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Ranking Texas Tech football's 10 best transfer portal additions to 2025 roster
Thanks to the Matador Club wheeling and dealing in the name, image and likeness department, the Texas Tech football team has loaded up on talent from the transfer portal. Does that make the Red Raiders a favorite to win the Big 12 championship? That's still up for debate. What isn't debatable is that Texas Tech's prospects this season, and the stress level of head coach Joey McGuire, largely hinge on the transfer portal haul producing at a high level during the 2025 season. Advertisement Texas Tech added 16 players in the winter portal and brought in another five in the spring. Which of these are the best of the best? Here's our ranking: Lee Hunter wraps up Quinten Joyner for a tackle during the Texas Tech football team's spring game, Saturday, April 19, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium. 10. Micah Hudson, WR, Texas Tech This one is a bit tricky, considering Micah Hudson was only away from the team for about five months, but he is an addition, so we'll count it here. Hudson's freshman year at Texas Tech didn't get much traction, so he opted to transfer to Texas A&M before coming back to Tech in the spring portal. He still has to show he was a highly-touted prospect out of high school for a reason, and he and the Red Raiders are giving it another shot. 9. Cole Wisniewski, S, North Dakota State Coming from FCS powerhouse North Dakota State, Cole Wisniewski has played in plenty of big games. But the 6-foot-4, 220 safety missed all of last season with a foot injury. He showed a nose for the ball during the spring and coaches raved about his leadership ability in the secondary. 8. Romello Height, EDGE, Georgia Tech Looking at Romello Height's biceps can be intimidating enough, but the well-traveled edge rusher is being asked to take on a big role in a revamped defense that lacked pressure on the quarterback and failed to generate much chaos in the opponents' backfield. 7. Skyler Gill-Howard, DT, Northern Illinois Starting his career at Upper Iowa and walking on at Northern Illinois, Skyler Gill-Howard has bet on himself throughout his career. Even switching from linebacker to defensive tackle has paid off for the Milwaukee native. 6. Howard Sampson, OT, North Carolina With two years of eligibility left, the Red Raiders may have found their new cornerstone on the offensive line — that is, if the NFL doesn't scoop him up after this year. Howard Sampson is an imposing 6-foot-8 and 325 pounds and is one of the few linemen who will probably occupy the same position all season. Terrance Carter Jr. celebrates his touchdown during the Texas Tech football team's spring game, Saturday, April 19, 2025, at Jones AT&T Stadium. 5. Terrance Carter, TE, Louisiana Terrance Carter burst onto the scene last season with 48 catches for 689 yards and four touchdowns. Calling himself a "one of a kind" athlete at the tight end position, Carter will pair with returner Johncarlos Miller II in the passing and run-blocking game. 4. Reggie Virgil, WR, Miami (Ohio) A downfield threat who totaled 816 yards and nine touchdowns a season ago, Reggie Virgil missed most of the spring with a broken toe, but easily placed himself as the other starting outside receiver along with Caleb Douglas before that. 3. Quinten Joyner, RB, USC While Tech's new offensive coaches see the replacement of Tahj Brooks being a by-committee approach, it's Quinten Joyner who has a case to be the bell cow. The former Top 100 recruit had 478 yards and three scores on the ground last season playing for Lincoln Riley and could exceed that in a hurry in a Red Raider uniform. 2. Lee Hunter, DT, UCF The Fridge, as Lee Hunter is affectionately known, has made a big impression on the Red Raiders already. A second-team all-Big 12 selection spent time trying to disrupt the Texas Tech offense while at UCF and will do the same in Jones AT&T Stadium in favor of the Red Raiders this season. 1. David Bailey, EDGE, Stanford The addition few saw coming and perhaps the most impactful of them all, David Bailey adds an immediate upgrade to the EDGE position and provides depth to a defense in desperate need of it. Had Stanford not fired its head coach earlier this year, Bailey is probably still with the Cardinal. Instead, Tech's potential success on defense rests on Bailey's ability to create chaos. This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Which transfer portal additions are best for Texas Tech football in 2025?
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24-04-2025
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Texas Tech football hopes winning follows Cole Wisniewski to town
The NCAA presents an Elite 90 award to the athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average competing at the finals site in each of its 90 national championships. Academically speaking, it's a big deal to win an Elite 90 once. Cole Wisniewski, a new safety on the Texas Tech football team, did it twice during his time with FCS power North Dakota State. Advertisement "The last B I had was probably eighth grade, maybe," Wisniewski said this week. "Both my parents are teachers. I think my mom told me when I was in like sixth or seventh grade, she wished she took school more serious." Wisniewski remembers thinking: I haven't had a B in a while. I may as well keep it up. "Actually may get one this semester, unfortunately," he said. "I missed having an assignment the first week, so that was unfortunate." Shooting for strength in numbers: What DBs are standing out in Texas Tech football spring practice? Numerically speaking: Texas Tech football has 31 players with new numbers this spring. See them all here. Advertisement Wisniewski (pronounced "Wiss-NESS-skee") transferred to Tech over the winter, already armed with degrees in business administration and marketing, as well as a glittering football resume. He was a consensus FCS first-team All-American in 2023 after making a team-high 92 tackles and tying a Missouri Valley Conference record with eight interceptions. Given his combination of smarts and playmaking, the Red Raiders are expecting him to contribute a lot in a hurry. Texas Tech's Cole Wisniewski goes through a drill during spring practice, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, at the Womble Football Center. "Honestly, it's just whatever they ask of me," said Wisniewski, who's listed at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. "I would love to put up the same numbers I put up at NDSU and do the same things. I guess that would be my expectation for myself, but just do the role that they ask me to do and execute in every way, the same way." Tech, next-to-last in the FBS in pass defense last season, went for a quick fix by signing five defensive backs out of the NCAA transfer portal. Four are cornerbacks with Wisniewski the lone safety. He's projected at boundary safety, the position vacated by 2024 senior C.J. Baskerville. Advertisement "I think he's earned everybody's respect, just the way he approaches things and the way that he works," Tech safeties coach Rob Greene said. "And then he's been around great coaches and a great program where they have high standards. Just having another person there to reinforce that with what we're already doing here, I think is a big deal. He just earns so much respect by how he approaches everything." Wisniewski grew up a Wisconsin Badgers fan in Sparta, Wisconsin, but generated little recruiting traction with Big Ten schools. He landed at one of the next best places. North Dakota State won three national championships in the NCAA college division from 1965-69, five in Division II from 1983-90 and 10 in the FCS from 2011-24. Wisniewski spent five seasons in Fargo, the first three as a linebacker. He was on Bison teams that won it all in 2021 and 2024 and lost in the championship game in 2023. However, his role last season was reduced to wearing a headset and relaying information from coaches in the press box to personnel on the field. A foot injury he suffered in a 2023 FCS semifinal required surgery and sidelined him for 2024. Advertisement Wisniewski's been careful so far not to walk in acting like a big shot, preferring to gain teammates' trust. "You're going to be a sixth-year guy, but also a rookie at the same time in the program," he said. "First time transferring, didn't really know what to expect. I think it's just going in and making sure the guys know that I care about them. I'm trying to be here and be the best teammate as well. I'm not just here to take a role." This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football hopes winning follows Cole Wisniewski to town
