · Talkin' Tech

• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome in, everybody, to the Talk in Tech Podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: I am your host, Steven Rodriguez, my co-host, Tristan McGonagall, is here.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_03: Tristan, it's been seven months?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_03: Seven months recorded a podcast?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, it's been eight.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's been a while.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_02: Hot month of August.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's been a hot minute since we've hopped on the mics.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: But, sir, football, right around the corner.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: We have about a month.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's it's August, what, 2nd as we're recording this?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: September 5th, first Saturday of football season.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: We just decided that we're back.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: We're now back, dude.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's it's been it's been a crazy year, hence the hiatus.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I'm really happy to be back, man.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad this microphone still works.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, and I hope we still have some people out there uh looking forward to the reboots.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully this reboot's a little more like King of the Hill and not um I couldn't I couldn't the paper the pay that's a good one.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_02: I put like iCarly because I couldn't think of a better one.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: That got canceled.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: That got canceled.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um for the boys.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: But anyway, dude, it's uh it's so good to be back, dude.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um and yeah, we're gonna talk about the uh the offense this this uh upcoming season, dude.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, offense for football.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um we're gonna split this preview up into two.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there's plenty of other positional group previews specifically that are coming out right now.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: We just wanted to knock it out in two goes.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna talk about the offense today, and then next week we will hit on the defense and the special teams.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: But uh, Tristan, I wanted to start this by asking you a question.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Was the Texas Tech offense good in 2025?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: The Texas offense was very good in Texas in 2025, but completely overshadowed by the defensive dominance.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel like if you're gonna be frustrated with any unit on the Texas Tech football team, was the offense, just simply because they had to compete with the defense, even though it was what the second best offense in the Big 12.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna I'm gonna push back a little bit.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: I it was hard looking back at at individual games for Texas Tech season.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, it was a dominant season by all standards for Texas Tech football, highlighted by the absolutely 100% best defense by far in school history, best defensive line in school history, best linebacking core in school history, uh, secondary was awesome.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: That was the highlight of the season.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_03: On on if we're talking which side of the ball was better, the defensive side absolutely dominated, and that's what made us a national championship contender.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, the downfall of this team in 2025 was the offense.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: If you look at all the games, all the games against good competition, there were a lot of games against bad competition.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_03: We played a horrible West Virginia team last year, horrible Oklahoma State team last year, horrible non-conference, all three of those teams were garbage.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: UCF, I mean, I really think the offensive stats were inflated a bit.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like, cause because you'll look at 2025 and you'll be like, oh, third in rushing yards, third in passing yards, second in total yards, first in plays ran, second in touchdowns, first in field goals, second in total points, all Big 12 specific stats.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like those are a little overinflated, uh, versus some terrible competition.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: Uh our schedule last year.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: So that's where I'll I'll put, you know, that it wasn't it wasn't as good as maybe what the numbers tell you.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so this is kind of funny.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: We're starting you're starting to I'm gonna challenge you here.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: You're starting to sound a little bit like an angry Texas Tech fan on Twitter.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Because kind of what you're inadvertent Oh, hold on, let me get this out.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: Because inadvertently, you're saying the Big 12 sucks.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: And because we play in the Big 12 and we dominated the Big 12 offensively, uh that means that the offense wasn't very good.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the competition stunk.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's not what I'm saying.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Last year, you look at the games against good teams.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Utah, close game until the fourth quarter, took over, ended up winning pretty good 34-10.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: Fourth quarter aside, though, those first three quarters were rough on the offense from both Barron Morton and when Will Hammond came in in the third quarter, not great.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: Fourth quarter absolutely dominated.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: Arizona State, you ended at Tempe, you had a horrible three and a half quarters of offensive football, and then finally picked it up the last couple of possessions.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, still ended up coming out with a loss there due to a last-minute touchdown from the Sun Devils.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_03: BYU, both of those games, if you look back and you watch the replays of those, you should have won those 45 to 7.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: Against the second best team in the Big 12?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, because So how is that not reinforcing exact what I just said?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm saying because when you played good competition, your offense absolutely sputtered, and you saw that again in the CFP against Oregon.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm saying that when you look at the offense and you look at these numbers in the Big 12, there there's no denying that we played some really, really bad teams last year.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I I do want to capitalize.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's not me ripping on fans who have been ripping on the Big 12, because I I totally get it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: And um, my my only thing is, you know, sure, we we might be the new kingpin of the Big 12.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Can't believe we're saying that out loud.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but at the same time, we gotta we gotta keep proving it in order for that uh analogy, that uh mindset to continue, in my opinion, because you really don't want to end up like a Longhorn fan and say, oh, it was always too easy for us whenever you win it a few times.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we just gotta sit here and rattle it off before we can start complaining about that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: That's a little off topic, but I totally get what you are saying.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that you know, the offense consistently played below their potential, and I think that's clear.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we'll let's let's so let's go ahead and start talking about that then.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um why will if you were gonna sit here and parse and give me like three big reasons or whatever number you want, why do you think it performs under what it could have been?
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: My first reason would be Baron Morton.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: I love the guy, I'm thankful that he was here.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I he's one of the biggest what if what ifs in Texas Tech history, I think, just from a standpoint of if he was ever fully 100% healthy when he was starting quarterback at Texas Tech, he got hurt in the first he broke a bone in his leg the first game of last year and just played through it.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the prior years dealing with shoulder stuff, the prior years, just uh ribs, uh he got every part of his body was ruined when he went during his Texas Tech tenure.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_03: And this is not a this is not a slide on who I think Baron Morton can be when he's fully healthy, if that even exists anymore.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_03: But he there was no doubt that he was the reason we did not reach that offensive potential from I, you know, and I tried to look back and I was I was a big Baron believer and defender during the season because game manager has been there before, you know, taken many snaps at starter at Texas Tech, uh fought through countless injuries.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like there was no question about his fight or anything of that nature.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: Underthrone balls were consistent with him.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_03: Taking unneeded sacks, very consistent with him.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: Not he just wasn't what you should have had at quarterback, unfortunately.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Because if you had that next level, and that is why Texas Tech went into the portal and grabbed Brendan Sorsby this offseason, was because they knew they needed an upgrade at that position from what Baron Morton was.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think he's your he's a pretty big reason, probably the number one reason why your offense did not maybe meet its potential.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think that's a good point because whenever you talk about Baron Morton, uh I think the first word that comes to mind is game manager, kind of like what you said.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um but was that what you thought he was gonna be going into the season?
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think is this is the better question.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think probably words we'd be using instead would be gunslinger, right?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Or uh big arm rather than game manager, uh ultimately true pocket passer, right?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I I totally see where you're going with that.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I do wonder that maybe in it was it so much that the offense uh underperformed under him, or do you think that the playbook became conservative knowing you're playing with a hurt quarterback?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like knowing that you didn't need to go all Kingsbury or Leech Mad Scientists on the playbook, whoever you were just flat out better than the other team, dudes-wise.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like it could be a little more conservative or boring, so to speak, with the playbook.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think what you're getting to is this what I would put at number two on why the offense did not necessarily mean its potential, and that's first year new offensive coordinator Mac Lefwich.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_03: Max very bright young head or young OC coming up in the ranks, came up pretty quickly, to be honest.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, from the UIW scene to uh, you know, over at uh Texas State and then two Texas Techs.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: So he's definitely UTEP UTEP great.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_03: UTEP great quarterback legend, Mac Lefwich.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_03: But no, I think I actually think he got too cute with the offense.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: And you can definitely see that for our red zone woes in 2025.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: We kicked a ton of field goals.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I think we led the nation in red zone field goals.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's not ideal.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: Luckily, you know, it's points on the board, but uh a big reason why these games weren't even more of a blowout last year was because we struggled in the red zone.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's no secret.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody realized it, everybody knew it, and when we started playing really good teams, uh it was it was for sure an issue.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: And I think, you know, I have a lot of sympathy for Mac because he had a lot of stuff happen real close in time to the start of last season.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: Quinn Joyner going down, he was expected to be your number one running back, so you had to adjust.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: You didn't quite know what you had with Cam Dickey and Jacoby Williams, so you're figuring that out as the season goes.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: Barron obviously having to deal with his injury stuff and having to, you know, adjust the playbook.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_03: And uh week in, week out, you don't know you know if Will Hammond's gonna be in or if it's gonna be Barron Morton or what it's gonna be.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I think he had a lot of challenges in week one that led to him not necessarily meeting our potential, but that that was a big reason.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's funny that you're you're you're laying out these super valid criticisms, but the kind of funny thing with this is I feel like a lot of these criticisms are eye tests, like what you saw versus what's actually on the paper.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: Because whenever you look at the paper, what we have what the seventh scoring offense in FBS, second in the Big 12, uh, second in total offense in the Big 12.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and here's another one third highest explosive plays, 20 plus plays in the entire country.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: So whenever you say that out loud, it's hard to sit here and say this offense um was truly no good, or at least not good compared to what it could have been, because it just truly the numbers don't line up with that.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: But everything you're saying, I'm sure all the audience is nodding their head along with you, especially whenever they think about their frustrations during a game.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_02: The frustrations were never during uh defense, except for maybe the end of the uh Sun Devil game.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: But it's uh I it's just funny that the the numbers don't line up at all, but it's all it's all from the vision.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and I think it does come down a little bit back to what we were talking about to start off of you know, last year you had some pretty cupcake level opponents, uh, especially down the stretch.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you had UCF, West Virginia were your last two games of uh that's pretty that's a pretty bad schedule.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I mean 48 48 to 9 you won that game, 49-0 you beat West Virginia, 42-0 you beat Oklahoma State.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: I think that was one of the first games after Gundy got fired.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just like, you know, you we had some real stinkers in the Big 12 last year.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: There's no denying that.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, obviously we had some good teams in the BYU games, we showed our dominance and we showed we were a good team.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: But again, if you go and rewatch those B both BYU games, the one in Lubbock and the one in Arlington, there's so many missed opportunities from the offense.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: And the defense just was so incredibly dominant last year.