For far too long, the Texas Tech football program has had sub-standard offensive line play. To fix that issue, head coach Joey McGuire is using the transfer portal to make immediate improvements and the high school recruiting trail to solidify the position group's long-term future. One high school prospect who might help the Red Raiders down the road is Oklahoma native Kaden Moody, who has Texas Tech in his top four options.
On Wednesday, Moody revealed in a post on X that Texas Tech, Kansas, Purdue, and Tulsa are his top four schools. Thus, this seems like a recruiting battle that the Red Raiders should feel confident about winning.
Kansas doesn't have the type of financial backing for its football program that Texas Tech has. Purdue is coming off of a season that saw the Boilermakers go 1-11 overall and 0-9 in Big Ten play. Tulsa is a Group of 5 program that does not compete at the highest levels of the sport. What's more, no program in the country has the type of facilities that Texas Tech has now that the new $242 million Womble Football Center is open.
247Sports rates Moody, a native of Broken Arrow, as a 3-star prospect. That site has him as the No. 52 offensive tackle in the class of 2026 and the No. 10 overall player in Oklahoma.
Dear god, thank you. #ROCKCHALKJAYHAWK #wreckem #boilerup #ReignCane pic.twitter.com/rrN0SU4dZ7
— Kaden “Big Mood” Moody (@Kad3nMoody) March 12, 2025
According to 247Sports' Gabe Brooks, Moody did not allow a single sack in 11 games last season. He also played some defensive line where his 6-foot-6, 300-pound frame would have made him difficult to move.
Building the offensive line into something that isn't a liability has been tough for McGuire since he arrived. Starting with the 2022 offseason, he has added 31 total offensive linemen to the program, with 12 of those additions being transfers. What's more, in all four of the recruiting classes he's overseen in Lubbock, McGuire has added at least six O-linemen to the mix.
However, Tech has yet to see a huge transformation in that position group. Most of the transfers the program have come from Group of 5 schools and have proven to be just run-of-the-mill players in the Big 12 at best. Meanwhile, it simply takes longer for most high school offensive linemen to contribute at this level of football, given the size and strength that most need to acquire in order to withstand the rigors of life in a power conference.
That's why offensive line recruiting will always be a numbers game. It is the position group that puts the most players on the field at a time, and it seems to be the hardest position group to man given how few players possess the combination of size and agility needed to be elite blockers.
Tech is going to keep swinging at this problem until it is fixed, though. 247Sports shows that the program has offers out to 32 offensive linemen in the current recruiting cycle. One of those is Moody, who seems to be high on the Red Raiders and who just might become a future building block up front in West Texas.