Texas Tech football getting new-look Mack Leftwich in spring practice

When the Texas Tech football team reconvened for practice after spring break, Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire did a double take, thinking a new coach had slipped into the building.

McGuire started a staff meeting last Monday the way he starts many staff meetings: “Good morning, everybody. Hope you’re all well.”

Then he spotted an unfamiliar face: a clean-shaven Mack Leftwich.

“I look down at the end of the table, and I went, ‘Who is … ? Hold on, guys,'” McGuire said. “I got up, and I literally went down there and gave him a hug. I said, ‘I didn’t recognize you, man. You look like you’re dadgum 18 years old.'”

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Leftwich, the Red Raiders’ 31-year-old offensive coordinator, has sported a beard and mustache for the past few years. The last photo of Leftwich on a team roster showing him clean shaven was in 2021, when he was quarterbacks coach for Incarnate Word.

McGuire said Leftwich’s new look isn’t just from the neck up.

“Mack’s become a workout machine, too,” McGuire said. “He’s lost like 15 pounds, and he’s up every morning. There’s a group of them (coaches and staff) that have always been up there, that now he’s joining in: Josh Cochran, Garret (McGuire), Dave Martin, Imarjaye (Albury Sr.), our new D-tackle coach, is up there.

“They get in there early and bang it out, and Mack’s been up there with them.”

Leftwich hasn’t yet been available to media during spring practice.

Leftwich is starting his second year with the Red Raiders. The first went off without much of a hitch, at least until Oregon shut out Texas Tech 23-0 in the Orange Bowl, a College Football Playoff quarterfinal. Tech finished seventh in the FBS in scoring offense (39.4 points per game), 10th in total offense (461.4-yard average), 33rd in rushing offense (182.9-yard average) and 15th in passing offense (278.5-yard average).

The Red Raiders’ average of 39.4 points per game was the program’s best since 2016, Patrick Mahomes’ last year as a Tech starting quarterback. The rushing offense average was best since 2015.

After only eight games last season, Tech redid the contracts of Leftwich and defensive coordinator Shiel Wood, giving both raises of more than 45% and one-year extensions through the 2028 season.

Leftwich’s chore over the next several months includes replacing quarterback Behren Morton, wide receivers Caleb Douglas and Reggie Virgil and offensive guards Davion Carter and Will Jados. The five starters completed their eligibility last season.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football getting new-look Mack Leftwich in spring practice