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, when you talk about Texas Tech being a national title contender, they were because of the defense.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: That offense was not there yet last year, and it showed in multiple ways.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it's funny.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, I was just kind of laying out those numbers like with the 20 plus yards and all this yardage we got per game.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it is funny.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I remember uh my angst when watching Texas Tech offense, it was centered ground the red zone, like you pointed out.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like we could fly down the field, but as soon as we got to the red zone, things completely sputtered out.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And whenever you try to think about as to why, I mean, obviously a hobbled quarterback can limit that because then he can't just get the job done with his legs.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: It just wasn't gonna happen with Baron Morton and last season with the city he was in.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: But I guess you can kind of get really frustrated with was there a lack of handing it off to your bulldozer of a quick of a running back?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: Was there like you're saying, like maybe they're getting too cute?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, maybe you're not relying on your your big athletic tight end enough.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so I guess it's just you're really hoping that it's a learning curve, like you're saying, you're heading into your second season as a before uh offensive coordinator, but ultimately it's it's really hard to be too nitpicky about last year.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're gonna criticize any unit, it's gonna be the offensive unit, so therefore you're gonna criticize the offensive coordinator.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: But I really think that's uh you you can't teach experience.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: So whenever we're lining up this next year, though he had quite the the offseason, we could talk about that, whenever we talk about the units again.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's I really think we're gonna hopefully see a more mature, more uh clever Mag Left which whenever it comes to actually scoring in the football game.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and it all comes down to red zone.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_03: You did find um getting into the red zone, you did find moving the ball down the field.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, there were definitely stagnant stretches that you wish you had back in in some of those games, but um overall, you know, you got there, you just didn't quite complete what you needed to do.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, there hasn't been too much of a transition from Zach Kitley to Mac Lefwich.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_03: We still run a lot of plays.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: We we were first in the Big 12 and uh plays ran.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_03: We like to speed up the offense, we like to go, go, go, you know, quick slants here.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that takes a skilled and a durable quarterback to handle that type of thing.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and Barron, you know, struggling with um the injury deal and and really becoming a an immovable object when he when he took the snap.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_03: Not in a good way.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: No, in the worst way.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, there were definitely moments that he just could not could not find a way to get rid of the ball or didn't have the quickness to escape a rush or something of that nature.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I also thought that the offensive line and and certain areas of this offense, there were uh we still dealt with a lot of pre-snap penalties, um, dealt with a lot in in really poor moments, too.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, just like end of the game stuff where you get a false start and you're back behind five yards.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: We had so many of those in the Utah game.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Credit to that Utah crowd, they were super loud and it was great, but um, you know, that that definitely put us back on the penalties.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: We had some key ones in the uh Arizona State game where we struggled with, and so um, you know, overall, I I the more I look back and and actually re-watch these games and rewatch everything, it's like wow, we could have been so much better on that side of the ball.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and hopefully that's a veteran C that can transfer as we move forward in this new stage that TechStag is in.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think we're watching a football team that's in evolution, you know, we're we're we're growing out of our plucky underdog, get really scrappy to win a football game into a more no, you're a machine now, and you gotta make sure that machine's oiled up and cooking.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I I really think that's some growing pains that we're getting there.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_02: And like you said, we we have a young guy at OC.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: So he is not coached a whole lot of football games, relatively speaking, compared to the people he's going up against and the best of the best in the game.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, to I do want to give him a tip of the cap, and we're gonna give him plenty of credit as we go forward here, but I'm gonna give him a tip of the cap.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's I know you're saying there wasn't much of a difference with the kit uh from a kit league transition, but I do want to applaud Left Witch on using his weapons.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_02: This wasn't a balanced attack.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um 40, it was a 40-60 split with on the ground versus through the air.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: And that that's that's to be expected with a balanced game.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, you're gonna rip off more in the passing game, generally speaking, but he knew he uses really good running backs.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe he could have used them a little more in the red zone to punch it in.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but overall, it's hard to complain about him getting too uh being too biased towards one style versus the other.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like he didn't want to just sit there and pass it.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: He knew what he had in the stable as well.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the other thing about this staff is everybody returns.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, having Mac there at the helm, you're returning Juice Johnson for his fourth season.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: Garrett McGuire's back coaching the running backs for his second season, did a great job there.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Josh Cochran is back for his fifth season, this which still blows my mind.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm so surprised that he has not been offered a head coaching gig.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, but yeah, I'll say maybe not a head coaching gig, but I think the guy's really bought in.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_03: No, absolutely he no, he loves it here.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody would love to coach under Joey.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then Clay McGuire coming back for his third season uh at the offensive line.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, that that kind of stuff you can't you can't get so easily.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: Continuity within the locker room, those guys learning from each other, those guys understanding how it works, how they want to coach, who you know, max responsibilities.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Juice Johnson's the pass game coordinator, you know, Josh Cochran is the run game coordinator.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_03: So you gotta everybody just another year under the belt, another off-season of learning of what we could have done re-watching that Oregon game over and over again, which I'm sure they did.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, of just like what we could have been so much better.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_03: But you can't you can't get that very easily.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it's and it's pretty rare that you're not replacing one coach on one side of the ball.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: And dude, I I'm glad you brought up the Oregon game about how they've probably been harping on it.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_02: I do want to, I mean, wow, look at us gassing up our head coach who we love, who's bringing us a Big 12 championship.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: I do want to give credit to Joey.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: People obviously casuals and haters on the outside, they really treat him like a blowhard.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: But you that guy, that guy isn't does not run away from getting his butt kicked.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_02: Like he he's he's he gets up on their stage on that stage and says, Oregon crushed us, you know.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: Or of course, though, of course, that game was a lot closer than this than uh than you know, even though the score's not even that crazy.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's closer than the score.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: There was a garbage time touchdown.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're looking at like a 16-0 really of what that game is.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's not even close to like the worst blowouts in the CFP anyway.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's just uh it's just the the the goose egg that everyone's gonna hang on, of course.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um but it's not just the coaching staff that's coming back, dude.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: We have one of the most familiar teams returning to Lubbock, Texas, uh this upcoming what's it?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: Bill Conn only has us at 12th overall in the FPS.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_02: About 65% of our total production is coming back.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh we will be talking about where the some of that loss was, but dude, I mean, you'd never ever turn that down.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's having what being 12th overall of a team of like about 130-something teams, that is a pretty that is a pretty nice boon.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm pretty sure that puts us at first in the Big 12.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: It is first in the Big 12 as well.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: So not only do we have our whole coaching staff back, we have more than half of our team back.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_02: And in this era of college football, dude, where it's the transfer circus, that is a luxury to have this uh locker room full of about 75 Texans, by the way, uh in in Lubbock.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_02: So that's gonna be really fun.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_02: So that means we can uh see some of our favorites again and grow attached to these guys because some of these transfers that we're bringing in, some of them have a few more years of eligibility.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: So if they can stick, we we can cheer on for them for a while.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's it, and and on this side of the ball, especially, we'd have a lot of returners.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, when we talk defense next week, we'll we'll talk about everything that we had to replace that.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: That wants to be a little more somber.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_02: A little bit, but still exciting.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: A little bit, just a little bit.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just a little bit.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_03: Still exciting.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_03: But I don't I don't know.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_03: You want to go down uh you want to go down position groups?
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go, let's go to get started.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that was kind of that was a good primer, dude.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so how, how, Steven, how do we continue this eight-game home winning streak in Galaxy Stadium in Lubbock, Texas, sponsored by Progressive.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they're gonna be hosting game the games of the Big Twelve brought to you by Monster Energy.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: No, it's the Monster Energy Big Twelve.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Is that what it is?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's Monster Energy Big Twelve.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_04: That's what it is.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: Nightmare, dude.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're living in a parallel universe, dude.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_02: Disaster.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, let's go ahead.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I I think whenever you talk about offense, it doesn't make any sense to start anywhere other than the quarterback.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, arguably the most single most important position of all sports.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, very few even come close to that conversation.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: So let's go ahead and talk about it.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Brendan Sorsby is not.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's like Brendan Sorsby, the quarterback.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: Can't wait.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is not your quarterback.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um so instead, you do have the uh the the sophomore with uh from the Huddle Texas, from the the whole hippo, Will Hammond.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's no secret to Texas Tech listeners.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this is not Cope, all Red Raider fans.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, this is a Red Raider podcast, so it doesn't even have to sound like it.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: He was going to be your quarterback one until that cursed Oklahoma State game against a horrid Oklahoma State team.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: Your guy goes down with a knee injury, um, but seems to be recovering quite well.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: Knee injury, correct?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_03: ACL tear for Will Hammond.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: It's uh you know one of the worst injuries you can get in in sports, honestly.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's a a cool nine-month recovery after the surgery.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, different guys approach it different ways, and a lot of it is the recovery itself and how hard you attack it is how quickly you're going to come back.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: So um, according to Will Hammond himself this past week, uh, was cleared, medically cleared, fully cleared by his doctors three weeks ago.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, that doesn't automatically mean he's back to 100% and he's doing everything.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: That just means that he's cleared for all football activity to get ramped up.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_02: Steven, where we heard this before, though, dude.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like I I just I think I'm just so spurned and so uh jaded when it comes to quarterback health.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's we over and over again since Patrick Mahomes, it seems, we haven't had a healthy quarterback out there just running and gunning, man.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_02: Or should I it was that Nick Shim and Neck slander?
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_02: I apologize.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: That is that yeah, do not do not slander the good old Shim's name, okay?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: Shim's would have started would have started every single game if it were not for a a decision from the coaching staff to not start him against Texas.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_03: But who came in?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: Who came in to to save that game?
