The world of college football continues to be the wild, wild west of sports. As if all of the player movement, NIL payments, and fifth-year eligibility rules haven't made the sport chaotic enough, now programs are recruiting and signing players who have been in NFL camps this summer.
Tuesday, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire was asked about his thoughts on this new practice in the sport. McGuire indicated that his program is not exploring that avenue of talent acquisition at this time.
"I understand both sides," McGuire said. "We are not looking at anybody that is in the NFL that possibly could be cut. We haven't called any NFL coaches. We haven't scouted any NFL players that I think some teams have done."
In recent days, some high-profile programs around the nation have added players to their roster who have been in NFL camps this offseason. By filing lawsuits to gain an extra year of college eligibility, those players are seeking to take advantage of the new five-for-five eligibility rule that the NCAA has enacted.
Of course, this practice has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in the sports world. Much of the criticism has been aimed at LSU after the Tigers agreed to sign tight end Dae'Quan Wright after he was placed on waivers by the Cleveland Browns.
Wright played for current LSU head coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, and now, he's planning to join Kiffin in Baton Rouge. That is, if the court system allows.
Wright is one of 16 football players who were granted a temporary restraining order by a Louisiana court allowing them to return to college to exercise their fifth year of eligibility. He is not the only NFL player returning to the college ranks (and not the only NFL player LSU is signing), but he is the face of this new movement as the first to be reported to have signed a deal with a college program after trying his hand in the NFL.
Texas Tech is not closing the door on this practice just yet
While McGuire did indicate that his program is not pursuing NFL players, he did not come out and say that he wouldn't do so in the future. Rather, he said that Texas Tech is monitoring the situation.
"We're definitely going to look," he said. "I love my job...I know this: I get to keep my job if I win, so I'm going to constantly look at how we can be better as a team and be better roster-wise."
Kiffin, meanwhile, is taking a similar stance. He recently defended the practice by saying that if he doesn't sign these players, someone else will.
In the wake of the bad press Texas Tech has received from the Brendan Sorsby saga, it is best for the Red Raiders to sit back and let this controversy play out. Let programs like LSU take the heat in the national media for threatening the fabric of college football.
Tech has already been vilified enough in the past six months. It wouldn't make sense to be the poster child for yet another controversy.
Plus, this Red Raider roster has few holes to fill in 2026. Tech has assembled arguably the best collection of talent in program history, so taking on the bad press to add an NFL player seems like it isn't worth the risk.
While the practice of adding professional players to a roster has already happened in college basketball, the fact that it is now taking place in college football has everyone talking, and most people are not happy about this latest development. Thankfully, this time, Texas Tech isn't at the forefront of another college football mess.
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