Why 2024 is milepost season for Texas Tech football under Joey McGuire

Joey McGuire began to change the fortunes of the Texas Tech football team in his first two years as head coach, leading the Red Raiders to 8-5 and 7-6 records the past two seasons and ending each with a bowl victory .

The Red Raiders finished with a winning record in the Big 12 both seasons, and the last Tech coach to do that more than two years in a row was Spike Dykes, every year from 1991 through 1997.

This season, McGuire will approach another proving ground for any coach early in his tenure: What can he do with his roster; i.e., the group he assembled as opposed to the one he inherited?

Only 16 players on the current roster were on the team in November 2021 when Tech hired McGuire away from Baylor. Among them are 10 players in the two-deep, including starters Behren Morton, Tahj Brooks, Caleb Rogers, Mason Tharp and Jackson Knotts.

Related: How Texas Tech football captains thought outside the box with face-to-face roster review

Related: Showing up in style: Behren Morton dishes on hair, Texas Tech football QB room

"This is, whether it's been through the transfer portal or through high-school recruiting, this is our roster," McGuire told reporters Tuesday at a local pre-camp media day, "and we're excited."

Tech starts preseason practice Wednesday morning, and opens the season with an Aug. 31 home game against Abilene Christian.

Texas Tech football buzz surrounds new stadium building, adjoining facilities

There's extra anticipation for this season, because the Red Raiders will debut the new Jones AT&T Stadium south end zone building the night of the first game and will open the new Dustin R. Womble Football Center in late September or October. Tech coaches moved into their offices in the south end zone last week, and the targeted substantial completion date for the Womble Football Center is Sept. 21.

Those two buildings, along with a new visitors' locker room at the northeast corner of the stadium, are features of a two-year, $242 million project.

Tech and its donors didn't make that degree of support expecting mediocrity on the field. The few who have been through the building have come away impressed.

"They're just blown away," McGuire said. "Our first meeting is going to be in the field-level (club) in the south end zone. I can't wait for them to get down there and see everything, because it just ups the ante.

"(Outside linebackers coach) C.J. Ah You says it all the time: Pressure is a privilege. Whenever you have something like that, there is some really good pressure being put on you to be better. I can't wait for them to see it, and I can't wait for our fans to see it."

Related: What Joey McGuire is taking from Dan Campbell in preseason practice planning

Related: Updating the dates to know on Texas Tech football facilities projects

Offensive line, skill positions, defensive backfield, key areas for Texas Tech football

Last year, Big 12 media picked Tech fourth in a 14-team Big 12, and the Red Raiders fell short of expectations. This year, they're picked ninth in a 16-team conference by Big 12 media and eighth in the USA TODAY Sports network poll, but the level of expectation internally is as high or higher than last season.

Among the units under the gun are an offensive line that returns only one starter and a secondary that has only two starters back in five spots. The line, patched by NCAA transfer-portal additions Sterling Porcher at left tackle and Vinny Sciury at left guard, both seniors, still has a good bit of experience.

The secondary, however, has six sophomores and freshmen in the 10 two-deep positions, including projected starters Chapman Lewis at free safety and Maurion Horn at cornerback.

"It's there," McGuire said of the talent and capability in the offensive line. "I felt really comfortable coming out of spring. But if you're talking about our first two years, the O-line has to make a jump.

"And then, just because of the youth in the secondary, there's some guys that really have to grow up."

The receiving corps, too, has undergone a major overhaul. Gone are three of the team's top four in catches and yards last season. But form the transfer portal the Red Raiders fished wide receivers Josh Kelly from Washington State and Caleb Douglas from Florida and tight ends Jalin Conyers from Arizona State and Johncarlos Miller from Elon. Tech coaches are expecting a lot from them all.

They're also counting on immediate impact from freshman signee Micah Hudson and jumps in production from sophomore Coy Eakin and second-year transfer Drae McCray.

"For us to play meaningful games in November," McGuire said, "our offensive skill — (where) we feel like we have made a huge upgrade — has got to be who they are supposed to be. Josh Kelly has got to be Josh Kelly. Caleb Douglas has got to be a home-run hitter. Coy Eakin has got to do what he does. Micah Hudson has got to be the freshman we think he is.

"And then adding in the tight ends. When you come Aug. 31 and watch us play, the most dramatic part of this team is going to be the offensive skill."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Why 2024 is milepost season for Texas Tech football under Joey McGuire