With how much success that the Texas Tech football team has had in the draft (especially on the defensive side of things for the Red Raiders), it shouldn’t be a shock to hear that Joey McGuire, Texas Tech’s head coach, say that he thinks things are going to look a little different next season.
In total, nine players were selected from the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the 2026 NFL Draft. Six of those Red Raiders that were drafted played on Shiel Wood’s defense. Which means that the Red Raiders are losing a fair bit of talent from a group that helped completely redefine the standard for what success on defense can look like in Lubbock.
So much of the 2025 defense for the Red Raiders was built around David Bailey, Romello Height, Lee Hunter, Jacob Rodriguez, and Cole Wisniewski. All of those guys are gone. So it’ll be fun to see how the Red Raiders replace all of that talent.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire admits that the Red Raiders are having to rebuild their defensive identity a bit in 2026
During a recent press conference following a spring practice for the Red Raiders, McGuire addressed just that.
“Defensively, I feel we’re in a good spot, we’re deep, but you know, we’re different,” Texas Tech’s head coach said. “For instance, Austin Romaine and Corey Platt are very natural passrushers at the linebacker position. We haven’t had that necessary since I’ve been here. If you go back, there’s not been a ton of sacks out of that position. So, how do we use those guys?”
It’ll be interesting to see how Shiel Wood and McGuire work to pivot a few things and adjust for some of those personnel differences that come with losing the players that they did this offseason.
“You lose David Bailey and Romello, the things that they were really good at, are great at, Adam and Trey are good at, but then they’re better at the run game, like they are bigger bodies, set edges at a different level,” McGuire continued.
That’s going to be such an interesting storyline to keep up with as Texas Tech looks to continue to thrive on that side of the ball again this coming season.
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