With the sort of recruiting momentum that Joey McGuire and the Texas Tech Red Raiders have right now, it makes sense that he and his coaching staff would want to continue to pursue the best players in the state of Texas. And that includes trying to poach a player that a certain Big 12 rival is certainly very interested in trying to hold onto.
Raiden Cook, a 4-star defensive line talent out of Mont Belvieu, Texas, recently visited Lubbock as part of an unofficial trip to check out the Red Raiders, according to his profile on On3/Rivals. But while he’s apparently been out to West Texas to visit the Texas Tech football program, Cook is currently committed to play for the Houston Cougars.
That doesn’t mean that the Red Raiders won’t try to get him to flip.
Joey McGuire, Texas Tech Red Raiders apparently interested in trying to flip Houston Cougars commit 4-star DL Raiden Cook
As On3/Rivals shared on social media, Texas Tech is seemingly looking to flip Cook away from the Cougars.
NEW: Texas Tech continues its push to flip Houston 4-star DL commit Raiden Cook, @samspiegs reports👀
— Rivals (@Rivals) May 13, 2026
“They have been showing me a lot of love trying to get me to flip.”
Details: https://t.co/NXpOoiwm3E pic.twitter.com/rlM3RPmWJE
And there’s a few angles where that makes a ton of sense. McGuire and the Red Raiders have been going all in on loading up defensive talent (and also stockpiling the best talent in the Big 12) for the 2027 recruiting class. Cook is currently one of the top rated players committed to play for a school in the Big 12, but he’s one of just two of the conference’s highest rated recruits that’s not committed to Texas Tech.
And the Red Raiders aren’t crazy for wanting to change that fact.
247Sports has noted that Cook has been generating quite a bit of interest from teams all over the country over the past few months. The aforementioned Cougars extended an offer to him back on January 27, 2026. Texas Tech apparently extended an offer on March 9, 2026. But, dating back to last summer, teams like Lamar, Texas Southern, Stephen F. Austin, and Midwestern State all made their offers to him.
Those are all smaller programs in Texas that aren’t exactly going to generate a ton of national buzz. But the Oklahoma State Cowboys have also apparently extended an offer, according to 247Sports. Add in the Kentucky Wildcats, Texas State Bobcats, Texas Longhorns, and TCU Horned Frogs into that bunch as well.
Houston is clearly going to have to compete for Cook and it’s going to be an interesting recruiting battle for the Coogs, the Red Raiders, and everyone else who ends up jumping into this one.
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