Texas Tech is losing another young piece of its receiver pipeline.
Former three-star wideout Kelby Valsin announced he's entering the transfer portal, officially ending his run in Lubbock and betting on a fresh start with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Valsin came to Tech with real buzz.
The Arlington Bowie product was an 87-rated prospect in the 2023 class by 247Sports, and he wasn't just a "take-a-flier" recruit, stacking 24 scholarship offers across major programs.
Texas Tech won his commitment with the promise of a receiver-friendly system and a path to grow into a bigger role.
That role never quite took off the way it looked like it might.
Valsin spent 2023 redshirting and developing behind the scenes, then started getting his feet wet in 2024. He appeared in 12 of 13 games as a redshirt freshman, contributed on special teams, and finally started seeing the field more late in the year.
He finished that season with three catches for 21 yards, snagging his first career reception at Oklahoma State, then adding two catches for 16 yards in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Arkansas.
That bowl game was the high-water mark for his offensive workload with 44 snaps, a career best.
In 2025, though, the trajectory flattened.
His playing time shrank, logging 65 total snaps, and while he matched his previous season's production with three catches for 35 yards, the bigger tell was that he never cracked into a consistent offensive role.
He did flash on special teams with a 21-yard punt return, but for a receiver trying to climb the depth chart, that's usually not the destination ... it's the detour.
From Texas Tech's perspective, this isn't a catastrophic loss that wrecks the depth chart overnight, but it does sting in a specific way. Valsin was exactly the type of player that coaching staffs hate to lose. He's young, toolsy, and still developing, with multiple years left to pop.
When a guy like that walks, it forces you to replace upside with certainty, usually via incoming recruits or portal additions of your own.
For Valsin, the portal is a clean reset button.
The pitch to the next school is obvious ... a former highly recruited Texas athlete with game experience, special teams value, and enough eligibility left to actually become something, not just rent a helmet for one season.
Now it's on Texas Tech to reload that developmental slot, and on Valsin to find the place where his "potential" finally turns into weekly production.