Texas Tech Head Coach Joey McGuire on QB Controversy and Defending the Big 12 Title

Brian Fisher here for Sports Illustrated at Big 12 Media is joined by Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire.

I was telling you earlier, a nice quiet offseason for you, huh?

Yeah, no doubt.

Um, a lot of stuff went on in a lot of good ways, in a lot of good ways.

I mean, we had the most, uh, draft picks in the Big 12.

Um, you know, we've, we had, uh, the highest rated, uh, our, our high school class, the highest rated class in the history of Texas Tech, and we had another really good transfer portal class, had a good spring, and now we're, uh, get, uh, the, The talking days are almost over.

We're almost getting ready for football season.

Uh, obviously the quarterback situation 1st, 1st in mind for, just about everybody.

Uh, what, what is this process though, been like for you trying to deal with everything going on, uh, surrounding Brennan?

Uh, you know, it's been a lot, um, from the standpoint, uh, I, I knew we'd get pushback and criticism, but, um, you know, it was, it was, uh, At the conference level and the AD level, uh, surprised me, and conferences, um, surprised me, but, you know, at the end of the day, we felt, and, and I still feel that, uh, whenever you, you put the player's interests, the player's mental health, and his physical health, uh, you know, first, then, um, I think that's what's important, uh, for what I do.

You know, I, I got in this to, to help, uh, men become the, the people they're supposed to be and, And, um, you know, I, I talked to him two days ago.

He just got back from Florida with his family, uh, on a short vacation.

He's training here in Dallas and, um, you know, he'll be in Lubbock at different times throughout the season, uh, you know, training and, and using our facility and everything like that.

So, you know, uh, he's a Red Raider, man.

We're gonna have his back all the way through this, but, you know, I, I, I, if you would have said, hey, this is what it's going to be like, and, Uh, mid-April through this point right now, and I, that wasn't on my bingo card and I didn't see it coming.

Mentally, where, where is he at because he obviously just talked with him.

Yeah, you know, I think he's, uh, I think he's in a good spot.

You know, Brennan's got a strong faith, you know, and he's really leaning on that, leaning on his family.

Um, probably, uh, surprised the, the way the, the NFL as far as the supplemental draft and everything went.

Um, but it's one of the deals that, you know, he's gonna deal with it.

And, and, uh, the biggest thing is just for him to continue to work on himself.

And, uh, I, I think that's sometimes what we've missed.

I think, uh, Uh, you know, we could say what we want about the situation, but we're talking about a young man that's, uh , uh, an addict, you know, and, and I've had addicts in my family that have relapsed.

And so right now, it's really, you know, he's working on his mental health, he's working on, Uh, his recovery from the addiction and then he's working on getting ready for the NFL draft next year.

You mentioned NFL draft picks earlier.

There's gonna be a lot of NFL franchises coming through Lubbock, not only to talk to your current guys, but talk to you about Brennan.

What are you, what are you gonna tell them about what they're getting?

Man, he's one of the best people I've been around, you know, he's, he's a guy that's got a, you know, he's, he's a strong young man.

He's got a great family.

Um, but the thing I'm going to tell him is what he's told really everybody and, and he's dealt with something that, uh, you know, it's really tough that he is addicted.

Um, he's a gambling addict, and, um, something that he's going to deal with.

If anybody knows anything about addiction, you, you deal with that every day of your life, you know, and so he's going to continue to deal with that.

Uh, but, Um, really good person.

He is a great teammate.

I think his teammates would tell you that.

And then talent-wise, it's, uh, without question, he's one of the most talented players I've ever been around.

When it comes to that, that talent, obviously missing him is, is a huge hole, but you do have Will Hammond.

What, what's kind of his status going into the season?

Yeah, you know, that's a, a thing a lot of people miss, you know, we know, we wouldn't have taken, uh, a quarterback or we would have taken one like we did, a guy that would have been a really good veteran backup, you know, if Will hadn't have got hurt.

And in this day and age, whenever you're, I mean, it's real.

You're talking about real money, you're talking about real investments in a roster.

And whenever you have somebody that gets injured.

Um, how they come back from that injury.

Um, do you take the chance to just roll the dice, he's going to be 100%.

So that's why we went out and got another quarterback.

Um, Will's in a good spot.

Um, he's thrown our player-led 7 on 7 all June and, and now starting July 9 months.

Uh, it was just his ACL.

Uh, so, you know, we're fortunate with that.