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: That was Nick Shimonek.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: Nick Shimonek.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_03: I will not hear it.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_03: I will not hear the Shimonek slander.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I mean, as you kind of noted on, this is an injury that's made a lot of progress in the sports medicine world.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_02: So there's there's a lot of optimism with that.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um I just the the Swarzby thing.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, familiar.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: I kept up during that process.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_02: The reason why I was really excited, so let's go ahead and we can go ahead and talk about it real quick.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: The reason why I was really excited about having him was for Will Hammond's sake.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: It wasn't so much for the football team.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: I think we would have been awesome with Brendan Sworesby.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not trying to sit there and try to rewrite that history.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but what I'm saying is I just really would have loved giving Will Hammond a year to just get healthy.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's your only job is to get healthy.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: Do not worry about trying to win games, do not worry about trying to be Superman and putting your body on the line, which you will you will be expected to do this year.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: That is the that is the name of the game.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I just I really would have wanted to just have this veteran placeholder do one year just so our true guy, like our true story in the making player, Will Hammond, Joey's first quarterback, would um would have his time to get healthy and be ready for the for this next season for the next two years of his career and see what he can do.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that's that's where my big disappointment from that situation comes from.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but I'll I'll kind of try to lay it all out here.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody knows the whole situation and what happened.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh if you've been listening to this podcast for any time at all, you would know that I am Brendan Sorsby's number one fan.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um that's right, dude.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: Since his first year starting at Cincinnati, I've loved him.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: I've loved his game, I've loved his toughness.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_03: I've always thought he did not have what he needed at Cincinnati and still succeeded or did well, you know, regardless of what he was given.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so when it was announced that he was going to Texas Tech, I, of course, was over the moon doing the whole LeBron can't believe this is my life meme.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you know, unfortunately, the gambling thing happened and he is no longer a red raider, and that's the end of that.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, if if Will Hammond does not tear his ACL against Oklahoma State, we would not have gotten Brendan Sorsby in the first place.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_04: Sorceby's at LSU.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Sorzby's at LSU, and uh we're not in the quarterback market because all of last year, going back to every press conference that Will Hammond was brought up, of you know, Joey made an made a note to say, hey, we have him on a two-year deal.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_03: Nobody can poach him, he's our guy.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this was always going to be the next step if everything went right.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, you're you're dealing now with with the ACL tear, and that's what brought in Sorsby, and then everything that ensued happened after that.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_03: So now you're forced to play Will Hammond earlier than what you wanted to.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's fact, but that also doesn't mean that Will Hammond is not is not ready.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you can approach when you approach the ACL recovery, and I have not personally gone through it, but uh anybody that's has gone through it will tell you it's about the plan.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: It's about the recovery method, it's about how hard you approach it, is how quickly you can come back.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we've seen some guys in the NFL come back from an ACL injury in nine months, eight months, even.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, there's been cases.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Deshaun Watson tore his ACL, his freshman year at Clemson, ended up being a pretty good quarterback.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Tom Brady tore his ACL in the NFL, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: There's plenty of guys who have gone through this injury and still had a lot of success post-injury.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_03: And the good thing for Will Hammond is he's 21 years old, 20 years old.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like he's gonna be fine.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: It's just, you know, his style of play is very conducive to taking physical contact and running the ball and pivoting and putting a lot of pressure on your ligaments and on a knee injury like that, it's not ideal.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_03: So Will was already gonna have to learn to not use his legs so much.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you could tell watching him last year in the in the games that he played that he really relied on it and and was quick to decide not to pass and go take off.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, some of these plays where he's just ramming into the opposing defender, yeah, it's cool, it's awesome to look at.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: That's really putting yourself at risk, man.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: And Baron Morton had a lot of that, and I don't want Will Hammond to have a lot of that.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it when you're discussing Will Hammond as your starting quarterback next year.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_03: If anybody tells you they know what's gonna happen, they're lying because we don't know what's gonna happen with him.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Is he a super skilled quarterback at his peak?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: You've seen instances against Utah and in the final plays against Arizona State.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, if you go re-watch that fourth quarter, Will Hammond looks elite in the fourth quarter.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, the first three quarters were tough.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, in the third quarter, you basically didn't have offensive possession.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_03: Arizona State had it the entire quarter.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you can you can really diagnose those games further and be like, was he that bad?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: Was he that good?
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: It it you know, because honestly, it's turning into quite the matchup too between these two, like with with what's gonna happen post-game.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_03: So uh it's been a fun little rivalry that we've uh started with them.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_03: But reborn will Will Hammond is a good quarterback.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_03: I hope that he is a hundred percent by the time because I think they are going to roll him out in game one.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: If he's already saying that the doctors cleared him three weeks ago and it's just getting into August, he's gonna he's gonna have this entire month to ramp up and he's going to play snaps in that first game against ACU.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_02: Well, please and please obliterate ACU.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: Nothing against the Wildcats.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: Let's not do this again.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's not do it again.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so uh anyway, that's that's that's a good segue to what I was gonna say.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is so anytime you see someone list Will Heyman, they're probably gonna list him as a dual threat.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_02: Can do it both with his arms and his legs.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the big question mark here.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_02: Is he going to play like a dual threat here?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: How much will the QB run be utilized?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, do you think either he's gonna be drawn up with QB runs, like designed running plays, or do you think Mac's gonna draw back a bit and try to protect him?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of like uh maybe we could have saw with Barron, maybe a little more conservative there.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: Will he be given option plays around the rock himself?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Will that will that be an option?
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_02: How much will he like you kind of said he likes to just pull the ball in and scramble?
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_02: How much will he be, how much freedom will he be allowed to do that with the coaching staff?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, whenever he's on the field, it's his decision, but of course, you know, coaches still have a bit of a say in that.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_02: So how much will he be able to do that, or is he gonna be a curse to just check out or throw away?
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_02: So I I wonder, is this gonna be a Will Hammond that we're expecting, like you're saying, who's able to bulldoze the foe to get out of his way or just scramble uh out of out of danger and get the get the yards you need, or is he gonna be trained to be more NFL, more pocket passer, uh uh just dropping dimes instead?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like I think that's gonna be the big question mark with him.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think Will Hammond's number one thing that you look at from a positive standpoint is the mental.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_03: The guy stays cool, calm, and collected all the time.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: So that's true.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_03: Those guys are always willing to see the moment.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_03: If they make a mistake, it's it's about getting up and figuring out, you know, as Joey says, what's next.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um I I think that's the best thing that he has going for him.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_03: And having a strong mental, both recovering from an ACL, going back out there to play high-level football after you've suffered a major injury like that, takes some serious guts.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, a lot of guys are you know, will not come back from that type of injury because they're either A, afraid to get hit, or B, thinking about it too much, and then they re-injure themselves.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is an ACL is a complete non-contact injury.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was a freak, it's a freak accident most of the time when this injury pops up.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: So um I think Will will approach this in the correct way.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: Now, does that necessarily mean he's going to be a phenomenal quarterback next year?
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_03: No, he's still got a lot to learn.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: He's a he's a redshirt sophomore quarterback.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: He's I mean, he's very young.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_03: So the great thing that he has going for him is he went into Salt Lake City and won that game convincingly.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: He went and destroyed a Kansas team in Lubbock, even though that wasn't his best performance, still destroyed them, led a game comeback against Arizona State.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, you ended up falling at the end, but that's the part of Will Hammond that I am really, really positive and high on is that he's just going to come up in the right moments and bring it when he needs to.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_02: I think a good testament to that is in the Oregon game.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think so many tech fans were like, gosh, I wish Will was healthy.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like we need some shakeup here, dog.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: We need some injection.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I I think that's great.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's just I want to be excited so bad, dude.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_02: I've I I I've I was lucky enough to see Will actually play in high school, and he was a stud then.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: And he was a highly titled four-star quarterback.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone wanted him, and he was built for this.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: Like, this is his time to go out there and continue that Texas Tech quarterback legacy, or at least bring it back to its former glory.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I think he absolutely can still do that.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_02: I just I worry if him not being able to will be no fault of his own, is my only heartburn on the on that on that topic.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have anything else to say about Will?
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: No, I think I mean last year you look at his stats, 680 passing yards, seven touchdowns to three interceptions, uh, 300 rushing yards for five rushing touchdowns in 2025.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: Clearly, you know, when he wanted to, he got in the red, he got in the end zone there.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um we're missing that dude.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: I I want that.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_03: I want that.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: And you know what?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's why they brought in Brendan Sorsby because he absolutely did it with his legs as well.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think for from Will's standpoint, you want to just reduce the contact that you're taking, especially early on in the season.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_03: This is going to help with when we get to the offensive line, we've improved there.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_03: So that is going to help you.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, also, you know, to kind of tie in the running backs here.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: Will does not need to run that much because you have three really, really good running backs in your backfield that you can just hand the ball off to.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_03: And you'd rather have them have that ball anyway.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, seriously, you look at you look at the one game that we lost last year before Oregon, Arizona State.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_03: Cam Dickey did not get 10 carries.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_03: Jacoby Williams was not in the double digits.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_03: That was the only game where these guys did not reach double-digit carries.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_03: And it showed it showed why your offense struggled.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, um, but but rounding out the quarterback room, the hard thing to swallow here is you do not have depth.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_03: Dude, just don't.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_03: That was my note.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you don't have to my next note was you do not have Will Hammond at QB2.
• 35:31
  unknown: All right.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's definitely a uh a step down as far as your QB2, whether that be Kirk Francis or Lloyd Jones.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's it's you know, Chubb is is a young guy.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_03: He's played a couple series against West Virginia, who was awful last year, threw a couple touchdowns, give him give him his due.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, big guy, very young.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: Not yeah, you know, we haven't seen him yet.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a very big unknown aspect.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_03: Kirk Francis, I mean, you look at the Tulsa, his Tulsa stuff last year was not good.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: And he dealt with some injury stuff himself, but eventually lost a starting job there.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, you it doesn't really have the the measurables for a normal Big 12 level quarterback.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_03: So you're you're really hoping Will Will plays this year.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's why we focus so hard on his health because if he's out, it gets thin.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and obviously, like you just kind of touched on, Chubb really showed some big time shine in those garbage time games, but at that point it's kind of backyard football anyway.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um he's not really getting the real pressure that you'd see in a big time matchup.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um and Kirk Francis, Kirk Benestan, um, you're you're bringing in a guy specifically recruited to be a backup.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what what do you what do you what do you what do you want there?
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I guess just the first guy that pops into my mind whenever I think of of Kirk Francis is Henry Columbi.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_02: And is that that could be complimentary?
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_02: No or that or that could be critical.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: So if you if you if you talk specifically about his one Marshall game where he beat Notre Dame, yes, it's positive.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: If you want Notre Dame, or or when Henry Columbi played West Virginia, then yes, yes, all goat, he's goat status if he played West Virginia every single week.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, like like you said, dude, it it gets so thin um and just it it it it it it reignites a lot of trauma that this fan base has with the quarterback position because it seems like so much of our hopes and dreams have been riding on a quarterback who's not healthy.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: So I just you know what I mean?
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just I I really hope that perhaps there's more than this than that meets the eye.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe Chubb is actually a kind of a dangerous weapon that's just ready to be unleashed.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe Kirk Francis is actually a lot smarter of a player than you would initially give him credit for with managing a football game.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_02: So my question to that before we move on from the quarterback room is so Will Hammond is cleared to come back for the mighty ACU uh Wildcats.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_02: Your sister's always that's so I know it's be a heated heated.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_03: I know it's it's always a heated rivalry between me and me and my sister on on her Aviline Christian and uh and my Texas tech, but um, he he hasn't uh just to clarify, he hasn't officially been named the starter for week one.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_03: They've called him QB1.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: He said that he's medically cleared.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't necessarily mean he's going to start against ACU.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: I do think he gets staps.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think he starts.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you have a month ahead.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_03: I think they're doing everything in the media to start bringing him up.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_03: He's been on a couple interviews this past week, so now they're starting to like, hey, here's our quarterback.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_03: Look at him, you know?
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, so that's that's that you think they're you think that's a good idea to play him, or do you think it'd be a better idea to bench him?
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: Because the reason why I bring that up like, do you think it'd be a good idea to get some reps for him to kind of get back into the zone, or do you think it'd be better just to let him get get right?
