Texas Tech football: Red Raiders that might surprise in 2023

Kicker Gino Garcia is showing he has a huge leg

It won’t come as a surprise to many that Gino Garcia will be Tech’s placekicker in 2023.  We’ve known that all offseason.

However, what he’s recently been showing on the practice field might turn some heads because he’s displaying a huge leg.  In fact, he has been so good that McGuire has been singing his praises.

"“Gino hit a 52-yarder; plenty of distance,” McGuire said on Monday of Garcia’s scrimmage performance.  “So I love that.  You know, he’s in the lead, which we expected, for field goals.  We expected him to be our field goal kicker.”"

Garcia got only one field goal attempt last season and he was not able to connect from 46 yards against Houston.  After that, Trey Wolff was the man McGuire turned to for field goals and extra points as he turned in an excellent season.

Apparently, though, Garcia has refined his skills over the offseason and has been rock-solid in fall camp.

"“He’s really stepped up,” McGuire said.  “That was a big kick from that distance because he missed one; he had plenty of leg yesterday but he hit the top of the right upright and probably, it would have been good from 60 (yards) but it hit that pole.  He was trying to play the wind and it just didn’t move.  So for him to come out and nail that 52-yarder, we really feel good about the kicking game.”"

Speaking of 60-yard field goals, on Tuesday, Sean Dillon, a Lubbock radio personality and podcast host posted a video of Garcia drilling a FG from 60 yards in practice.  That’s the type of leg that could be a huge weapon for McGuire this season.

Garcia already has a 50-yarder on his career resume from his time at Houston Baptist.  There, he was also a first-team All-Southland Conference honoree.

However, no one thought we’d be talking about Garcia as a long-range bomber.  It appears that he just might surprise us though in that regard and who knows, his big leg might lift this team to a key win at some point this season.