Texas Tech football resumes spring ball. Who has Joey McGuire's eye?
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The Texas Tech football program might never again pair two edge defenders in the same season with the dynamite production the Red Raiders got in 2025 from David Bailey and Romello Height. One was a unanimous All-American, the other a first-team all-Big 12 honoree and, between them, they produced 24 sacks.
That’s a hard act to follow, but Tech coach Joey McGuire doesn’t want to sell short their successors.
“I’ll tell you some guys that showed up that y’all are going to fall in love with that are Red Raiders that play the way we want to play is Adam Trick and Trey White, two edges that we got,” McGuire said. “Adam Trick looks like Maxx Crosby without the tattoos.”
Crosby’s the Las Vegas Raiders’ five-time Pro Bowl defensive end who has 69½ career sacks.
Trick’s a 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior who was a first-team all-conference player last year for Miami (Ohio). He was credited with 59 tackles, 12½ tackles for loss, 8½ sacks, 5 passes defended and 3 forced fumbles. White’s a 6-2, 255-pound senior who was two-time first-team all-conference for San Diego State. The past two seasons combined, he was credited with 113 tackles, including 29 tackles for loss and 19½ sacks.
McGuire made the comments during a Red Raider Club event in the Gary Petersen Field Club at Jones AT&T Stadium. He had just come from the practice field on Tuesday, March 24, after the Red Raiders first day back at spring workouts following 11 days off around the university’s spring break.
The production the Red Raiders can get from White and Trick is only part of the rebuild for a front four that also loses Lee Hunter. The massive defensive tackle was a second-team all-America choice by USA TODAY Sports and the Football Writers Association of America.
“There’s a chance we have two first-round picks,” McGuire told the crowd. “David Bailey will be, and Lee Hunter’s got a chance. Romello Height should go in the first three rounds, but we do have a second-team All-American coming back — and he showed out today; he’s tough to block — in A.J. Holmes.”
Tech needed not only impact but numbers during the January portal period. Also new to the team are edge defenders Amarie Fleming from Division II Allen and Jamond Mathis from Kent State, as well as defensive tackles Bryce Butler from Washington, Mateen Ibirogba from Wake Forest, Julian Laventure from Akron and JoJo Johnson from Oregon State.
Tech signed one more defensive tackle than originally planned after Jayden Cofield suffered an Achilles tendon partial tear in a New Year’s Day Orange Bowl loss to Oregon. Cofield’s expected back sometime in the second half of the 2026 season.
McGuire told the audience he doesn’t want to jinx it, but he’s again optimistic about wide receiver Micah Hudson, the former five-star recruit who’s caught only eight passes in each of his first two seasons. With 2025 starters Caleb Douglas and Reggie Virgil out of eligibility and Hudson now a junior, the Red Raiders need his time to be now.
The receivers have something of a fresh start since quarterback Behren Morton is also gone, and in Morton’s place Cincinnati transfer Brendan Sorsby, who was second-team all-Big 12 last season.
“Micah Hudson had a phenomenal first day today,” McGuire said. “It was fun to see, and it was really cool to see he and Sorsby’s connection that they’re starting to develop. T.C. (tight end Terrance Carter Jr.) had a great day.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football resumes spring ball. Who has Joey McGuire’s eye?
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