As debate rages over the SEC and Big Ten banning players who have signed with the NFL from returning to play college football in their conferences, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire says he would look into adding a player who was in an NFL minicamp but didn’t make a roster.
“You know what’s coming next: Those players are gonna sue the conference. So what do you do? I was checking with our guys today, what’s the Big 12 gonna do? So, again, it’s going to be interesting,” McGuire said. “We’re going to monitor. We’ve been monitoring, for the last week or so, how we can add, if possible, somebody to make this team better. I understand both sides. We’re not looking at anybody that is in the NFL and could possibly be cut. We haven’t called any NFL coaches. We haven’t scouted any NFL players that I think some teams have done, but we’re definitely going to look.”
Two players who were cut by NFL teams this month, tight end Dae’Quan Wright and defensive tackle Zxavian Harris, had agreed to play for LSU this season, reuniting them with coach Lane Kiffin, who coached them both at Ole Miss last year. The new SEC rule would seem to preclude them from going to LSU.
“We’re looking at who declared and didn’t get picked up, who was maybe in a minicamp,” McGuire said.
McGuire said if he had his way, the rules would be clearer.
“There’s still a bunch of rules that we don’t know so we’re trying to eliminate some of those things that we could guess at, and look at some of the guys that might have been in minicamps,” McGuire said. “For instance, Texas has an offensive lineman right now that’s been practicing with them since camp started. He was on their team last year, he got cut in minicamp, he got an injunction from a Texas judge and he’s been with them the whole time. I don’t know if the new rule would affect him at all, because he didn’t sign an NFL contract. Who knows right now?”
NCAA teams are allowed to have up to 105 players on their rosters. McGuire said he currently has one roster spot available and won’t kick anyone off the team to make room for a new player, so Texas Tech would only add one player to the team.
“If we add anybody, it’d be one,” McGuire said. “We’re not gonna have to ask anybody to leave or anything like that. We have a spot, and if we can find the right guy to make this team better, we’ll use it.”
Texas Tech has become a symbol for the chaos that pervades college football, after the school backed quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s attempt to get his NCAA eligibility back after a gambling suspension. Sorsby ultimately gave up his NCAA eligibility, was denied in his attempt to enter the NFL supplemental draft, and will not play football at any level this season while awaiting the 2027 NFL draft.
McGuire is unapologetic about Texas Tech’s ambitions to acquire talented players any way it can.
“I know this: I get to keep my job if I win, and so I’m gonna constantly look at how we can be better as a team, and be better roster-wise,” McGuire said.
