After weeks of predictions from various outlets, Texas Tech learned its destination for its bowl game to cap off the 2023 season. The Red Raiders will be making the journey to Shreveport, LA, to take part in the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl on Dec. 16 against California.
What has become almost commonplace in the college football scene over the last several years is high-end talent opting to sit out of their team’s bowl games in favor of not risking injury and training for the jump to the professional ranks. With the kind of season Tahj Brooks had over 12 games, it had become reasonable to believe the senior running back would elect to take his talents to the NFL, thus leading to Brooks’ potentially sitting out of whichever bowl Tech had been selected to. These decisions however, are not so set in stone as many had originally believed.
“It's always interesting, I'm gonna back my guys whichever way they go, I'm gonna try to give them the best advice. I always tell him, and you think about it, I guess he was the second pick overall and the third pick overalls for Alabama, they both played in the bowl game,” Tech head coach Joey McGuire said in a Zoom call Sunday, likely referencing Alabama’s Bryce Young and Will Anderson, who went No. 1 and No. 3 in the 2023 NFL Draft, respectively. “I can understand if you’re going to be a first round draft pick going through that conversation or maybe even a second round draft pick. But you know, I would expect him to play. He’s got a lot of things in front of him and then he’s got a big decision. He has another year to come back or declare for the draft. I know this weekend he went home, we gave our guys off Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and so he went home to sit down with his parents and talk through what the next step is for him.”
The Red Raiders’ bowl game this season lands earlier than several others they could have been tabbed for. Games such as the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, which will be played on Dec. 23, or the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix, slated for kick off the day after Christmas, would have given Tech an even longer extended period of practice time leading up to the contest. With the NCAA rule allowing mid-year freshmen to participate in bowl game practices, Tech’s bowl game being at least a week before others will likely limit the amount of practices the 11 mid-year 2024 signees can take part in, if they can partake, at all.
“That’s the one we’re working through today,” McGuire said. “Antonio Huffman, Quentin Jordan and Harrison Hanna are kind of working through to see if we actually can. Because some of these guys will still be in school and part of their requirements to graduate to be mid-years, are part of that attendance. We gotta see if we can get one, two, three or four practices in with those guys. They can’t play in the bowl game, but it would be good to get them on campus and have them run around with their future teammates.”
The transfer portal officially opens Monday, but several Red Raiders have already made announcements of their intentions to make their exodus from the program. With several of these departures being at wide receiver, specifically, this could potentially open the door for true freshmen to hit the field in Shreveport.
“It’s gonna be interesting, that was last week, we lifted the old guys, ran them to keep in shape, we had developmental practices, we practice those guys full scrimmage if they don’t play in a game every Sunday,” McGuire said. “With TJ West, with Kelby (Valsin), with DJ Crest, I’ve been really happy with their progress. It’s gonna be interesting, there’ll be a lot of competition on the snaps for the bowl game… You got DJ Crest that he plays the outside, TJ West has played more of the outside in practice and Kelby has been more on the inside. We feel good about the guys we have and the guys that have played a lot.”
