The Red Raiders' preseason national ranking is unfamiliar territory, even for the program coming off a conference title and CFP berth.
LUBBOCK - The Texas Tech Red Raiders are ranked No. 12 in the preseason top-25 US LBM Coaches Poll.
After a historic season in which Texas Tech won its first Big 12 championship and qualified for the College Football Playoff, the history keeps coming.
This is the program's highest-ever preseason ranking in the national poll.
The Red Raiders have appeared on three of the last four preseason top-25 rankings, but just six times ever.
Ohio State is the ranking's top team with 38 first-place votes, followed by Oregon (6), Georgia (7), Texas (2) and Notre Dame (5). Defending national champion Indiana ranks sixth in the poll despite 14 first-place votes.
Texas Tech ranks above the rest of its Big 12 rivals, with the closest competitor in the poll being the conference runner-up from 2025, BYU, at No. 15. Utah (No. 21) and Houston (No. 24) also made the national list.
"When you look at everybody around us, there's such really good teams. I wouldn't be surprised if we were even farther down... I wouldn't have been surprised if we were higher up," McGuire said in reaction to the rankings.
McGuire reportedly said he ranked Texas Tech at No. 9 or 10 on his poll.
"I'm excited, and it's a good place to build from and go from there."
"Though the 2025 campaign ended with a resounding thud in the playoffs against Oregon, the Red Raiders should again be among the contenders in the Big 12. That is despite all the offseason turmoil surrounding transfer QB Brendan Sorsby," says the staff at USA TODAY.
"Projected starter Will Hammond gained experience last season before a knee injury, and it will help having top RB Cameron Dickey and an experienced line back. Talented veterans A.J. Holmes Jr. and Ben Roberts are joined by transfers Austin Romaine from Kansas State and Adam Trick from Miami (Ohio) on the defense, but DE David Bailey and LB Jacob Rodriguez won’t easily be replaced."
If Tech head coach Joey McGuire's "spot the ball" comments at Big 12 Media Days were any indication of his confidence heading into the 2026 season, that belief grows parallel to Hammond's rehab progress.
Will Hammond: 'Mentality's Been The Same'
The redshirt sophomore quarterback is recovering from a torn ACL suffered last fall, but he believes his availability for Week 1 against Abilene Christian is possible.
"The mentality's been the same the whole time," Hammond said to reporters in Lubbock this week. "Never take a back seat. Always want to be that guy, and so I'm just glad to be in this position and have the team around me that I have, because that allows you to have the belief that you do something special."
Hammond's (and McGuire's) previous return date was the Week 3 conference opener against Houston. As training camp begins, the Hutto native will be taking first-team reps under center.
"We were always kind of ahead of schedule in terms of what we'd imagined when surgery happened," Hammond said. "Whenever all the news was coming out, we didn't have to really speed anything up. It was just make sure we're continuing to stay consistent with the rehab process, and that's paid off."
McGuire Announces Injury Updates
Texas Tech will be without offensive lineman Holton Hendrix, linebacker Chris Lemons and defensive back Braylan McDonald due to season-ending injuries, McGuire told reporters.
Wide receiver Kai Powell will begin the season on injured reserve, and a handful of others are expected to return to the field in time for the start of the season.
That includes Akron transfer defensive tackle Julien Laventure, who McGuire, jokingly, said "thinks he is a great cook."
Laventure burnt his hand during a cooking incident. "I know he's really frustrated," McGuire said. "He'll be back. We do not want that injury to progress into something worse. Our expectation's he'll be back next Monday, if not sooner."
Top Recruit LaDamian Guyton Arriving Soon
Freshman defensive lineman and former 5-star recruit LaDamian Guyton, who is, at the moment, Texas Tech's highest-rated recruit ever, is expected to be on campus soon to begin camp.
"I’m excited to see him on the practice field. He’s ready to go. He should be here tonight or tomorrow," McGuire said. "We’re just going through all the clearance with campus and everything like that."
Guyton was ranked as the No. 20 overall prospect in the 2026 class. He'll compete for snaps at EDGE with Trey White and Adam Trick, two of Texas Tech's high-profile additions out of the transfer portal this offseason.
"Your twos and threes at defensive end, just because we play so many people on defense," said McGuire about position battles at camp. “We got good depth there. I think there’s gonna be a good battle between [Jamond Mathis] and Guyton behind Trey White."
Defensive coordinator Shiel Wood says he and his staff will bring Guyton along slowly as camp ramps up.
"He is a young man with a tremendous skill set," Wood said. "I think we’ve just got to get him into a position where it’s consistent for him. ... He’s just going to play one spot for us, and we want to build a foundation. As we build that foundation in terms of learning assignments, technique and how we want to do things, then we’ll baby-step it from there."
