With fall camp just a couple weeks away, Texas Tech Football is entering the 2024 season with high hopes and expectations. Part of the reason for the high hopes is Joey McGuire's recruits, at least from the 2022 class, will be entering their third season of college football. Texas Tech's highly-ranked 2023 class will also be more grown up after a freshman season in which several players participated.

Who are some of the younger players on the roster to know this season? We take a look at a few breakout candidates.

- Javeon Wilcox, S

The TCU transfer Wilcox enters fall camp as the #2 boundary safety to C.J. Baskerville.

- Maurion Horn, CB

Horn enters fall camp as a starting cornerback opposite Bralyn Lux, though he has a lot of competition who will push him for snaps.

- Amier Washington, EDGE

Washington had a breakout bowl game with 4 tackles-for-loss vs Cal, hopefully he builds on it with a strong redshirt freshman season.

- Jordan Sanford, S

Sanford is battling fellow sophomore Chapman Lewis for the starting free safety position.

- Jayden Cofield OR Braylon Rigsby OR Trevon McAlpine, DT

All three are talented interior lineman but have four upperclassmen (Quincy Ledet Jr, De'Braylon Carroll, Dooda Banks and James Hansen) to compete with for snaps. Odds are one or two of the kids will get a serious opportunity at some point.

As a freshman Spencer saw a modest amount of playing time with 84 defensive snaps on the season. He also played 13 special teams snaps. Spencer flashed in spurts but overall was inconsistent. Still, he is one of if not the best natural pass rusher on Texas Tech's roster. Heading into his sophomore season it's fair to expect big things from the former industry four-star, who is battling junior Joseph Adedire and sophomore Harvey Dyson for playing time among others.

Nothing has been decided quite yet, and Wilson enters fall camp in a position battle with senior transfer Davion Carter for the center job. The fact that the smoke is behind Wilson is extremely promising, given that Carter was one of the top transfer portal lineman in the country. A former Under Armour All-American who was underrecruited out of Argyle HS, Wilson has a lot of potential and will contribute whether or not he wins the center job out of camp.

The five-star prospect has a lot of talent at wide receiver to compete with, but he will see the field early and often. Perhaps nobody is more excited to see Hudson than his head coach, who tweeted a picture of him looking ready to destroy Big 12 defenses. Look for Hudson to rotate in all the wide receiver positions while also factoring in the return game.

Lewis played 140 defensive and 68 special teams snaps as a true freshman in 2023. That experience will pay off as Lewis is one of the favorites to start at free safety this season along with the aforementioned Sanford. Lewis, despite only weighing 180 pounds, is known for bringing the boom in the secondary. Look for defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter to put Lewis in positions to make his impact be felt.

Texas Tech has two entrenched starters at inside linebacker in Jacob Rodriguez and Ben Roberts, but the local product Curry impressed last season where he saw some work on special teams at the end of the year. Now one of the primary backups, Curry will be expected to rotate in and play at a high level on defense. Curry is a former multi-sport star in HS who comes from a long lineage of college and professional athletes.

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