Former Wake Forest DL Mateen Ibirogba commits to Texas Tech

Former Wake Forest defensive lineman Mateen Ibirogba committed to Texas Tech out of the NCAA transfer portal. He played two seasons with the Demon Deacons.

Ibirogba started his career at Georgetown and played two seasons before transferring to a Power Four school. This past season, he had 21 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and one forced fumble.

As a member of the Class of 2022, Ibirogba was not ranked, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking. He played his HS football at Clarksburg (M.D.) High before playing at Georgetown.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

Sources told On3’s Pete Nakos that the 6-foot-3, 296-pound defensive tackle is set to command in the $1 million range in NIL money. He lined up visits with  Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Texas Tech during the transfer process.

After preserving a redshirt in his first year at Wake Forest in 2024, Ibirogba emerged as a top defensive tackle in 2025. birogba finished with the third-best pass rush grade among starting ACC defensive tackles in Pro Football Focus grading in 2025. After playing at EDGE at Georgetown, he took the 2024 season to redshirt and bulk up to 290-plus pounds to play at defensive tackle.

Texas Tech ended the season 12-2 with a College Football Playoff quarterfinal loss to Oregon. The Big 12 champions will look for more in 2026 under Joey McGuire.

Although it’s certainly true that Texas Tech spent a lot of money, it isn’t exactly unique in that way with the current era of college sports. McGuire also believes that there was more than just the dollar figures that attracted players to Lubbock, citing the academic success of the team during his tenure.

“Texas Tech has been playing football for 100 years,” the coach said in an appearance on The Triple Option. “Since I’ve been here, we hold every single GPA record in the history of Texas Tech football. With all these guys that we brought in, they just set the all-time GPA record as a team for a fall semester. We have a 3.23 team GPA. So whenever you’re sitting there and taking about, ‘All these guys came in because of money,’ we have 33 graduates who will play in this playoff game and this team set the all-time GPA record.

“So that tells you right there what this building’s all about. How they hold each other accountable, how everything is important. Everything that we do, we do it at the highest standard. So I am really proud of that. I just think that shows that this team’s come here for one reason and one reason only. They came here to be better football players and better men.”