Texas Tech football: Position groups Red Raiders must supplement through the portal

It is hard to believe how much help Texas Tech needs at wide receiver

There was once a time when Texas Tech could just shake a tree on campus and multiple All-Big 12 wide receivers would fall out of the branches.  This year, though, that was a position of weakness for the offense and that’s why Tech will likely be looking to add at least one pass catcher in the transfer portal.

Sure, next season will see the debut of 5-star wide receiver recruit Micah Hudson.  But even the highest-ranked high school signee in program history won’t be able to completely transform Tech’s wide receiver room into an elite unit.

This year, Tech’s leading receiver, Xavier White, managed only 495 yards receiving and one TD.  Those modest totals are partially a result of the turmoil at the QB position with three different players starting a game this year.  However, it is also a sign that this program needs to upgrade the talent at a position group that was once synonymous with Red Raider football.

Fortunately, White and Drae McCray are the only super seniors guaranteed to depart from the wide receiver corps this offseason.  That means that Jerand Bradley, Myles Price, and Coy Eakin (the second, third, and fourth-leading receivers on the team this year) could all return in 2024.

Still, this is a position group that needs a desperate infusion of talent and explosiveness.  Hudson will help in that regard but the reality is that asking a true freshman to be a savior is a risky proposition.

It has been since Antoine Wesley in 2018 that Tech has had a 1,000-yard receiver.  That is an odd reality for Red Raider fans to have to face.

There is no guarantee that the next 1,000-yard Red Raider receiver will be in this year’s portal.  In fact, it seems unlikely.  However, this is a position group that needs an influx of talent and athleticism and the portal will be one of the ways that Tech tries to add that to the roster.