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What stood out to Joey McGuire in Texas Tech football's first scrimmage
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- What stood out to Joey McGuire in Texas Tech football's first scrimmage
The Texas Tech football team held its first scrimmage of preseason camp Saturday inside Jones AT&T Stadium .
Following the closed scrimmage, giving the new sound system a workout of its own, head coach Joey McGuire had a long list of players who stood out. Many of these names came from the defensive side of the ball, but McGuire had to single out cornerback Maurion Horn for his efforts.
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"I thought Mo had a really good spring," McGuire said, "but he's taken it to another level. Even if the ball is caught, he's right there battling to knock it out. ... He's really physical as a corner and did a good job attacking the ball today."
Horn, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound redshirt sophomore, spent his first two years with the Red Raiders stuck behind veteran corners Malik Dunlap and Rayshad Williams. He saw 116 snaps in 10 games last season, playing both secondary and special teams. Bralyn Lux has been pegged as Texas Tech's No. 1 cornerback this season, while Horn is stating his case to be a starter as well.
McGuire listed linebacker Ben Roberts, receiver Drae McCray, defensive edge player Harvey Dyson and linebacker Justin Horne as other individual standouts from the scrimmage.
Texas Tech’s Maurion Horn attends football practice, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, at the Sports Performance Center.
Offensive line needs some work
Through the first few weeks of camp, McGuire has highlighted the play and depth of the Red Raiders defensive linemen . That was again the case on Saturday, but it also shined some light on a weakness the team has right now.
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Tech spent the first week or so of practice having to shuffle its offensive line with injuries to projected starting left tackle Sterling Porcher and Davion Carter, who is battling for time at both center and right guard. During the scrimmage, McGuire said, the unit as a whole got pushed around by its defensive counterparts.
McGuire said that when the No. 1 offensive line went against Tech's six-man rotation of defensive linemen, running room was hard to find.
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"They did a good job maintaining their gap," McGuire said. "They got some knock-back, so we've got to get better. A lot of that O-line wise is gonna be keep working out pad level."
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Dalton Merryman and Porcher each spent time at left tackle with the first unit. Ty Buchanan worked at right tackle, as did Caleb Rogers, who slipped outside whenever Carter came in to work at right guard. Vinny Sciury appears to be the one player who's locked in to a starting spot, the Toledo transfer holding down the left guard position.
"We want to make sure that we're getting a good mix of all them playing together," McGuire said, "so we can find the best five. The good thing is we've got good depth."
McGuire also noted senior Jaxson Hughes will be full go come Monday, giving the Red Raiders their full complement of linemen to work with.
Kicking competition closer than some may think
Gino Garcia waited his turn to be the place kicker for Texas Tech after a struggle to start the 2023 seasons, Garcia finished strong, hitting nine of his 10 field goal attempts in Big 12 play.
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That doesn't mean Garcia has the position sewn up for 2024. Not yet, anyway. McGuire said Garcia won the battle during Saturday's scrimmage, but Reese Burkhardt has asserted himself into the competition.
"I think coming into this," McGuire said, "I think Reese had a little bit of a lead. I think Gino won the day. ... Reese has earned the right to be in a competition with Gino and we want to make sure we have the best kicker out there."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Maurion Horn earns high marks after Texas Tech football's scrimmage
