Texas Tech linebacker Ben Roberts was energized at the team’s game-week press conference, sounding as if he’s ready to hit someone.
Already.
“I feel like we’ve … said everything we can say,” Roberts said. “Just really excited and ready to start the season.”
Roberts and the 23rd-ranked Red Raiders will begin the campaign Saturday night in Lubbock, Texas, where they’ll take on FCS opponent Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Ranked in the Top 25 for the first time since 2018, Texas Tech is a serious contender in the Big 12 Conference. It hauled in perhaps the top collection of portal talent during the offseason to go with returnees such as quarterback Behren Morton and inside linebacker Jacob Rodriguez.
Coach Joey McGuire loaded up at linebacker and along both lines. Outside linebackers David Bailey (Stanford) and Romello Height (Georgia Tech) join defensive lineman Lee Hunter (Central Florida) and offensive lineman Howard Sampson (North Carolina).
The addition of Sampson gives Morton, who threw for 3,335 yards and 27 touchdowns last year, a 6-foot-8, 340-pound left tackle to seal off the blind side. The Red Raiders also dipped into the FCS ranks for wide receiver Roy Alexander, who grabbed 100 passes for 1,108 yards and 13 scores last year at Incarnate Word.
Between Alexander, wideout Caleb Douglas (60 catches, 877 yards last season) and wideout Coy Eakin (49 catches, 652 yards), Morton has plenty of options for an explosive passing attack.
All the speculation on who might star and how good this team could be, though, means nothing until it shows it against someone else.
“We’re ready to let our play do the talking now,” tight end Johncarlos Miller said. “It’s not about the potential of this team any more. It’s what we actually do on the field.”
While Texas Tech, which went 8-5 last year with a Liberty Bowl loss to Arkansas, harbors great expectations, the Golden Lions do not. They’re coming off a 3-9 season that included a 70-0 beatdown against Arkansas.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff isn’t expected to name its starting quarterback until Saturday. During the preseason, third-year coach Alonzo Hampton has given snaps to last year’s backup, DJ Stevenson, plus Tysan Robbins, Shaw (N.C.) transfer Christian Peters and freshman Garrison Davis.
“You’ve got to be able to play multiple quarterbacks and give them an opportunity,” Hampton said of his approach in the preseason. “But just because you’re starting the game doesn’t mean you’ll finish the game. We have to be smart in how we use all our guys.”
While Hampton has expressed optimism that his team will improve on last year’s performance, it is tabbed for a last-place finish in the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s West Division.
However, Hampton points to one thing that won’t show up on a stat sheet as a reason he thinks Arkansas-Pine Bluff might surprise some people.
“This is the first camp that I’ve had since I’ve been here that I didn’t have one player quit,” he said. “Typically, you have one or two guys who walk out the door because it’s just too much for them.”
This will be the first meeting between Texas Tech and Arkansas Pine-Bluff. The Red Raiders are 28-1 all-time against FCS opponents.