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: And let Kirk Manistan, Captain Kirk, do his thing.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: Kirk Menistan is wild.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh you have two games before Houston.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: Houston's a really good team, I think.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think Houston is going into this year.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they're a little overhyped, but they're going to be solid.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_03: And I believe in Willie Fritz as being a really good coach and having them ready.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that is going to be a tough game, and you want Will Hammond to play definitely before that one.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I also think you want to get him snaps before you go to Corvallis.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think Oregon State's going to be great.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_03: It's still a road game, it's still the second game of the season.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's not, you know, say what you want about Oregon State.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_03: You're going on the road.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_03: And we've seen uh a struggle in non-conference road games against inferior competition at Wyoming.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so you want to get him in that ACU game.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_03: Do you want to get him for more than a half?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_03: Probably not, but you want to get his you want to get his feet wet, and you want him to get back out there, see the field against competition again in the line of fire, and go for it.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: And ACU should hopefully be an easy enough opponent for the rest of your team to handle that you're not, you know, having him in there for more than a half.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: Famous last words for Texas Tech.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: I yeah, exactly.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you never want that to be, but you want to get him out there in game one against ACU.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I think you want to you want to get out there and rip it, dude, because like there's no substitute for game time.
• 40:30
  SPEAKER_02: You can draw it up all you want practice, but gamer time is different, just a different moment, different headspace.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I want him to get comfortable with that before he goes to Houston, before we play Houston and Lubbock, continue that eight-game uh winning streak.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, we're gonna be there.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I want to see some gosh darn fireworks against them Kooks.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_02: So, alright, man, we spent a lot of time on one guy.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, but he's he's the guy.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_02: So let's let's go ahead and if you do if you have anything else on the quarterbacks, you good.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: Nah, let's go.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: All right, so let's go ahead and move on to uh the guys who are in charge of protecting him.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_02: So here we are in the offensive line.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, not the most uh fun position group to usually talk about.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um I know some people really like their fathletes at Rob Row and all that.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um the big boys.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: So let's talk about the big Bubas.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um so we got uh we're we're we're talking about a group that averages six foot six foot and uh six foot six and a half inches.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_02: And the average weight is 310.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: So big boys.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: These are big boys.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_02: And the reason why I'm I'm pointing that out is what the I think the trenches represent something completely different in Texas Tech's legacy here.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_02: Is I think this is the biggest split because what you're seeing here is you're moving on from just working with what you have, which was kind of the bottom of the barrel for the most part, whenever you talk about trenches, especially on a position group like the O-line.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_02: And now you're you're you are in the same weight class, pun intended, as some of the big brands out there whenever it comes to protecting the quarterback right now.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: Because with with guys like Howard Sampson on the left tackle, Hunter Zam uh Humber Zambrano on the left guard, Sheridan Wilson in the center, probably Cash uh Cleveland on the right tackle uh right guard, and then Jacob Punton on the right tackle, like that, this could possibly be the best O-line you've ever had.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's a great place to put your quarterback who is gonna be a little shaky, unless Will is just that guy, getting back out there on the gridiron and tearing it up, man.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: Because not only is this a big group, it's a veteran group.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: They're all quite old, they're all juniors and seniors for the most part.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna get guys with real game experience.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think we're gonna have a group that's gonna at least do their jobs rather than being a liability.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_02: You could you pointed out earlier that um we weren't so great in penalties, we were middling like 76 in uh penalty yards.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'd expect this veterancy to kind of draw us down, like bring us, uh move us closer to the uh the the green zone than the red zone with that.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um so I really think that this big pancake group is gonna be is gonna be at least not a point of criticism, which is really the most you can ask for with the no-line.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's like you don't really you don't really complain about it until they're second.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, until and and obviously the penalties are an issue even with some of your more veteran guys, and that needs to be cleaned up.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's a obvious.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: If you're looking at this offensive line, you're saying you need to clean up the penalties first and foremost.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_03: The pre-snap stuff was ridiculous at times last year.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_03: Utah really stood out as um a moment where you just felt that the offensive line was not completely together at times, and um, you know, but outside of that, I thought they had a pretty decent year.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like you talk about and and the first thing that you said is probably the most relevant thing.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_03: The the size of these guys is what puts you over the top.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you look At some of those starting fives at the offensive line when Patrick Mahomes was at your quarterback position, and you're just like, these dudes, I mean, we're lucky if they're 275 pounds soaking SCS guys, you know, like like definitely guys, and you had some gems in there, you know, you had a Terrence Steele, you had a La Raven Clark here or there, that but it was usually only like one or two of the positions were were solid, and then the other three, you were like, uh-oh, this isn't good.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: So when you look at this team, you look first off, you're returning four projected starters at the offensive line.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_03: Zambrano is is uh I'll put him off to the side for a second, but Howard Sampson was an all Big 12 level led left tackle, 6'8, 330, just uh an insanely massive human being over there at the left tackle.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_03: And then on your right tackle, you have just as big a guy, Jacob Potton, as a uh as a true sophomore coming in with a lot of game experience now at uh 6'8-315.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: Sheridan Wilson, you can't teach experience, he is a leader of this team through and through, both in the locker room and on the field, another all Big 12 level player at the center position, um, coming back 6'5-300.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh at your guard positions, I know right now it could be Cash Cleveland, it could be the transfer from Louisville Jordan Church.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: I know is being hyped up um to be a guy there at the guard position, and then Hunter Zambrano, who you brought in last year as a transfer, one of the most coveted offensive linemen in that portal class, and unfortunately was coming off an injury that year, and then it still lingered into last year, so he didn't play a lot of snaps uh in 2025, and you're hoping that he's fully ready to go.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_03: But again, you're getting a 6'5-300 guy, Jordan Church, 6'4, 315.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, these are just massive human beings.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_03: The absolutely the thing that I love about this group, one is the continuity, bringing together three for sure starters that played a lot of snaps for you last year coming back at the three most important positions on the offensive line, the two tackles in the center.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_03: And then you bring in a couple, you know, highly touted guys from the transfer portal.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_03: We'll we'll say Zambrano's still coming in from the transfer portal, really.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_03: I know he has a year in the program, but didn't play snaps.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_03: So um, that's a solid group right there.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and I think a definite upgrade from last year.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 100%.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_02: It'll be interesting to see like if these guys can take over a game and just bully the competition.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like we we're gonna get to it.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna talk about how freaking good this running back room is.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm gonna be interesting to see is how good can they dish up opportunities for those boys back there?
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how much can they just open up some freaking lanes?
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_02: Or how much can they keep uh keep the D-line occupied while a cheeky sweep goes behind them?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like I'm really I'm really interested to see how these guys can just sit there and sumo wrestle their way across the Big 12.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think this is the best unit in the Big 12?
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't I'm not well versed enough in the other Big 12 offensive lines to really give a solid answer there.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think this is the best offensive line that you've had in the Joey McGuire era and probably, you know, since Mike Leach.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_03: This is probably the best offensive line that you've had.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_03: Not just when you look at the size and the stats, but when you've looked at the amount of snaps that these guys have played in college football, you're looking at probably three NFL prospects, potentially even more.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the one thing that I would point out about this is after you're starting five, and if you deal with injuries on this offensive line, it gets a little dicey.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, a lot of unproven guys, a lot of young players.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you do have Cash Cleveland, who transferred into the program a couple years ago from Colorado, has been with the team now, so you get that experience.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_03: Deanthus Upshaw came in for times last year at the guard position.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_03: Daniel Sill is a guy who's been in the program.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: A lot of guys that have been in the program now for like they're going on their third year and just haven't gotten their chance yet.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: So you hope that those prospects pan out in case there is an injury.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think what Clay McGuire and what Joey puts an emphasis on really is making sure that they can play multiple positions on the line.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: So in case a Howard Sampson goes down, somebody that's pretty irreplaceable, you know, on the left side there, you can move Potton to the left tackle, you can move Zambrano to then the right tackle, and then pull in one of these guys from the bench to play the guard.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: So they they put a real emphasis on that in making sure that all of these guys know every position and they're putting the five best offensive linemen, despite, you know, guard, tackle, center, whatever.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, we're loving the big boys.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: I think we could probably uh tie a bow there.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just really looking forward to seeing how if they could take a step up with penalties and creating opportunities for our boys and just being absolute menaces, just an intimidating force on the field.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope they give uh Will plenty of time to develop a dime dropping ability out there.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: So really looking forward to uh seeing how that pans out, dude.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go ahead and stay on the line.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh sort of.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: Let's think let's go ahead and head to the tight ends.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: So, I mean, whenever you talk about tight ends, uh obviously the conversation centers around one man, and that is uh Terrence Carr Jr.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna be coming back for you again.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: He's uh at a Harker Heights, so we have a lot of guys from the Temple area.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know how that happened, but it's a ton from Central Texas.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in the the crazy thing about Terrence Carr Jr., besides him just being a freak athlete, is this guy is your second in returning passing production.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: Not not a wide receiver.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: And I understand we're gonna get to that.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: There's gonna be a lot of different faces there.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: And of all the units, this is probably the the the weirdest one.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_02: But he, your tight end, the guy that's usually gonna be blocking, is the second in returning passing production.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: So just a really awesome uh thing to have him back for.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: Uh the guy had uh what 552 yards last year, five touchdowns.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_02: The dude was a ball magnet, all Big 12 honors.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: So really looking forward to seeing how he can even extend that game into his uh NFL draft stock.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but yeah, I mean, obviously, I'm gonna let you take take the joystick here and uh tell me what you think about that.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I put a little thing next to every positional group, and for tight ends, I put one bona fide stud and a few helpers.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like it's like Rudolph and the other reindeer, you know?
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: So you know, you know, you got TC.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_03: If he stays healthy, he's going to be an absolute stud for you.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_03: He's one of the best returning tight ends, not only in the Big 12, but the entire country.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, showed you so much last year from a pass catching perspective.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_03: Still does need to work on his blocking game.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_03: That's something that he talked about at Big 12 Media Day a lot on multiple different interviews, is he wants to show that he's an improved blocker on that end with all the different running backs that we'll get to.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_03: But TC's a weapon for you.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_03: And when we start talking about wide receivers, you know, you he's gonna be your wide receiver one.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's nuts.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_03: You're gonna you're gonna look at the water.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: You really think so?
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're gonna look at you think he's got the most targets.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, unless you see one of the and wow, we'll get to the wide receivers.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_03: When we talk about that, we'll we'll go in more in depth into that.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's a hot take.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_02: I disagree, but that's a hot take.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe, maybe.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you're looking at his stats last year, 624 yards, 55 receptions, five touchdowns, and he was hurt for a lot of Big 12 play.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: I think he missed a couple games.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um, was hobbled in that Arizona State game, and it showed on the offensive side.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_03: Another reason why you didn't, you know, meet expectations in that one.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, 11.3 yards per catch last year.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: He was a big play ability type, and his yards after the catch are what really stands out to you because you know, he's rumbling and bumbling, he's gonna break a tackle, he's gonna, it's gonna take two, three guys to get him down because of how strong he is.
• 52:01
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I he's such a unique offensive weapon that you can line up at the tight end position.
