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Joey McGuire adds clarity to Texas Tech football offensive line competition
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- Joey McGuire adds clarity to Texas Tech football offensive line competition
The Texas Tech football team went through spring practice seemingly with four viable options competing for three starting jobs on the interior offensive line.
The Red Raiders came out of spring with Vinny Sciury and Caleb Rogers listed on the depth chart as starters at guard, Sheridan Wilson as the starter at center and Davion Carter backing up at two of those positions. Tech coach Joey McGuire added clarity this month, weeks after his staff had time to review the spring.
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"Vinny's really established himself as the left guard," McGuire said recently, "and then it's kind of a battle of who that starting center is, to me, because I really feel like Caleb cemented himself at right guard, so you have Carter and Sheridan really fighting it out for who the starting center is.
"The good thing is you've got some really good depth whenever you're talking about those four guys that played a lot of football."
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Rogers has started a team-high 42 games, all at tackle, all for the Red Raiders. Sciury and Carter transferred to Tech in January, Sciury after starting 33 games the past three seasons at Toledo and Carter after starting 23 games the past two years for Memphis.
Wilson impressed as a true freshman in 2022 and showed signs this spring of being ready to assert himself this coming season.
During the 15 sessions of spring ball, Rogers spent at least one full practice at every offensive line position except right tackle. He took a day at left tackle when starter Sterling Porcher was sick. McGuire alluded to another possibility, though, in which Rogers could bump right tackle Ty Buchanan.
"At the end of the day, you've got to put your best five out there," McGuire said, "and so that's why we moved Caleb around so much, because we feel like Caleb's really the best offensive lineman. I really think he stays inside, but you've got a really good problem where you could move him to right tackle and Davion could play right guard and Sheridan could be the center, Vinny the left guard and Sterling (Porcher) the left tackle."
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Carter raised eyebrows among the Tech fan base last weekend when he tweeted a two-minute video of his highlights. That's a method some players use to raise awareness among other programs when they are having their names entered into the NCAA transfer portal.
Asked if Carter was looking to transfer again, McGuire said, "Not that I know of."
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire says Caleb Rogers "has cemented himself at right guard" coming out of spring practice. Rogers started 42 games for the Red Raiders at offensive tackle the past four years.
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Of Rogers' starts, 26 came at right tackle in 2021 and 2023 and 16 at left tackle in 2020 and 2022. He'll play 2024 on the Covid-bonus year.
Pro Football Focus graded Rogers eighth out of 33 offensive tackles in the Big 12 last season, and four of the seven above him were drafted by NFL teams last month.
The Tech staff committed to moving Rogers inside, however, partially based on feedback from NFL scouts who believe that's where he projects in pro ball. Rogers said in December he expected to play center , though McGuire never committed to a specific position.
McGuire said Rogers lacks ideal arm length for a tackle, but stands out at guard.
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"He is a guard-center body type, height-wise and everything like that," McGuire said. "(The reason) he can survive (at tackle) is because he's so athletic, but he's an interior guy. So whenever you look at him in pass rush (protection) as an interior guy, he's totally different. He dominates when it comes to pass pro in the interior, because he is so athletic and now he's not dealing with guys on the edge who have longer arms than he does."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Joey McGuire updates Texas Tech football offensive line competition
