College football's traditional National Signing Day ended Wednesday, but Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire was probably distracted by other commitments. After signing 20 high school players and one player from the junior college ranks in December, the Red Raiders have little work left to do for the 2024 class.
If Bill Belichick had taken a swing at Jones AT&T Stadium and assumed Joey's personality for a day, McGuire might have said, “We're heading into spring.” Or, “The 2025s begin.”
Oh, McGuire did more than tweet about the rookie. A lot more. On early signing day in December, he praised his latest acquisition as “athletic,” “explosive,” and “some really long football players.” As of Wednesday, Tech's class ranks 24th nationally in the 247Sports Composite Index, with five recruits ranked in the top 50 in Texas and seven more in the top 100. This is making it even more exciting.
This follows the 2023 Tech class, which ranked 28th.
Texas Tech football enjoys best two-year recruiting period since 2011-2012
The last time the Red Raiders were this good in two years was in 2011 and 2012, when Tommy Tuberville faltered at No. 19 and No. 28. Think about what you want from Tuberville, but eight of his signees are ranked. He entered the NFL in 2011, so returning to the realm of a top-30 recruiting class bodes well for the Red Raiders.
Looking at each level, it looks like this:What's inside Texas Tech football's new end zone building at Jones AT&T Stadium?
At Jones AT&T Stadium:Answers to trending topics: Will the Texas Tech football project be completed on time?
The trajectory of the program will be completed soon. As the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten became twin giants and college football's attention shrunk, the Pac-12 went out of business and the Big 12 weakened. In the aforementioned 247Sports Composite Index, Tech's next best class in the Big 12, excluding departing members Texas and Oklahoma State, is No. 33 and his No. 34 ranking is TCU University and Central Florida. It's a university. To be honest, it's worrying.
With the increasing focus on the Southeast and Midwest in college football, every team in the Big 12 will be challenged to add up, similar to the best recent efforts. That also applies to Texas Tech. Last offseason, McGuire and his staff not only had bowl wins over SEC teams, but also wins over Texas and Oklahoma, but those two chances will no longer be available.
Let's see what happens in the next few years.
Texas Tech and Big 12 face tough recruiting to fend off SEC and Big 10
But if you don't think recruiting in the Big 12 is going to get any harder going forward, just look at how the SEC and Big 10 have made hay with Pac-12 country in recent years. Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Brock Bowers, Najee Harris and Xavier Worthy all left California to become college stars elsewhere. These are just some of the famous names. The exodus from the Golden State is not limited to them, or even close to it.
What about Arizona and Arizona State's recent downturn? The Wildcats and Sun Devils couldn't keep their top talent in-country. Namely, Kelly Ringo, Bijan Robinson, and Spencer Rattler. Ohio State acquired running backs Denzel Burke and Lathan Ranson, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and defensive edge player JT Tuimorow from the Pac-12.
The West Coast talent exodus was, of course, before the Big Ten raided the Pac-12 and added Washington, Oregon, the University of Southern California and UCLA, and before the SEC annexed Texas and Oklahoma. Because of this, many people assume that the FBS consists of the two powers and everyone else. His two-conference ability to attract more talent and attention will be a challenge for all other conferences.
Even if things are looking up for the Red Raiders based on Joey McGuire's last two recruiting classes, those successes couldn't come right away.
