Joey McGuire talks fall camp thoughts, delivers message to fans
The biggest topic lately about Texas Tech has been about the incoming transfer class as well as their significant role in NIL starting to become a huge factor, as it should. However, head coach Joey McGuire knows that these conversations are being had, but wanted to take a different approach when the media spoke to him on Tuesday after fall camp practice No. 6.
With big transfer names like David Bailey, Lee Hunter, Romello Height, Howard Sampson, and others, along with key returners such as Behren Morton and Caleb Douglas, many other players have been overlooked, even some that may be making more of a private impact out of the public’s view.
Veteran QB making his presence known
During the offseason, Tech received a commitment from Wake Forest quarterback Mitch Griffis. Although it is unlikely that Griffis will see the field much this season, McGuire praised his leadership and the impact he has made for everyone on the team.
“One guy I want to talk about that’s probably not getting a lot is our guy that we brought in, Mitch Griffis, from Wake Forest. He had a great day today,” McGuire said. “He is such a great person for this culture. He stood up and talked to the team the other day, and about four days ago, it was a full calendar year that he was out of football working construction, and it was all about appreciating what we get to do every day, because he got up for a year at 2am and worked from 2am to 2pm working construction and pouring concrete. And as hard as this seems at times, he said, ‘You need to appreciate it, because it’s more fun to play football than pour concrete’.”
With a leader in the building, McGuire notices how he impacts so many of the younger guys around him and how much his presence defines the culture that McGuire wants to embody.
“It’s huge to have a guy like that. It’s good for Behren, because he’s played a lot of football, Mitch has,” McGuire said. “It’s good for Will, it’s great for Chubby (Lloyd Jones lll), it’s great for Holden Phillips. I mean, all those guys are learning from him… he has a whole different perspective for those young guys that appreciate what’s going on, no matter how hard the day is.”
New guys standing out
Along with Griffis, McGuire has been impressed by many of his young freshmen receivers, as well as some freshmen offensive linemen. McGuire has expressed that these freshmen have come in and aren’t phased by the moment. They continue to make impressive plays and improvements in practice that make all the coaches excited about their futures.
“Leyton Stone had a huge catch today… he’s getting some reps with the twos and threes,” McGuire said. “Mitch escaped and hit Tristian Gentry for a huge play. I like those, you know, those young guys like Tristan Gentry, Leyton Stone, Michael Dever, and Bryson Jones, we feel really good about those young receivers. We found some guys that really love football and want to play.
Connor Carty was a mid-year off an injury from high school, and so he didn’t go through spring football. These last three days have been his first full days of contact, and going through everything I’m really impressed with him… he’s running some with the twos, with Vinny (Sciury) being out, and it’s hard to hold up, because our twos are AJ Holmes and Braylon Rigsby and Amier Washington and Jayden Cofield. And here’s this little freshman going against guys that have started in the Big 12.”
McGuire’s message to Red Raider fans
As the media availability for McGuire ran out of time, before he left, he said, “Hold on, I’ve got one more thing.” He had a message for Red Raiders that he wanted to make sure was said loud and clear.
“This is an exciting year. We’ve got a lot of pub going on, and social media was funny today. I think we’re on everything,” McGuire said. “You know, the Athletic put out a great article, and there’s been some great articles, and we need y’all to be here. That first game, we need 60,000+ Red Raiders. I promise you it will be worth coming to Lubbock, Texas and watching these guys play. They are passionate, they love each other, they care about each other. They’re passionate about this university, so please come out and support us, because it’s going to be a fun year.”
