Has Texas Tech built a college football power in the portal?
THE GOAL GOING into December was to spend $5 million.
That was the price tag that Cody Campbell, Texas Tech’s billionaire booster and the leader of The Matador Club NIL collective, initially anticipated for the Red Raiders’ transfer portal haul. In college football’s constantly evolving world of transfer recruiting, that’s still considered a lot of money.
In late November, Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire told reporters he was bringing in approximately 10 transfers for next season. McGuire, Campbell and general manager James Blanchard had spent months preparing for the Dec. 9 start of portal season. They had an ambitious plan. And then the plan worked a little too well.
The quality of players hitting the market — proven starters, potential all-conference performers, real NFL prospects — who were willing to listen to Texas Tech’s pitch exceeded expectations. So, why stop at 10? This trio wholeheartedly believed the Red Raiders had just come up a few plays — and players — short of the first Big 12 championship game in school history, finishing one game behind the teams tied for first place. This was their moment to take a big swing.
“I talked with Cody and Coach McGuire,” Blanchard said, “and Coach was like, ‘Man, if they can help us win the Big 12, let’s just go ahead and go all-in. Let’s do it.'”
Texas Tech brought in 17 new players in December, including seven of the top 75 players in ESPN’s transfers rankings, good enough for the No. 2 ranked portal class in early January. And nobody outside of Lubbock, Texas, saw it coming.
The total cost of the splurge? More than $10 million.
Texas Tech didn’t pull off its stunning portal shopping spree purely by outspending its competition. It’s never that simple. Five months of careful planning and 10 days of relentless recruiting went into putting it all together. And once the portal opened, they went on a hot streak.
“We started hitting home run after home run,” McGuire said.
Texas Tech’s portal class was impressive enough that Notre Dame, fresh off playing for a national championship, tried to hire Blanchard as its next general manager. He’s staying in Lubbock because he knows this upcoming season could be special.
Internally, everyone at Texas Tech agrees on what this haul means: The Red Raiders have acquired enough talent to become a genuine College Football Playoff contender in 2025. They’re not just hoping to secure the program’s first outright conference title in 70 years — they’re expecting it.
“We’re pushing all our chips in,” McGuire said.