And 9 months is, I think August 21st, something around there.

And so we'll see where he's at.

He's in great shape.

He feels good.

If you ask him, he'll be starting week one.

you know, we'll, we'll see exactly where he's at.

And if our, his doctor and our trainer say that he's good to go, then he'll start week one.

How would you say Texas Tech's reputation has changed these last couple of years, especially going into the last year where you end up winning the league?

Yeah, I think, um, You know, the expectation has definitely changed in our building, um, over the last few years.

Um, and, and I love that.

I love that expectation and we're backing it up with the players that we have in the building.

Um, I, I, I do think, uh , you know, college, college football fans, uh, college fans in general, you know, there's a, uh, hey, Texas Tech is not supposed to be doing this.

Um, type thing and that's OK , man.

We're, we're, we're good with it.

We're just going to try to do it, uh, and continue to do it the right way and, and, uh, try to defend the title, uh, win the Big 12 again, and then it's really important that we win a, a playoff game.

How do you, how do you defend or how do you, how do you change as a, as a head coach knowing that you kind of going from, going from the hunters, going after that first big til title, now you got that big target on your back?

Yeah, there's a target on our back.

I thought there was a target on our back last year with what we did in the portal, you know, and, and, um, so I thought that was there.

There's definitely a target on our back, but, uh, you know, with the situation we have with our quarterback, then, um, it really is us against everybody, you know, and so, uh, that target gets a little bit smaller.

Um, you know, you, you were the, uh, hunted, but, but we're going to do hunting, um, each week.

We're, we're, our football team's going to be ready to play.

And, um, We've got a really good football team.

And so, it's one of those deals that, you know, you kind of use this, uh, shared adversity brings you a lot closer and we've been through some adversity and we'll be a really close team and we'll be ready to go.

There's a lot, a lot of been a lot of focus obviously on, on the offense because of the quarterback situation.

He lost a lot of draft picks.

The defensive line and on defense and including maybe your, your, your veteran leader there at linebacker.

What are we getting out of your, your defense this year and who's gonna step up?

Well, one, you got 6 starters coming back, you know, and, and so that's huge.

I mean, you got, uh, uh, Ben Roberts and, uh, John Curry, Bryce Polock, um, AJ Holmes, who is the preseason Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 12, um, second-team All-American.

Um, you know, you got guys like that, uh, BJ Jordan at safety coming back.

So you've got a lot of vets coming back.

And then we were able to, uh, one , some of our young guys that were in the program have grown up, um, really excited about, uh, you know, how they'll, uh, affect the game.

Like a Peyton Morgan at safety, uh, Oliver Miles at safety, uh, Malik at safety, but then we were able to add some really good players.

Adam Trick, Trey White, uh, Mateen, uh, Bryce Butler.

We've got some really, really good football players that we added through the portal.

And so, um, I feel like our defense is going to be really strong again.

And, uh, and, you know, I think we're going to be better in the offensive line.

Uh, we've got a protector quarterback.

Uh, we're really fortunate.

I think we have the best running back room in college football.

Um, I think we have the best tight end room in college football and we've got great depth in the wide receiver room.

And so, it's a good football team and, you know, we got to take, keep Will healthy and get Kirk and, and Lloyd Jones ready to go and, and, uh, be ready to go September 5th.

You, you mentioned earlier the getting that CFP win.

You know, it's one thing to get, get to the playoffs, another thing to win.

What, what, what's that margin and how close do you think you are going into the season?

You know, it's, it's tough, man.

There's so many good football teams and everything has, has to go right.

Um, you know, we, I felt like last year, if you watch the game, defensively, it was one of the best performances in college football, you know, and that, that's not a stretch because we were on the wrong side of the field almost the entire time, you know, and I thought we played really good on defense.

We, we played, uh, by far our worst game, maybe our worst game since I've been at Texas Tech on the offensive side of the ball.

And I think we just got to one of the biggest things is, you know, one, be healthy, but two, We've got to do a better job of playing complimentary football.

Oregon's a good football team.

They're gonna be a really good football team again this year.

Dan does an absolutely incredible job.

Um, you know, but we, we've, uh, I think it's one of those deals you get a taste of it, you know what it's going to be like.

It's gonna help you the very next year and that's where we're at right now.

A lot of people headed to Lubbock to, to see your team this year.

The reigning Big 12 champions, Joey McGuire, thank you so much for joining us here at Big 12 Media Days.