Joey McGuire not tapping the breaks on Micah Hudson hype

Not long ago, we discussed whether or not Texas Tech football fans should have astronomical expectations for true freshman wide receiver Micah Hudson. One person who is diving head-first into the pool of expectations for the 5-star signee in the class of 2024 is none other than Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire.

This week, McGuire met with the local Lubbock media and again threw fuel on the fire. In fact, he spoke as highly of Hudson as he could have spoken about any player on the roster.

After revealing that Hudson is back to being a "full go" for workouts following offseason knee surgery, McGuire said, "He's really hungry...He's one of the most unique people I've ever been around in my life.

"You can tell there's a chip on his shoulder from the standpoint of he understands the expectations and the hype around him. It won't even come close to what he thinks he can do, what he believes about himself.

"So not only does he want to prove us right, but...there's going to be some chip on my shoulder, I'm going to show my teammates exactly who I am too."

Hudson participated in Texas Tech's first practice of fall camp on Wednesday. It was the first time he had suited up for the Red Raiders after he missed all of spring football rehabbing his knee. McGuire said that Hudson looks great.

"He's ready to go. He looks great," McGuire said. "He's at like 194 pounds and really excited to see what he can do."

Right now, Hudson isn't listed as a first-team player for the Red Raiders. However, that may be just a technicality given that he has only one college practice under his belt. In fact, McGuire talked about how his prized freshman is going to push for a spot in the starting lineup.

"Who does he go after," McGuire said, "because he's going to go after some spot. So what does that look like?

"We're going to work him, because he didn't go through spring, we're going to work him inside," McGuire lated revealed.

No matter where Hudson lines up on Saturdays, all eyes will be on No. 1. With that comes massive expectations but McGuire said he is not trying to shield his young phenom from the weight of those expectations.

"If he was not so mature," McGuire said, "I might feed the expectations even more...I might feed it a little bit just because I have a lot of expectations of him and also know because of his maturity level, he can handle it."

If we've learned nothing else about McGuire in his two-plus years on the job in Lubbock, we've learned that he isn't one to back down from excitement or expectations. Thus, we shouldn't be surprised to hear him say what he did about Hudson.

His remarks are only going to heighten the anticipation for Red Raider fans to see Hudson in action for the first time. He's the highest-ranked player to ever sign with Texas Tech out of high school and he is already a fan-favorite without ever taking a snap in a college game. And if his head coach isn't just speaking about him hyperbolically, then the reality of what he is right off the bat might actually measure up to the hype.