Joey McGuire Reveals Major Advantage Putting Big 12 on Alert as $28M Noise Fuels Texas Tech

Nobody’s carrying a heavier set of expectations heading into 2025 than Joey McGuire and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are no longer sneaking through back alleys. They’re riding into the Big 12 streets with muscles fueled by oil money. NIL in Lubbock isn’t a faucet anymore, it’s a fire hydrant spraying millions worth of talent into the roster. And suddenly, folks who used to laugh off Tech as a mid-tier spoiler are whispering wild things—Playoff run, Big 12 crown, maybe even a dark-horse candidate for the Natty.

The reason? McGuire’s war chest and the transfer portal. The Red Raiders went shopping, loading up with 21 new players through the portal. A haul ranked No. 2 nationally by 247Sports. That includes 12 four-star talents and the return of former five-star Micah Hudson. On top of that, Peter Nakos at On3Sports dropped the nugget that Tech sits second in NIL spending, behind only Texas, with an estimated $28 million pumped into the roster this season. That’s why national outlets are pushing them as legit contenders. CBS Sports is calling for double-digit wins. Joel Klatt’s whispering CFP. Josh Pate says Big 12 champs. And Joey McGuire? He says he’s got two secret weapons on the 4th episode of Texas Tech Football: Brand.

First up is the offensive line. McGuire told cameras straight: “The biggest difference is offense and defensive line and how many guys we have that have played college football. On the offensive line, we have nine guys that have started games in college football.” That’s no small flex considering last year’s O-line was reminiscent of Swiss cheese. They ranked 127th of 130 in sacks allowed and dead last in the Big 12 in pass protection, ugly for a pass-heavy scheme. But this season, it’s a whole new wave. Only 2 starters are back, Sheridan Wilson and Davion Carter. But the portal delivered linemen like Howard Sampson (UNC), Hunter Zambrano (Illinois State), and Vinny Sciury (Toledo).

These aren’t filler pieces. They’re plug-and-play anchors with legit grades. Sampson, all 6’8” and 340 pounds of him, made The Athletic’s “Freaks” list. Carter did too. Suddenly, this O-line has become a reason for confidence.

Analysts are already on the bandwagon. ClutchPoints ranks Tech’s O-line fourth in the Big 12, while Sports Illustrated and Bleacher Report both pointed to the big boys up front as the secret sauce for a top-12 offense nationally. Even Heartland Sports, who called the unit a “work in progress,” admitted the depth is the difference-maker. And McGuire built it that way, stacking not just talent at the top but safety nets in case of injuries. Will Jados from Miami (OH) and Cash Cleveland from Colorado round out a room that suddenly looks deeper. The days of Behren Morton running for his life might be over.

Now to the real showstopper: the defensive line. McGuire doubled down on that unit, saying, “On the defensive line, counting outside linebackers and the interiors, that might be pushing 15. You’re three deep at every position… You could say, ‘Hey man, we’re four deep at this position.’ It’s going to make a big difference when you’re that deep up front.” This front is national-title good. Pro Football Focus ranks them No. 3 in the country, trailing only Bama and Clemson. And every starter? Transfer portal special.

The names are heavy hitters: edge rusher David Bailey out of Stanford, interior disruptor Lee Hunter from UCF, Romello Height from Georgia Tech, and Skyler Gill-Howard from NIU. Bailey’s pass-rush grade sits at 93.2, elite tier with a win rate of 27.5%. Hunter? The Big man posted 58 run-stops and 28 tackles for loss since 2023, tops among interior linemen nationally. These aren’t system guys. They’re wrecking balls. When you can rotate three-deep with this kind of production, offensive coordinators are gonna need Advil and strong coffee.

And that’s the pivot point for Tech. Offense is a given as long as Behren Morton’s shoulder holds up. The QB threw for 3,335 yards and 27 touchdowns last year while dinged up. If he’s healthy, those numbers go up. The trouble was always defense, and now that weakness looks like a strength. Put those pieces together, and the picture gets changes. A high-flying offense paired with a D-line built like an SEC unit? Yeah, that’s how you crash a Playoff.

McGuire flips the script on the money chatter to motivate players to ball hard

Of course, with $28 million headlines plastered across every feed, the outside noise got loud. Some folks don’t love the idea of an underdog program buying its way out of the mud. McGuire knows that his guys hear it. “They’re ready to play more than anything because they’re tired of hearing the talk about the roster and everything like that,” he said. And you can tell this team wants to shut mouths, not just cash cheques.

McGuire didn’t duck the noise, he weaponized it. “Don’t think we won’t use that to fuel the team,” he told reporters, with a grin that sounded more like a warning shot. That’s classic coaching alchemy, taking cynicism and turning it into jet fuel. He’s basically telling his locker room: the world thinks you’re just oil money mercenaries? Prove them wrong. That’s bulletin board gold, and players eat that up.

At the end of the day, all that money doesn’t win games by itself. McGuire knows it. The players in that locker room know it. But what NIL can buy is depth, and lack of depth is what kills teams in November when injuries pile up. Tech’s got it on both lines now. Mix in a quarterback who can sling it, an offense stacked with weapons, and a defensive front that can bully almost anyone, and suddenly the $28 million noise doesn’t sound like hype. It sounds like warning sirens for the rest of the Big 12.