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, he's like a Travis Kelsey, he really is in in terms of like obviously, you know, not gonna take a little bit for him to meet that level, but when you're talking about the competition and what he can do, he's he's a stud.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, dude.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_02: And it's funny that you brought up how uh the the guys behind him are gonna be helpers rather than uh true stars, which is of course true.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_02: There's no outshining Terrence Carter Jr.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_02: in that unit.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: But it's funny enough, P uh PFF College just yesterday released our top Big 12 uh tight ends.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously you have uh TC at the top, but at six, you have Jack Carpenter.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_02: So that there's a lot more than six tight ends in the Big 12.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_02: So it's interesting to see that even though, of course, we have our star up top, it looks like there's still some potential to at least alleviate the load uh behind him, which is which is a really great to see.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, we haven't even uh discussed uh we have uh of course we have those veterans that are gonna be uh ready to go, but in the freshman position, we have a four-star from Montana, highly touted guy, uh Matt Ludwig.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm interested to see.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think we're gonna see him really on the field, but it's just obviously got to keep an eye on once TC's had his time in the sun and moving on.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um anything else to say about the tight ends?
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I would just point out that Ludwig's kind of your guy of the future.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I do think Texas Tech is going to take a really hard look at the tight end portal class after this season, just because you're you have five tight ends on the roster and four of them are seniors.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you're gonna lose a lot there um from that position.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I mean, as far as and Llewellyn, those guys are special teams guys, they're long, uh like they'll get in for a few snaps, there'll be some blockers here or there, you know, in a pinch.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I mean, Jet Carpenter, first off, seventh year of college football.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_03: Hard to beat that type of experience.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you don't get a lot of seven-year guys anymore now that we're kind of enough past COVID.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and I know there's been a lot of eligibility conversations that we won't get into in this episode, but um, you know, dealt with a medical hardship.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: So hurt all last year in Nevada, uh, now coming to Texas Tech and going to truly play his final year of college football this year.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I I just think you're happy with the veteran, the veterancy of him.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if he's going to pop out as a pass catcher.
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how really skilled he is as a blocker.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_03: He hasn't played at the power four level ever.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you needed some insurance for having TC, and this is a good guy to have behind him.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad he made that point about Ludwig.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_02: I do think we're gonna go shop for a star tight end next year.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh Carpenter, it's funny that you said he's a seventh year.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_02: If he was not a red raider, I think we'd be making LinkedIn jokes right now.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, 100%.
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_02: Your next position is job.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's your next position.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_02: Umsurance.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_02: So this is probably where things this is probably where things get a little more uh mysterious and uh controversial, and that's gonna be the wide receiver room.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um a very uh different room and a position that obviously Texas Tech excels at year in and year out.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um last year, I think fans would actually have a few grumbles about it.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think that uh some of some of the fans were disappointed with the output from our star wide receivers.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_02: Um how much of that was the receiver, and how much was that was a uh a quarterback that wasn't playing to his full potential.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, it's a position that completely depends on another guy.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's uh they can only do as much as they're given.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously, we're talking about a group that's bringing that's that was uh 60% of our total passes in the ours last year.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously the bulk of the the uh the passing game.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um but the guy that starts here at the conversation, it's Micah Hudson, is it not?
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's you're we're I know, I know, I know, I know who the guy you're gonna go to.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm just gonna say this the this lightning rod of a player, text AM transfer, Micah Hudson.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: Our first ever five-star recruit in the era before we really just like oh, another five-star great.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, was just a different time.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_02: Is this finally his moment?
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: The Temple product coming out here, finally ready to be everything he was hyped up to be.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_02: This guy was supposed to be the next Crabtree, at least.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, what do what are we looking at here with Micah Hudson and his junior year?
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_02: You think?
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we just want you to be one of the best wide receivers of all time, like Michael Crabtree.
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're not asking for much help.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that was not a crazy comparison.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: What school is he at?
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: Listen, Micah Hudson, there's nobody in college football like Micah Hudson.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_03: His story is insane.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: Five-star product.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: Punch the guy.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_03: Five-star product.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_03: Allegedly.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: Allegedly, uh very, very hyped up going into uh his true freshman season by not only the media, but by your head coach Joey McGuire.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh said some things that I think he wishes he didn't say so much uh about hyping him up and and the ego that went into that.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh does uh burns a redshirt his freshman year because he plays in five games, a lot of that just on special teams as a five-star product, not normal.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um transfers to Texas AM, punches a guy, allegedly, transfers again in the same offseason back to Texas Tech as a walk-on last year, plays as a walk-on last year because there was not a scholarship spot for him because it was so late.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh seems to have found himself and stayed very low-key last year.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_03: And this is the thing where I can actually start to like welcome a little bit of Micah Hudson chatter, is that I didn't hear a damn thing about Micah Hudson last year, and that was wonderful for not only for me and my sanity, but for him.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_03: He needed that, he needed time to really check himself, understand, and learn as a wide receiver under some good players.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_03: We talked about last year, yeah, we were disappointed at times, but you still had two wide receivers drafted in the in the what second and fourth round.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so clearly you got some talent.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_03: Caleb Douglas was a good player, Reggie Virgil was also a really good player for you, and you lose those two, which is tough.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_03: But I I just think when you look at this wide receiver room as a whole, you put unproven, no true number one yet, dot dot dot yet, and a lot of options because you brought in a load of transfers for the guys that could potentially break out into being a real dude for you this year.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_03: There's just so much unknown right now, and right now with your returners in both coy and Micah Hudson, there's no bona fide one.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I I think I think that was a good setup.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and you were right about Micah Hudson not being talked about last year.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_02: Uh he was all he was all we talked about two years ago, man.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and it wasn't just good for him, uh, it was also good for the team.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_02: I bet there was a lot of frustration with that whole situation, good and bad, about all that.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_02: So I I'm sure I'm sure those are just some teenage growing pains, man.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's just a different person now.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_02: And hopefully he's just there to win.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_02: Hopefully he's just there to produce, build his draft stock, and just get down to business, you know?
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it'll be interesting to see what kind of role he begins to play.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh is he gonna be your route runner?
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_02: You know, is he gonna be your your deep threat?
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_02: Is he gonna be your sweeping guy?
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what's he gonna be?
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like who's who's who's gonna be is he gonna be that guy you can just turn to no matter what in a tight spot?
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: We'll have to see, dude.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think for the most part, whatever you talk about just proven veterancy, you can't you can't begin the conversation anywhere else other than Coy.
• 59:54
  SPEAKER_02: Because Coy is now your if he's not gonna be your actual captain, he is your uh unspecified captain of the wide receivers.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_02: He's the veteran.
• 1:00:04
  SPEAKER_02: He's the big physical veteran.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he's actually your guy returning with the most passing production on the team left.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and I think that's going to continue.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think the reason why is I don't know if you're gonna get a whole lot of explosiveness out of a Koy Aken.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't know if he has that freak athletic ability to do so.
• 1:00:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I think what he's gonna be is I think he's gonna be that that position between true tight end and true wide receiver and just a guy who can get out, get, go, go out there and get some short yard or yardage when you really need it, or give me the force into the end zone when you really need it.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's just it's gonna be, I feel like we have a whole bunch of wide receivers who fill completely different roles with their abilities.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what's fun.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think you got a lot of different toys and weapons here, um, and a lot of test subjects, because obviously the average Texas Tech fans are gonna be too familiar with a lot of these transfers that we got as well.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this is gonna be the biggest puzzle piece that you need to put together if you're Mac Lefwich and the and the coaching staff is figuring out what this wide receiver room is because Koy Akin is not a number one.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_03: We've seen him for three years at Texas Tech, and he has been a consistent presence for you, definitely shown up in some big moments.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but so you don't think he's gonna have the most production?
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't know.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_03: No, I know that's that's I don't it's so hard to try to determine this because we'll talk about the four transfers here in a second as well.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_02: But and he doesn't have Baron, he's his best friend.
• 1:01:30
  SPEAKER_02: So I should have put that into the into the chemistry there.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_02: That is true.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know who does have chemistry.
• 1:01:37
  SPEAKER_02: Will Hammond and Michael two central Texas guys, yeah.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_02: Will and Hammond.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_03: Two boys from the uh from the Austin and and a little bit central Texas area.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um Koy Akin is a really solid wide receiver for you.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_03: Koy Akin is not a number one right wide receiver.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_03: We can all agree on that.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_03: He's a solid player, he will show up in big moments, he will be a weapon that you utilize.
• 1:01:57
  SPEAKER_03: He's a fifth-year senior.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's he's going to be productive.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_03: He's not he's not a number one wide receiver, and he's a really good player, not a number one.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_03: Micah Hudson, the potential's there, but I don't know.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_03: I he has a he had 112 yards and two touchdowns in 2025.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_03: Uh like, how am I supposed to automatically assume Micah Hudson's gonna go out here and be a wide receiver?
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_03: One he looked good in a couple touchdowns that Lloyd Jones threw in the West Virginia game.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's what I can give you on on-field production.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_03: Then you have four transfers that you brought in, two seniors and two juniors, Kenny Johnson from Pitt, Dante Lee from Liberty, Malcolm Simmons from Auburn, and Jalen Jones from Alabama State, FCS.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_03: All these guys were second, third in production on their team, except for Dante Lee, who was first in in receiving yards for Liberty last year.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_03: But, you know, Jalen Jones and well, and Jalen Jones for Alabama State, he was fourth in all of FCS.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_03: No way, yeah.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_03: Receiving yards.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_03: So I I really think you're actually gonna look to those guys and Kenny, Kenny Johnson specifically, to be that bona fide two for you.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then, you know, hopefully you get a breakout year from one of these younger transfers that you brought in.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_03: But um, there's uh it's not a lot of size either.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're not finding a lot of you know, above six, three, like you know, Malcolm Simmons is a is a speedy back, former four-star, went to Auburn, you know, actually had a couple breakout games uh towards the end of last season, one of which was in the Iron Bowl against Bama that he kind of showed out a little bit.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_03: Dante Lee's a good player.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if he's a one type.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_03: He played on a Liberty team last year.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_03: Kenny Johnson played for Pitt, they were fine.
• 1:03:42
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so you don't know, you know, and and all these guys are going to a different level, except for you know, Kenny Johnson.
• 1:03:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I guess Malcolm Simmons was at Auburn, but uh you just there's so much unknown, and I cannot, I don't have a feel whatsoever on who's actually going to break out and be a one.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's why when we were talking about Terrence Carter, he's your most reliable receiver at this point.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I guess a a bit of a saving race is sure, yeah, they're not a lot of size, but a good amount of experience.
