Texas Tech football head coach Joey McGuire gives exciting update on transfer TE Jalin Conyers

There's no question that in 2024, the Texas Tech football team is looking for more firepower from the offense. That's why the coaching staff has brought in two transfer wide receivers who could start, Josh Kelly from Washington State and Caleb Douglas from Florida. Also, the team believes that the addition of former Arizona State and Oklahoma tight end Jalin Conyers is going to bring a new element to that side of the football.

Wednesday, while at a coaching clinic in the Texas Panhandle, Red Raider head coach Joey McGuire was asked by Kale Steed, founder of Press Pass Sports, about Conyers, a native of Gruver, Texas. McGuire's response was glowing and should give Red Raider fans a reason to be excited about what Conyers could do in his final college season.

"I love the versatility that Jalin brings," McGuire said, "because he can play outside receiver, we'll do a bunch of different two-back stuff with him to where he's still a threat. Like, he'll be coming out of the backfield but he's still a threat we can hand the ball off to."

Conyers checks in at around 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds so it is impressive that he is athletic enough to be a Swiss Army knife as a football player. At Arizona State, he often ran the "wildcat" formation as the QB and he even carried the ball 22 times for 92 yards and a TD last season. What's more, one of his carries from the "wildcat" formation went for 39 yards.

Moving Conyers around the formation could create some mismatches for the Red Raider offense. He is too fast for most linebackers to cover but too big for most defensive backs to handle. He also has the size and strength to be a formidable blocker.

The hope is that Conyers will pair with returning Red Raider tight end Mason Tharp (who is 6-foot-9 and 270 pounds) to give Tech a dynamic duo at the position. The two could create problems all over the field when that pair is playing at the same time, especially in the red zone where their physicality and height should be tremendous assets.

McGuire also brought up the fact that Conyers and Texas Tech starting QB Behren Morton have a relationship that dates back to high school. That, according to McGuire, played a huge role in bringing Conyers to Lubbock.

"He knows Behren Morton so well," he said. "They grew up going to "Air It Out" camps together and I think that also was one of the big reasons we were able to get [Conyers]. You know, we were going up against some really good football teams in recruiting and we were able to get him to Texas Tech because of the relationship he has with Behren."

Also on hand, Wednesday night was offensive coordinator Zach Kittley. He too had glowing things to say about his new tight end.

"He's a special athlete," Kittley said, "so I think you're going to find him lining up in the backfield, lining up at quarterback, you know, attached tight end...split out receiver in the slot...we feel like he could be a weapon for us."

The thought of running the ball with Conyers is fascinating. That's not something Tech has done consistently with a tight end, perhaps ever.

Of course, Tech will have one of the nation's top running backs next year, Tahj Brooks. However, being able to bring Conyers and his size into the running game on short-yardage situations could add another wrinkle to make the offense more effective and give Brooks a break from having to do all of the dirty work.

Maybe even more importantly, though, it could lessen Kittley's dependence on the QB run game. Over the past two years, with Tyler Shough (a big quarterback who could run well) running the offense, the designed quarterback run game was a heavy component of the Red Raider offense. Of course, we also know that Shough was injured in each of the last two seasons while running the ball so that might not have been a wise move.

Morton is much smaller than Shough. Though Morton can use his legs to pick up yards, no one wants to see Tech ask him to carry the ball ten times per game, especially given that Morton has himself delt with nagging injuries in each of the last two seasons.

Conyers could be the solution to that problem. He could also help bring some big plays back to the Red Raider passing attack as in 2023 he totaled 288 yards after the catch which was top-10 nationally for tight ends.

If the Red Raider offense is indeed going to take a step forward next season and get back to being more explosive than it has been so far in the McGuire era, then Conyers will likely play a big role in that transformation. Given what McGuire is already saying about his newest tight end, Red Raider fans should be excited to have Conyers in the mix.