This weekend, the Texas Tech football program held its annual spring game in Lubbock. While the scrimmage was reportedly an overall success, the struggles of the kickers have to be a concern moving forward.
Of course, not many Red Raider fans got to see Saturday's event. That was because head coach Joey McGuire decided not to televise the game.
Keeping the game off the airwaves was a decision made to keep other programs from being able to easily scout the Red Raider roster for players that they would like to target in the transfer portal, which is currently open for college football players. Thus, unless you were in Lubbock on Saturday, the only information one was able to get about the scrimmage came from either Texas Tech itself or some of the local media members who cover the team.
Texas Tech kickers struggle mightily in spring game
As one would expect, Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal had some of the best coverage of the spring game. In his post-game write-up, he noted that the kickers were absolutely dreadful.
In fact, the two kickers Tech gave opportunities to, Upton Bellenfant and Stone Harrington, went a combined 1-6 on their kicks. That included an extra-point miss by each.
According to Williams, Bellenfant went 1-3 on field goals, making a 27-yard try but missing from 30 yards out. Meanwhile, Harrington was 0-2 with misses from 53 and 54 yards.
That performance seemed to catch McGuire off-guard.
"It was really surprising," he said, "because they have been elite in every situation we've done. Our second scrimmage, they both kicked a 53- and a 54-yard field goal. ... I was a little surprised — I'm not going to lie — because they've been really good in situations. Upton's kicked in some big games. So I'm not going to say I'm not a little nervous, but I also want to give them the benefit of the doubt."
By all reports, the two kickers had done well throughout the spring. However, their struggles in the closest simulation of a real game that they will get before the season opens are giving everyone reason to pause. In fact, McGuire even told Williams that the program is looking for a kicker in the portal who can handle both the place-kicking and kickoff duties.
Having a kicker who can do it all would help with the expected upcoming roster crunch. With programs expected to be limited to 105 players this fall, not having to carry one kicker just to handle the kickoff duties would be an obvious way to help the numbers work out.
Many thought Bellenfant was going to be Tech's answer in 2025. An offseason transfer from Buffalo, he was 18-21 last season on field goal attempts while converting all 31 of his extra-point tries. In fact, he even drilled a 52-yarder in the Bahamas Bowl just days after committing to Texas Tech.
As for Harrington, he is a junior from Colleyville who was the backup kickoff option in 2024. On 13 kickoffs, he had eight touchbacks. There is no question about his leg strength, however, he has never handled place-kicking duties as a collegiate.
Tech has been lucky to have had such excellent field-goal kicking in recent years. Last season, Gino Garcia was 19-20 (setting a single-season program record of 95%) while Reese Burkhart was 3-4. What's more, that duo combined to hit all 52 of their extra points.
In 2023, Garcia was a respectable 16-22 on field goals while making all 40 of his extra points. Meanwhile, 2022 saw Trey Wolff nail 21-25 (84%) of his field goals and 41-42 extra points.
Still, Red Raider fans don't have to go back too far to remember when kicking issues doomed a season. In the odd Covid-19-shortened 2020 season, Tech's two kickers, Wolff and Jonathan Garibay, went a combined 9-16 (56.3%) on field goals, and a couple of their misses on short kicks proved costly in close games, which contributed to the team's disappointing 4-6 record.
This season, Tech has massive expectations after going all-in to win the Big 12 by investing heavily in the transfer portal. Thus, there is no way the program is going to let kicking woes be the flaw that keeps it from competing at the top of the conference.
Saturday's showing by the kickers is a concern and casts some major doubt over an aspect of the game that rarely gets noticed until it contributes to a loss. So expect there to be some activity at kicker in the portal before the fall begins because Tech must tie up this loose end.