'Scouts will be in Lubbock early and often' — ESPN NFL Draft analyst touts Texas Tech's talent
After stacking one of the nation's best transfer portal classes during the offseason, the Texas Tech Red Raiders are hitting the national radar. With promising players on both sides of the ball and the runway to make some noise in the Big 12, college football fans are not the only ones taking notice.
ESPN NFL Draft analyst Matt Miller praised the Red Raiders' NFL Draft potential, posting on X, "The amount of talent Texas Tech has accumulated is flat out impressive. NFL scouts will be in Lubbock early and often this year."
The amount of talent Texas Tech has accumulated is flat out impressive. NFL scouts will be in Lubbock early and often this year.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) July 27, 2025
The media has begun to catch on early, with Texas Tech receiving love from several top outlets. Pro Football Focus has three Red Raiders in their early top 100, with David Bailey leading the way as a fringe first-rounder at No. 40. Miller might be in a similar vein.
Responding to a commenter, Miller highlighted the Stanford transfer as a "star in the making." The former four-star recruit out of Mater Dei High School recorded 14.5 sacks in his three-season Cardinal career. Bailey had 43 pressures in 2024 with an astounding 27.5% pass-rush win rate and a 93.2 pass-rush grade, according to PFF.
Miller highlighted three other key front-seven prospects who will play alongside Bailey — interior linemen Lee Hunter and Skyler Gill-Howard, and edge rusher Romello Height — as well as safety Cole Wisniewski.
Hunter boasts impressive size, listed at 6'4" and 325 pounds, and is a promising interior defender out of UCF with 20+ pressures and defensive stops in consecutive seasons. Gill-Howard, who stood out at Northern Illinois after starting his career at Division II Upper Iowa, was 10th in the nation in defense grade (84.0) among interior defensive linemen and ranked sixth in run defense (88.7).
David Bailey (DE) is a star in the making. Quinten Joyner at RB. Lee Hunter, Skyler Gill-Howard and Romello Height on the DL are really good. Behren Morton can ball at QB. Terrence Carter at TE. And my dude Cole Wisniewski at safety will surprise people.
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) July 27, 2025
On offense, Miller gave praise to running back Quinten Joyner, who is set to succeed Tahj Brooks after averaging 7.6 yards per carry for the USC Trojans in 2024. The ESPN analyst also shouted out quarterback Behren Morton and tight end Terrance Carter Jr., a transfer from Louisiana who had 689 receiving yards in 2024 and should fill in for Jalin Conyers.
After sending two players to the NFL Draft in consecutive seasons, the Red Raiders could be in line for a more active April in 2026 if early buzz is any indication.
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Jordan Epp is a journalist who graduated from Texas A&M in 2022 and is passionate about telling stories, sharing news, and finding ways to entertain people through the medium of sports. He has formerly worked as a writer and editor at The Battalion and The Eagle, covering football in College Station, Texas, and served as the managing editor for PFSN.
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