Texas Tech football head coach Joey McGuire has gone on quite the shopping spree lately. However, he isn't shopping for Christmas presents, unless you count adding high-profile transfers to the Red Raider roster as his gift to fans across Raiderland.
Thursday afternoon, McGuire checked a big need off of his list by adding running back Quinten Joyner from USC. His presence on the 2025 roster will help offset the loss of this year's top running back, Tahj Brooks, who is set to exhaust his eligibility after this season.
The 5-foot-11, 216-pound Joyner is not the same type of back that Brooks is. He's far more explosive and capable of getting into the open field where he can be tough to run down.
However, Joyner and Brooks do have something in common. Both are products of Manor, Texas. That likely didn't hurt the Red Raiders in their pursuit of Joyner, who visited the South Plains this week.
BREAKING: USC transfer RB Quinten Joyner has committed to Texas Tech🌵https://t.co/rXjwxSvd0S pic.twitter.com/Sk3D4b2Fsy
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal_) December 19, 2024
In 2024, as a sophomore, Joyner was the second-team running back at USC behind Woody Marks, one of the top running backs in the Big Ten. Thus, he got only 63 carries in 12 games played.
However, he made the most of those opportunities. He racked up 478 yards this year averaging 7.6 per carry. Joyner also found the endzone three times on the ground.
Though the air, he caught 12 passes for 89 yards and another score. That's an average of 7.4 yards per catch.
Now he will come to Texas Tech where he could compete to be the Red Raiders' starting running back next fall. However, he will have some competition for the role of RB1.
This year, Tech saw two true freshmen make an impact in the ground game when Brooks was off the field. J'Koby Williams ran 26 times for 113 yards and a TD while catching six passes for 64 more yards and another score in limited action behind Brooks. Like Joyner, he is more of an explosive, home-run threat when he has the football than Brooks was.
Thus, to pick up the tough yards between the tackles, Tech might ask Cam Dickey to do the dirty work. Though he is considerably lighter than Brooks at 5-foot-10 and around 220 pounds, he has shown in limited action that he can make defenders miss in tight spaces.
However, this season, he carried the ball only 26 times for 151 yards and one TD. What's more, he caught just eight passes on the season.
Therefore, Tech enters 2025 with a trio of talented but largely unproven running backs. While none will be expected to replace Brooks by themselves, they all must take a step forward and show that they can be featured backs after being utilized as secondary options thus far in their careers.
However, having options is a luxury for the Red Raiders and Joyner gives them a great third back to pair with the two true freshmen. He is ranked the No. 5 running back in the portal and the No. 71 overall player by 247Sports.com and his addition to the running back room was one of the last big moves that the Red Raiders needed to make in the transfer portal. Now, maybe McGuire can sit by the fire and put his feet up to rest after a wild two weeks of recruiting.