When the world lives today, the college football world lives in the future. While some had wins, others had misses too. For instance, Billy Napier is running high on the 2027 recruiting trail as they locked in 4-star athlete Tramond Collins. Sherrone Moore, too, had locked in an early 2027 recruiting win by wooing their coach Louis Esposito’s son, Lou Esposito. However, the luck did not favor Mike Elko’s Texas A&M.

While they found early success with 2027 4-star WR commit, George Lamons, on July 21, he decommitted from the Aggies squad. While Lamons is now keeping the programs on the edge, there is one more 2027 recruit that makes the programs swarm around him. That’s none other than elite 2027 offensive tackle recruit Cooper Hackett. Looks like, unlike Elko, their in-state rivals, Joey McGuire’s Texas Tech Red Raiders’ luck is going to favor them. 

On July 22, Rivals tweeted, “Texas Tech Red Raiders have sights set on a star-studded 2027 class, per @samspiegs 🌵.” One of their many targets of McGuire’s 2027 mission is the Fort Gibson product, Hackett. The 5-star offensive tackle is now chased by Oklahoma and Texas A&M. However, he is in the mood to stir some suspense. As Sam Spiegelman noted, “All signs point to a decision being put on hold — for now.” But in this dead period, McGuire’s Texas Tech’s chances are looming high. As the analyst shared, “The five-star prospect has the Red Raiders in his top group along with Oklahoma and Texas A&M. Our intel indicates that Texas Tech is trending at the top with Hackett, who, according to multiple sources, was close to locking in his college commitment earlier this month.” Now, why wouldn’t they?

McGuire and the Red Raiders made a ‘serious run’ to woo Hackett. The 6-7, 250-pound offensive tackle was recently ranked No. 12 overall in the initial Rivals300 rankings, and he’s listed as the No. 3 offensive tackle in the nation. So, how could McGuire not pursue one of the nation’s top offensive line prospects? Multiple factors keep Texas Tech a mile ahead of others in the Hackett race.

First things first, McGuire came off as the dark horse and signed five-star 2026 OT Felix Ojo. Was it an easy chase? Not at all. He was chased by Power Five programs. Moore even appointed Bryce Underwood to woo Ojo, and the social media interaction of the duo went viral. But even then, McGuire was able to pull out the commitment card from Ojo. Isn’t this a good enough reason for Hackett to join Texas Tech?

Second, McGuire and Co. have placed an early emphasis on the NIL component of Hackett’s recruitment. After all, the Red Raiders come off as the new big spenders in college sports as they are reportedly set to spend under $30 million on their football team this fall. Ojo, too, considered locking with Texas Tech after signing a $2.3 million revenue-sharing deal. Now, McGuire cannot spend all his focus and energy on just Hackett. After all, Texas Tech has a long list of 2027 hot targets, and they are yet to woo. 

The weight of a $20.5 million investment on Joey McGuire

One of them is the top-100 prospect out of Fort Worth (Texas), cornerback Jerry Outhouse Jr. The young chap already places McGuire’s Red Raiders in the top tier of his contenders. “Texas Tech was also cool, and they have nice facilities. Coach [Darcel] McBath was really cool. I’ve been talking with their coaches and their head coaches. They have been coming my way a lot more and more,” said Outhouse. The next up in line is the Rivals300 offensive lineman, Peyton Miller from Anna (Texas) High, Four-star Denton (Texas) Guyer EDGE Zane Rowe.

Now, while McGuire is not looking back on the recruiting trail, the $20.5 million revenue-sharing model comes off as a burden on his shoulders. After all, with big money comes big expectations. On The Next Round podcast, the analyst came up with a wake-up call for McGuire. Analyst Jim Dunaway asked Ryan Brown an important question. “Joey McGuire, Texas Tech, we’re spending all this money. If we don’t win games this year. You don’t think they get rid of Joey McGuire? Or could?”

To which Brown answered, “Could I mean I think Lance, as you look up McGuire, I think you’re going to find a lot of seven and eight-win seasons. I think he’s been pretty consistently seven and five, eight and four. He’s in his fourth season there if I’m not mistaken. I think he’s done three seasons, and I think you’re probably gonna find seven and five, eight and four, seven and five.” So what’s the moral of the story? Joey McGuire can recruit with the best of them, but it’s time the win column starts to catch up. Turns out that fans won’t settle for another season stuck at seven or eight wins.