With the players returning and added for the 2026 season, Texas Tech should easily be the favorites to repeat as champions of the Big 12 Conference
The 2025 campaign for the Texas Tech Red Raiders was their best since the 2008 season under the late great Mike Leach. The 2025 version under head coach Joey McGuire posted a 12-2 record on their way to hoisting the hardware on championship Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in a Big 12 Championship Game victory over BYU.
But the 25-day layoff between that game and a first-round bye before their quarterfinal appearance in the College Football Playoff was their undoing. The Red Raiders were shut out 23-0 by the Oregon Ducks.
With that said, the future is so bright in Lubbock right now ... that they do not make shades dark enough to filter the light of positivity focused on the Red Raiders football program.
With the leadership, money and facilities - along with the culture that McGuire has built at Texas Tech - it is no wonder that the Red Raiders could be (and should be) right back in this same position in 2026, playing for championships.
To get there, McGuire needed to retain as many starters and key contributors as possible. In this era of the transfer portal and NIL money paid to players, that is easier said than done.
Unless, of course, you are Texas Tech.
As many as 14 starters and contributors have announced they will return for the 2026 season, ready to continue their march toward a national title. Of those 14 returnees, seven were all-conference performers.
Included in this group are running backs Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams, who combined for 1,992 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. In addition, McGuire will welcome back receivers Coy Eakin and Terrence Carter Jr., who together hauled in 103 catches for over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns. Offensive linemen Howard Sampson and Sheridan Wilson, along with linebacker Ben Roberts, defensive Brice Pollock and defensive lineman AJ Holmes will also return. These players give McGuire a solid and experienced core of players to build around and fill in any gap.
Of course, the biggest addition is former Cincinnati star Brendan Sorsby, rated as the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the portal. Sorsby is a dual-threat gunslinger who accounted for over 3,300 total yards and 36 TDs for the Bearcats. For his efforts, Sorsby was named second-team All-Big 12.
Sorsby is an immediate upgrade at the quarterback position for Texas Tech.
So, what did the market bear for Sorsby as the No. 1 quarterback in the portal? That would $5 million dollars. By contrast, that NIL salary for one season is more than the entire rookie contract of Cleveland Browns QB Shedeur Sanders.
In the end? With what the Red Raiders are keeping, plus what they are adding? Football will be fun again in Lubbock in 2026.