• 1:04:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's it's not like these gear you're bringing in guys who are raw prospects, like they've seen the football field, so you're hopefully just building on the skill set that they can bring.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and of course, you know, we don't need them all to be uh let's get boring and say Michael Crabtree.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um you know, that doesn't have to be the case.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_03: And you just get a Michael Crabtree this year.
• 1:04:37
  SPEAKER_03: I will, you know, hand up.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_03: My take.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_02: My take, my getting a two-time Litnikloth winner this year?
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think so.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_03: Hot take.
• 1:04:46
  SPEAKER_02: You probably will never get one again.
• 1:04:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um you've had good, good receivers, though.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you have.
• 1:04:53
  unknown: Yes.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you've even you've even had guys on like middle league teams, like Josh Kelly was a true wide receiver one.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_03: That was a guy you went to constantly, overwhelmingly led the team in receptions.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you want to necessarily go back to that offense where you're reliant.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_03: You just hope that the team, everybody coming together contributes enough to replace a true wide receiver one.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_02: Are we are we about to do the guys will just sit around and name random athletes and just sit there and good Texas tech wider seats?
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you know, Jakeem Grant.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, don't remember Loick Fungi.
• 1:05:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's a good point.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_02: I can't I got I gotta stop saying crab tree because it's like, what is every quarterback?
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_02: This could be the next post.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_02: So you're absolutely right.
• 1:05:39
  SPEAKER_02: I just I just hope that we have someone that breaks out.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_02: And while I kind of we just we touched on him, coy, he's that veteran presence, that you know, foundation, a guy like Micah has the tangibles to kind of pop up and be a lethality.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you you just hope with these transfers that maybe there's a sneaky weapon in there that just starts surprising people and uh Hopefully there's enough depth to really make it count.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_03: And you got some young guys too that could pop off.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_03: I know uh the coaching staff really believes in Leiden Stone a lot.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_03: Bryson Jones got a lot of good run at the beginning of last year.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_03: Tristan Gentry was a guy, especially in the return game that uh actually showed out and showed what he could be.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_03: And then the true freshman Chase Campbell probably won't get a lot of run this year, but you're looking at 6'5, four-star elite prospect um for the future.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_03: So who knows?
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe he has a breakout year.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_03: But you you have options.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_03: You have a lot of options in the wide receiver room, but not a lot of proven ability or or wide receiver one potential from any of these guys.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's great.
• 1:06:40
  SPEAKER_02: We don't have a quarterback with a lot of proven, and we don't have receivers with a lot of proven.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_02: How awesome is that?
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_03: But everything else is great, though.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_03: We're about to talk about one of the best returning rooms in the country.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, at least O-line and tight ends are awesome.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_02: So let's go ahead and talk about what people are dubbing as the best running back room in the entire country.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_02: Not just the Big 12, but the entire gosh darn country.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_02: The you're gonna get you're gonna you're gonna hear this a lot.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_02: The three-headed monster.
• 1:07:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's going to be obviously you're gonna have Cameron Dickey, he was your lead man last year, the shifty Jacoby Williams, and then the chosen one, the man that was supposed to be the guy in Quentin Jr., finally going to get some a real season at Texas Tech.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_02: So it's going to be uh it's gonna be it's gonna be a fun ride because it's it's what's so cool about these three guys is they play so differently.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like they each bring something different to the table.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like you're double dipping and causing confusion with who's actually gonna step up and be the guy you're gonna lean on more.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_02: So you can really sit there and get creative if you're Matt Glefwich with with this with this playbook.
• 1:07:49
  SPEAKER_02: And it's funny, I mean, we're I was talking about returning passing production before I let you talk.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, is uh they were responsible for 20% of the passing uh target in production last year.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_02: So they're they they're they're they're involved in every aspect of the game, and I expect that to see that uh to continue, not just be boring, uh handed off every single time down the throat, which is great, don't get me wrong.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_02: You need that one game.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_03: But yes.
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_03: There I love this running back room.
• 1:08:16
  SPEAKER_03: I love everything about it.
• 1:08:18
  SPEAKER_03: If you told me this time last year that this would be one of the best returning rooms in the country, I probably wouldn't have believed you, or I probably would have said, wow, Quentin Joyner really popped off.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_03: But unfortunately, you know, we we saw last year, I think.
• 1:08:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Adam Hill really rocked it to the moon.
• 1:08:37
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, the amount of like Lubbock locals that were all on the Adam Hill train right when Joyner went down was insane.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_03: We need to have a retrospect.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_03: We should have a retrospect podcast episode just on the Adam Hill hype, coming from local Lubbock people.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, we we we we we believe in Adam Hill on here.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_03: Still on the team, now a linebacker, but great.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_03: Love it.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_03: Special teams legend.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_03: He's gonna be another Bart Reager for you.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um whoa.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_03: That was that was unnecessary.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_03: That was a deep cut.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_03: That was a deep cut.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um Cam Dickey, all Big 12 level running back last year, all Big 12 second team, uh past the thousand-yard mark.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_03: If he stays with your program, he has a chance to be top three all-time rushing yards for you at Texas Tech.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_03: So that kind of puts in the perspective of how much of a jump he took last year and how unbelievable, really, that he was.
• 1:09:37
  SPEAKER_03: I he was the most surprising player, I think, an unexpected player to break out into last season.
• 1:09:44
  SPEAKER_03: We we only saw bits and pieces of him behind Taj Brooks in in his final year in Cam Dickey's true freshman season, but I don't know if anybody expected 1,124 yards and 14 touchdowns and an all Big 12 second team level season for Cam Dickey.
• 1:10:01
  SPEAKER_03: So uh he has to start off the conversation.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_03: He has to be a guy that you talk about returning and being really, really happy with him as just being your running back one.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_03: Jacoby Williams, probably my favorite player on the team, the most electric and exciting player, I think, on your entire roster, from just if you get him in space, it's going to be so good for you.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_03: And there were so many highlight level big play energy type plays from Jacoby Williams last year, and you're gonna see him moved a lot into kind of a more receiving position, gonna play more of that hybrid role now that you have Quinn Joyner back, which is also really exciting considering what we just spoke on on the downfalls of your wide receiver room.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_03: So getting him in the more of the reception game is going to be such a key for the success of Texas Tech's offense next season.
• 1:10:56
  SPEAKER_03: And then of course you bring back Quinn Joyner, who was set to be your running back one in 2025 before the injury.
• 1:11:03
  SPEAKER_03: Again, ACL tear, not ideal, not great for a running back, but he has had more time than Will Hammond has even to recover, and he's fully ready to go.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_03: So um I I think looking at all three of these backs together, Cam and Jacoby are both pretty small.
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Quinn Joyner is the bigger one, not by much, but he is beefier.
• 1:11:26
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that is the one thing that you could critique about last year's running back room, is that you just didn't have that bulldozer that you could give the ball to and just ram through for a couple yards.
• 1:11:37
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that's what kind of affected a lot of our red zone choices in how Mack Lefwich ran the offense because you just don't have a guy, and maybe you weren't necessarily confident in your offensive line either in those moments of just run the damn ball up the middle and let's see what happens.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I think Quinn Joyner provides that for you now.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_03: He can be that guy that you just hand the ball off and go get three yards when you're on the three and you need a touchdown.
• 1:12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, I mean, Cameron Dickey liked to squeak through though.
• 1:12:04
  SPEAKER_02: He may not bulldoze it.
• 1:12:05
  SPEAKER_02: He was great.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_02: He was great through.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_02: And he's strong.
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_03: All three of these guys are super strong.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's not to like discredit how skilled Cam Dickey and Jacoby Williams are.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_03: There's just a clear size thing that comes, you know, with them that you kind of wish they were just a little bit bigger.
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_02: I think I think the best part about this is this is the most relief unit we can talk about here because this is a unit that will not take a step back.
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think we can feel completely confident saying that.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's a very productive unit that should only be better moving forward.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're talking about a a group that could be your most effective unit on the field that's scoring for you, like in moving the ball down the field.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, especially if you bounce it right, especially these guys live up to their potential.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think you can absolutely count on us getting the ball down, establishing the running game, and really opening up a playbook and utilizing these weapons in ways that we weren't able to see last year.
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_02: Now that you have three options to really see what we can do.
• 1:12:59
  SPEAKER_02: So, man, I'm I'm so excited about this this running back room.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's funny that you were just talking about how um you know that uh Cam has a way he has uh the opportunity to bust into the top three running backs tech of all time.
• 1:13:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's kind of odd.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_02: Those top running backs have been coming in recent years.
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's it's this tech stack being the air raid, you know, throw it through the air a billion times, school.
• 1:13:24
  SPEAKER_02: We've been producing a bunch of stellar running backs in this in that era, and to now, which we're much more of a balance now.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_02: But uh it's just it's funny, it's just kind of ironic to see, you know, we're not really talking about the days of old whenever it comes to running backs.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're talking about recently, like with Seraj Thompson, you know.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, this is not a Mike Leach team.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you're you're you're running the ball um with this group of guys, and even there were some really skilled backs under Leach, but um no, I mean this is this is the room that that teams dream of.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_03: You know, a couple returners that were really, really productive, both had 800 plus rushing yards last year, um, you know, really dynamic players than Cam Dickey and Jacoby Williams, and then just adding Quentin, a guy like Quentin Joyner back to your team is is something that I don't know if there's a three deep that's deeper in college football right now.
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_03: You could argue Texas, I know they got a lot of good running backs in the in the portal.
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_03: Ohio State always has a good group.
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I don't know if you want, if you look at this running back room and you're not like amazed at it and really excited, I I don't know what to tell you.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, from a team management perspective, it's also a huge luxury to have whenever you have three veteran players who are ready to go out there and produce, you don't have to worry about burning any red shirts.
• 1:14:34
  SPEAKER_02: You just let the young guys develop and fill in over there, it's their time.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_02: So, dude, I mean, I obviously we've already been at it for over an hour.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I that kind of wraps it up.
• 1:14:44
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have any anything else to uh to spot on there?
• 1:14:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'll I'll just shout out Ashton Rowden.
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_03: I think they're really excited about him.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_03: He's a true freshman.
• 1:14:53
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I don't think he'll have to play a lot this year, hopefully, with um with the three guys that you have above him, but I think they are really excited about him.
• 1:15:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think a four-star guy.
• 1:15:01
  SPEAKER_03: So um they've talked him up in the offseason.
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, you always kind of pay attention when they specifically call out a specific player.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, I mean, this is this is the the unit that you are most happy about, I think, going into the year, uh, along with an improved offensive line, uh, a really, really strong tight end, one of the best in the country, and then a wide receiver room that looking at it could be good, could be really good, but is definitely unproven.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_03: And then quarterback probably being your biggest question mark right now with the health of Will Hammond, not necessarily in do you believe he's gonna be a good quarterback, but just the health of it.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then another year in the system for Mac Lefowitch, another year of learning.
