Texas Tech offensive line remains work in progress after first fall scrimmage

There is nothing more important for the Texas Tech football team to do during fall camp than to figure out the offensive line puzzle. That's where there should be four new starters this season. After the team's first scrimmage on Saturday, it appears that we are far from knowing how that position group will shake out.

According to head coach Joey McGuire, the Red Raiders starting o-line did not perform well against the starting defensive line. That seemed especially true when trying to run the football.

"I thought they did some good things," McGuire said, "especially in red-zone lockout, we had some good pass [protection] with the ones. But, there was not a lot of, whenever we were going those [six primary defensive tackles] against our interior [offensive line], there was not a lot of room to run.

"So we got to get better. You know, a lot of that O-line wise is going to be, keep working out pad level."

Though it is only one scrimmage, it is a bit concerning to hear that the offensive line did not perform well when running the football. That's because the ground game needs to be dominant for Texas Tech this year given that the Red Raiders feature one of the game's best running backs, Tahj Brooks.

Of course, cohesion is a huge factor for an offensive line and so far, Tech hasn't been able to enjoy that luxury due to some minor injuries that have kept players out. However, McGuire expects to have his full complement of offensive linemen ready to go this week.

"We'll have 100% everybody back Monday," he said, "because we get [South Carolina transfer] Jaxson Hughes fully back. We didn't scrimmage him today. So we'll have all of our line so I think that this next week is going to be really interesting."

McGuire then gave a rundown of where his potential starters were deployed on Saturday. It was a reminder that there is plenty of experimentation and competition still going on.

"...Sterling [Porcher] and Dalton [Merryman] played left tackle with the ones," McGuire said. "We had Ty Buchanan playing right tackle with the ones but we also had Caleb Rogers playing right tackle at times when [Memphis transfer Davion Carter] went in at right guard.

"[Toledo transfer] Vinnie [Sciury] is kinda that mainstay right now [at left guard], I'd say Vinnie and Caleb, but we have to make sure we're getting a good mix of all of them playing together so we can find our best five."

That's a huge point to keep in mind. While the defensive line roles are clearly established at this point and while defensive tackles have a much more easily defined job to do, Tech is still experimenting with its offensive line pieces trying to find the best mix possible. Therefore, maybe it should be expected that the defensive line would have the upper hand at this stage in camp.

What McGuire said he does feel good about is his team's depth up front. That's something that Tech has not always had the benefit of in recent years.

"The good thing is, we have good depth," he said. "I thought the twos, whenever they went out there, did a good job. The first time the twos went out there, Cam Brown was the quarterback and they moved the ball a little bit better than the ones did."

What's more, McGuire did indicate that the first-team offensive line had some success in the red zone period of the scrimmage.

"The ones, whenever they came out in the red zone, they scored twice," he said, "and, I mean [the defense] didn't even come close to putting up a fight with those."

The first half of fall camp is all about tweaking and experimenting before the season begins. Right now, Tech is still in that phase where nothing is solidified and that's fine.

What matters is that the line is correctly sorted out before August 31. And according to McGuire, that process should take a big step forward this week.