Texas Tech football: 3 reasons for concern over the offensive line

Will raiding a Group of 5 program fix this O-Line?

Along with Spencer, Tech is counting on another Western Kentucky transfer, center, Rusty Staats, to fix the woes along the line of scrimmage. But does counting on two former Group of 5 players to dominate at the highest levels of the sport seem like a great plan?

On one hand, Staats and Spencer have about as good of a pedigree as any Group of 5 linemen could.  Staats has 27 career starts on his resume and in each of the last two seasons, he garnered honorable-mention all-conference honors.  But therein also lies the rub.

If Staats was only an honorable-mention player in Conference USA, will it be wise to expect him to be anything better than just a run-of-the-mill enter in the Big 12?  That’s a fair question to ask.

Last year, Tech had an honorable-mention Big 12 center in former JUCO walk-on Dennis Wilburn.  But because of Staats’ arrival, Wilburn has moved to right guard this year.

That shows that this offensive coaching staff has a ton of faith in their new center.  And if anyone would know about what Staats is capable of, it would be Kittley, who coached him in 2021 at WKU.

Ultimately, Tech’s recent recruiting efforts along the line have fizzled, especially the high school recruits brought in during the Matt Wells era.  Therefore, Tech has had to scramble to find replacements and upgrades through the portal to fill in the gaps before McGuire’s offensive line recruits are ready to play starring roles.

Thus, landing the likes of Spencer and Staats is a nice step in the right direction.  However, both have never played at the Power 5 level meaning each has questions to answer in the Big 12.  Whether or not they can make that transition is going to be paramount to the 2023 offense’s success.