• 1:15:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you were in some really big games.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_03: You were in the Big 12 championship, you were in the college football playoff last year, you saw what is the standard that you need to reach as an offense now, and you're hoping, you know, now that you've seen it, you can make those adjustments come uh come January.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a that's a good good point because you know you just talked about the the new standard that's being set, much like we saw in basketball.
• 1:16:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think you're gonna start seeing a lot of that same attitude feed into uh to our football program now.
• 1:16:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, now that we went out there and dominated the league.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, he dropped the game in Arizona State, but that was not full-fledged.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_02: We would have won the game if Barron Wharton was playing.
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I don't think that's cope.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think you win that game eight eight times out of ten, honestly.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're unfortunately, I think going undefeated no matter what is a big ask.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I think it's absolutely possible this year, especially with the schedule.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I think we could talk more about this as we approach the season.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's it's it's funny to see the shift in attitude towards the football program, both in and out, because with with media days passing, um it was really interesting to see that all the media heads think Texas Tech is gonna win the Big Twelve, even without Brendan Soresby, just due to the sheer talent and the continuity of the coaching staff.
• 1:16:54
  SPEAKER_02: But the coaches at Big Twelve Media Day don't think Texas Tech is gonna win it, they think BYU is.
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that is sheer pettiness?
• 1:17:03
  SPEAKER_02: Or do you think that like just just like being upset with the top dog now?
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think?
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or do you think there's like real legitimacy there?
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that there's a lot of contention between Texas.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_03: That's my feelings right now.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_03: And and the rest of the Big 12.
• 1:17:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I I don't think it's between the coaches, you know.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think everybody loves Joey.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_03: Joey's good buds with most of the other Big 12 coaches.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_03: I really do.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think outside of maybe like Leipold, I'll say I feel like it's Scatterfield.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, but who knows?
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_03: Satterfield's not gonna be there longer than this year.
• 1:17:34
  SPEAKER_03: So you know it's uh no, but he's like good buds with Sataki, he's good buds with Dillingham, like these guys, these guys, Rich Rod.
• 1:17:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and Rich Rod and all these guys, like I think they're pretty tight with Joey.
• 1:17:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um but no, I mean I I think yeah, there's definitely a bit of a jealousy right now going on with the rest of the Big 12 and Texas Tech, and Texas Tech definitely has not helped their reputation, um, whether it be their PR stunts that they pulled this offseason or um some of their social posts of just like you're welcome for bringing in the biggest attendance in Big 12 history.
• 1:18:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, all right, guys, like this this is the kind of shit that pisses everybody else off for you doing this, and you just don't need to.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but hey, man, I mean, and all the Campbell stuff, of course, people are you know taking that and running with um for Cody.
• 1:18:26
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh I think right now it's just a Texas tech thing that people don't like to see that double T now if you're not a red writer and uh I guess lean into it.
• 1:18:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good it's a good position to be in for why you're the most fated.
• 1:18:39
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, sure the source be thing does not help, but like it's for the most part it's because you're bullying everybody with the NIL transfer portal recruiting and on the field.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like that's where most of the attention is coming from.
• 1:18:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and uh it's do you think we've replaced Utah as enemy number one?
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_03: I think so, especially with Utah not having Whittingham anymore, and and really having yeah, and and they were a good team last year, but they weren't you're right.
• 1:19:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, it was definitely fun their first year in the league being really bad and plus kind of pilot on them.
• 1:19:13
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, their fan base is still whatever, but I I do think that Texas Tech what comes with uh, you know, I I just saw Spider-Man great power comes great responsibility, right?
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_03: And you are you you're not being really responsible right now with being the top dog, and you're really rubbing in a lot of people's faces, and you're you know, uh the sores we stuffed in the case.
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like Spider-Man.
• 1:19:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's like it's like Spider-Man.
• 1:19:39
  SPEAKER_03: The second biggest opening of any movie of all time.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_02: All right, you're losing me.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_02: All right, so I know, not a Marvel guy, not a Marvel guy, but I I actually have a few more questions about all that.
• 1:19:53
  SPEAKER_02: I I think we'll save it for the next episode.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_02: I don't, you know, just because I think it'll be a nice like wrap-up on the unit.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_02: But let's end with a fun question, you can ask me anything as uh as well, of course.
• 1:20:02
  SPEAKER_02: But you know what's kind of interesting that I've noticed um is that the internet does not like that we remove the bevel.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Like it people seem to be beefing with that, because it's which is weird because I've heard the consensus before this being like level the bevel.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_02: Don't you remember that movement?
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_02: Where like every fan of a beveled logo is a little bit more than a lot of people.
• 1:20:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we we talked about it every year when it would come back around.
• 1:20:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it it was but now it's the the the people from outside the fan base hate it.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_02: I and they're like, it's destroying the brand.
• 1:20:30
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, it's still the double T.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't understand the beef.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_03: So two parts, right?
• 1:20:38
  SPEAKER_03: People want to hate Texas Tech right now, everything that we do, they want to, they want to hate it, and whatever way they can do it, they can clown on us.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_03: Twitter's not reality at the same time, you know.
• 1:20:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like you get you get a bunch of dudes that like a tweet, it's not like the general consensus in real life.
• 1:20:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and then two, they're just they're gonna find every single thing, every little detail that Texas Tech does now, every little small slip up or change.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_03: Also, people just don't like change, honestly.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's yeah, no, might be what it comes down to, is that people do people love that?
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I guess the TV networks should love it, but that's what I mean.
• 1:21:17
  SPEAKER_03: But no, I mean it's um people just want to hate Texas Tech.
• 1:21:24
  SPEAKER_03: I think I've I've just accepted that, and I've I I don't love being the villain necessarily.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_03: It's so weird with a guy like Joey Maguire as your head coach and you're looked at as the villain of college sports right now, but it's it is what it is.
• 1:21:39
  SPEAKER_03: The Big 12 doesn't like us.
• 1:21:40
  SPEAKER_03: We're not helping our case and what we're putting out there, and um, you know, having one of the most powerful people right now in college sports and Cody Campbell uh doesn't help.
• 1:21:49
  SPEAKER_03: And people, you know, a lot of people don't like billionaires.
• 1:21:51
  SPEAKER_02: So it's I mean, I I know I know that I know that that that conversation had passed us by this summer, but it does it does give you heartburn seeing Joey McGuire talked about the way he is, like the character assassination that he's been receiving due to his due to him being in an incredibly difficult uh position that he was put in with the Sorosby situation.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um because you know he had his massive win, trash talking UT in a really fun way, and then he got sucked into this black hole of the Soresby situation where he really was in a lose-lose spot no matter what.
• 1:22:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it just it really sucked to see him get pulled into that.
• 1:22:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it it's it's really it's it kind of capitalizes how does Texas Tech deal with being the king rather than an underdog?
• 1:22:33
  SPEAKER_02: The entire existence of Tex Tech University is we're the plucky underdogs out in West Texas, and now suddenly we're top dogs, suddenly we're a new blood, you know, like an organ blossoming in Lovick kind of thing.
• 1:22:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's gonna be weird to see us deal with that as both a coaching staff, a program, and as a fan base.
• 1:22:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's definitely been a weird transition as a fan um this past offseason, and as as we've kind of started to reach that level, you know, I I do think some of the criticism from some of the Big 12 fan bases of like Texas Tech is kind of sounding like what Texas was in the Big 12.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think there's a little truth to that with our fan base and and how we've just approached, oh, don't be poor, oh, don't do that.
• 1:23:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, okay, some of that shit is just like you're not gonna get you you're not gonna get in good with people.
• 1:23:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not saying that that's even your prerogative as a Texas Tech fan.
• 1:23:30
  SPEAKER_03: I I like to not be an asshole for the most part, and um, you know, that kind of stuff leads to like like just saying, well, Texas or Kansas State, why don't you just pay for better players and be better?
• 1:23:41
  SPEAKER_03: Or like what Cody Campbell said at at Big 12 Media Day, you know, we need everybody else to be better.
• 1:23:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's not false, but it's also not a thing you say.
• 1:23:52
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't think that's I I do I personally don't think that statement was out of line.
• 1:23:55
  SPEAKER_02: I just think it was from all the it was just so hot in the room that also doesn't people are gonna blow up on yeah, we're gonna blow up on it.
• 1:24:03
  SPEAKER_03: Or being the guy to root for.
• 1:24:05
  SPEAKER_03: It makes you it makes everybody else not want to root for you when you're the guy saying that, you know?
• 1:24:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because I mean there's there's real truth to the whole like the rising tide thing.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's no, I really I I wish that the rest of the Big 12 caught up.
• 1:24:17
  SPEAKER_02: I wish.
• 1:24:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think it's feasible.
• 1:24:19
  SPEAKER_02: We open the podcast with wow, that was that was really bad.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_02: And I do think there's a handful of teams in the Big Twelve that can make it interesting, but I do think we're gonna witness a moment in the sport that is truly gonna pass by some programs in the Big Twelve.
• 1:24:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I really think that Iowa State, I mean this could be clipped.
• 1:24:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think like an Iowa State, a Kansas State, uh West Virginia, like I really think that their moment is gone.
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_02: I think they need to have some sort of alumni that graduates in in event in events internet the sequel and makes a gajillion dollars and changes everything for them.
• 1:24:58
  SPEAKER_02: But I really think that unfortunately the sports kind of passed them by.
• 1:25:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think some of those fans are kind of dealing with that reality.
• 1:25:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like Kansas State fans are really salty right now.
• 1:25:07
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying that like to like trash talk, but there's a lot of salt going on over there.
• 1:25:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think obviously it could be lightning roll it rotted through Romaine, um, coming their star linebacker coming in tech, but I think a lot of them are coming to grips with that reality as a fan.
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's it's it's it's hard to say because college sports are so unknown right now.
• 1:25:28
  SPEAKER_02: If yeah, it's so cyclical.
• 1:25:29
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if this college sports protection act passes, I think that changes quite a bit of what's going on uh amongst the entire sport.
• 1:25:38
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I mean, there's no doubt that you need to have financial resources to compete on a year-in, year-in basis.
• 1:25:44
  SPEAKER_03: And there's no doubt that a lot of these institutions are not either willing to support something of that caliber or um physically can't because they don't have the alumni base, they don't have the donor base, they don't uh like you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna just sit here and like brag about all the billion oil billionaire oil guys that support Texas Tech.
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's something we're very fortunate to have and lucky to have.
• 1:26:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:26:10
  SPEAKER_03: And there is a part of that that is alignment and takes real leadership to gather everything and and have everybody on the same page that I think Texas Tech has done a great job of internally, but at the same time, asking Iowa State University to funnel uh a$35 million team every single year is not feasible.
• 1:26:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's not it's not gonna happen, you know?
• 1:26:37
  SPEAKER_03: Like, and so and I'm also not saying that you need money to field a competitive team every once in a while, you know?
• 1:26:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like you hope that you hire a great head coach that can recruit some under-talented, under-recruited guys and find hidden gems and keep them there and everything like that.
• 1:26:55
  SPEAKER_03: But um I don't know, I kind of went on a tangent there, but like I I think it's unlikely that you're going to get a lot more Texas techs in the Big 12.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_03: Current in the current Big 12.
• 1:27:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, I I like that you said like you still have the opportunity to be competitive in sneaky ways, but it's not the same as it used to be.
• 1:27:14
  SPEAKER_02: The reason why Kansas State was successful is because they they they recruited guys in sneaky ways.
• 1:27:18
  SPEAKER_02: The difference now.
• 1:27:20
  SPEAKER_03: They also had Bill Snyder, who was head coach, one of the greatest coaches of all time.
• 1:27:25
  SPEAKER_03: You can talk about Gary Patterson, TCU.
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they find way these programs have found ways in the past to be successful.
• 1:27:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Matt Canyon, exactly.
• 1:27:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:27:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's those guys are just aren't just walking through the door.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and they coached in a different time.
• 1:27:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh those those players wouldn't just transfer out for no reason.
• 1:27:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like then now it's I'm gonna go make a lot more money and have a better shot at the the NFL now if I if I move away.
• 1:27:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um and so it's just it's in uh just to kind of wrap it up on on us completely pooping on the uh great playing schools, it's it's Is remember whenever the OU and UT situation was going down, people were like, Oh, who's gonna be the next Kings?
• 1:28:05
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's gonna be Kansas State or Oklahoma State.
• 1:28:09
  SPEAKER_02: I think OSU absolutely has an opportunity opportunity to come back in, but like it's I think Kansas State fans are like, Oh, there's no it there's actually no way it could be us.
• 1:28:20
  SPEAKER_03: I mean I mean we've seen we've seen the programs that have made the right steps at post-UT and NOU.
• 1:28:26
  SPEAKER_03: And one of those is Texas Tech, the other one I would say is BYU.
• 1:28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and then Utah, I think, does pretty well with its alumni and donor base.
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_03: The Arizona schools are pretty good.
• 1:28:36
  SPEAKER_03: So um, yeah.
• 1:28:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you've seen the ones that do stuff.
• 1:28:40
  SPEAKER_02: The shame of it is, or I mean not for me, but I've kind of been doing this thought process through my brain where people are criticizing the weaknesses of the Big 12.
• 1:28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Is the Big 12 actually needs a few brands to be really good and the rest of them to lose to those brands.
• 1:28:54
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that's kind of like a 360 way of saying you need a guy to rise up to the top, but no, you needed specific teams to do it.
• 1:28:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think Texas Tech was a clear choice due to our alumni base, our presence, Texas go on the go down the list.
• 1:29:06
  SPEAKER_02: But I think having a team like a TCU, or not mean or like sure, like a TCU or a Kansas State being the face of the Big 12 is a detriment due to their lack of reach.
• 1:29:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it doesn't command the same sort of eyeball that a huge school like Texas Tech does, or an Arizona State, or a BYU, or a Utah.
• 1:29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's just I don't know if they command the same sort of attention.
• 1:29:34
  SPEAKER_03: I know we're kind of going off on tension here, but that's yeah, and I mean, yeah, and I think I think to that point, it's it's it's about can you do it consistently?
• 1:29:43
  SPEAKER_03: Like, can you not just put together one great year of getting everybody together and spending 30 million dollars on a team and uh you know having a magical run?
• 1:29:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's about staying consistent with it.
• 1:29:53
  SPEAKER_03: And the one thing that Texas Tech has done since Joey got here and got everybody aligned, it wasn't all him, it was Kirby and Scubanek and all those guys, but they have stayed consistent in their approach and they have not, you know, shied away.
• 1:30:10
  SPEAKER_03: Joey did not have the best first couple years record-wise, it was better than what we've seen.
• 1:30:16
  SPEAKER_03: So we were excited about it, but he was building towards something, and having a season like last year really just shows that what you're doing is working, and it will show with others as they, you know, as they put in those resources.
• 1:30:29
  SPEAKER_03: But it's it's a constant battle, and and hopefully, you know, this this legislation will help uh the fact of that.
• 1:30:37
  SPEAKER_03: I I'm not well versed in it, so I'm not ready to get into it today.
• 1:30:40
  SPEAKER_03: But um, yeah, we'll see what happens.
• 1:30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we got proof of concept, man, from top for top to bottom from from leadership to fans.
• 1:30:48
  SPEAKER_02: So we're dude, we dreamed of these days.
• 1:30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and I think it's important to remember uh to remind ourselves of that, and we'll talk more about that later.
• 1:30:54
  SPEAKER_02: I know we're going on long now.
• 1:30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but do you have anything else to say?
• 1:30:57
  SPEAKER_03: That's it on the offense, man.
• 1:31:00
  SPEAKER_03: All right, man.
• 1:31:01
  SPEAKER_02: You know how to end it.
• 1:31:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we can we can end it like we always do.
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_03: It feels good to be back.
• 1:31:06
  SPEAKER_03: It does, man.
• 1:31:07
  SPEAKER_03: It does.
• 1:31:07
  SPEAKER_03: It feels good.
• 1:31:08
  SPEAKER_03: We need to we're gonna be more consistent.
• 1:31:10
  SPEAKER_03: We'll be good.
• 1:31:11
  SPEAKER_03: It it football season is deadhead, and we're all having a good time with it.
• 1:31:15
  SPEAKER_03: So um, song of the week.
• 1:31:18
  SPEAKER_03: One of the things that actually makes us a little unique for a Texas Tech Podcast.
• 1:31:23
  SPEAKER_03: Tristan, what is your song of the week?
• 1:31:26
  SPEAKER_02: All right, dude.
• 1:31:27
  SPEAKER_02: So my song of the week, I'm gonna go with a guy I haven't picked yet.
• 1:31:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna go with Kobe B.
• 1:31:30
  SPEAKER_02: Acuff, a uh a hot rising uh all country star out of Idaho.
• 1:31:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um his fl song, White Flag, has just been my bop.
• 1:31:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, it's it's the white flag obviously represents surrender, but he's never gonna do that.
• 1:31:44
  SPEAKER_02: I ain't gonna wave no white flag.
• 1:31:46
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I expect Texas Tech to be doing this season, baby.
• 1:31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Back to back.
• 1:31:50
  SPEAKER_02: No white flag here, no second place, no third place.
• 1:31:54
  SPEAKER_02: We're going with no white flag by Kobe Acuff.
• 1:32:06
  SPEAKER_03: Holding it down for the state of Idaho.
• 1:32:10
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, one of ten people that live there.
• 1:32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:32:13
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, you already you have like a crush on that state, on the potato boys up there, right?
• 1:32:17
  SPEAKER_03: No, I have Boise.
• 1:32:19
  SPEAKER_03: Boise's phenomenal city.
• 1:32:24
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, chill.
• 1:32:26
  SPEAKER_03: Chill out there, fella.
• 1:32:27
  SPEAKER_02: Where they're all going.
• 1:32:28
  SPEAKER_02: If it's not awesome.
• 1:32:29
  SPEAKER_03: We're not gonna get into that right now.
• 1:32:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um my song of the week.
• 1:32:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's a band that we've done a time or two on this podcast.
• 1:32:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we've seen them live together.
• 1:32:42
  SPEAKER_03: Um, The Wilder Blue is is the band I'm referencing here.
• 1:32:47
  SPEAKER_03: Came out with a new single, I believe, last week, um, called Chasing the Sun.
• 1:32:52
  SPEAKER_03: And when you've seen them live, they do an Eagles, uh, they do a couple Eagles songs because they're really good at it.
• 1:33:00
  SPEAKER_03: The drummer sings um when it comes to the because he's got a really Don Henley type uh vibe to him, and they sing really well.
• 1:33:09
  SPEAKER_03: Their Eagles covers are really, really good.
• 1:33:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um it's like they're you know, they make money on making music.
• 1:33:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um this song is not an Eagles cover or anything like that, but it very much gives those vibes.
• 1:33:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's very much an Eagles type song, uh, like kind of a late 70s, you know, kind of easy, smooth country uh type of feel to it.
• 1:33:34
  SPEAKER_03: So um came out.
• 1:33:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's just a single right now, but that is Chasin the Sun, the Wilder Blue.
• 1:33:41
  SPEAKER_04: You know I'll be ready to run me.
• 1:33:46
  SPEAKER_04: Chasing the Sun.
• 1:33:50
  SPEAKER_02: Haven't gotten giving that a spin yet, dude.
• 1:33:52
  SPEAKER_02: And you know I love them.
• 1:33:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure I introduced them to you, so like I it's it is they're my jam, dude.
• 1:33:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a good song, and and also, you know, to tie it into Texas Tech, we are chasing uh a repeat.
• 1:34:04
  SPEAKER_03: So we are chasing the sun here um this football season.
• 1:34:08
  SPEAKER_03: But dude, like I said, fun times hopping back on the mics with you and uh excited to talk defense next week.
• 1:34:15
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, man.
• 1:34:16
  SPEAKER_03: All right, buddy.
• 1:34:17
  SPEAKER_03: We'll close it out like we always do with some plugs.
• 1:34:21
  SPEAKER_03: You can follow us on Twitter at Talking Tech Pod, Instagram, and Facebook.
• 1:34:24
  SPEAKER_03: We're also on there as well.
• 1:34:26
  SPEAKER_03: But if you want to take a look, not super active.
• 1:34:29
  SPEAKER_03: Hopefully, uh, you know, during this time we'll be uh a little more active on the socials again as we ramp back up into football season.
• 1:34:36
  SPEAKER_03: But um, you can follow Tristan on Twitter at Tristy Mick, IML underscore s underscore Rodriguez on Twitter.
• 1:34:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, always appreciate you guys listening and uh happy to be back and always Wreck'em Tech.
• 1:34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Wreck'em Tech, we're back.
• 1:34:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh wow.
• 1:34:50
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, uh got a lot of respect for Steven and Tristan.
• 1:34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh their program, tough guys, just uh a lot of fun.
• 1:34:59
  SPEAKER_01: This is wild.
• 1:35:01
  SPEAKER_01: When I walked in and I knew this would be an awesome podcast, and these guys have been tremendous.
• 1:35:10
  SPEAKER_01: I love you, and I can't wait for this journey.
• 1:35:12
  SPEAKER_01: I would like to thank uh Steven and Tristan.
• 1:35:15
  SPEAKER_01: This is incredible.
• 1:35:16
  SPEAKER_01: These guys have a passion and a love for this school.