After a disappointing start to last season, the Red Raiders are looking to start 2024 on the right foot and may have the opportunity for a breakthrough season.

Will Texas Tech take the next step in year three under head coach Joey McGuire? Or will the Raiders once again be out of the starting blocks? As Tech looks to take a big step forward, here are five bold predictions for the 2024 season.

1. Texas Tech keeps a QB healthy

Texas Tech hasn’t had a quarterback play the entire season since Patrick Mahomes in 2015.

In the first two seasons under McGuire, the Red Raiders were forced to play with three quarterbacks each season. McGuire and Co. have made this a major problem to fix before the 2024 season.

With Tech’s revamped, transfer-portal-focused offensive line and a concerted program-wide effort to keep starting quarterback Behren Morton on his feet and avoid some of the hits that kept him out of the second half against Kansas State in October and against BYU, the Red Raiders likely want to play with just one quarterback in 2024.

“I think there’s going to be some warnings to help him get the ball out. Zach can help him,” McGuire said. “Then Clay McGuire and the O-line have to do a good job of protecting him, the running backs when they’re in pass protection. The tight ends when they’re in pass protection, that’s all of us. You know, it starts with me and Kittley and then Behren has to understand that one yard is more important than him running the next series unless it’s the last yard to win the game.”

2. Tahj Brooks breaks Tech’s all-time rushing record

Tech’s star running back Tahj Brooks begins the season just 1,168 yards away from breaking Byron Hanspard’s all-time rushing record set in 1996, a mark no one has reached until Brooks this season.

Brooks enters the season with a chance to make history, and I’m confident he can do so after rushing for 1,538 yards in a season in 2023.

3. Tech will have more interceptions than a year ago

Tech recorded 13 interceptions as a team in 2023. Seven of those came from Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and Malik Dunlap, both of whom left the Red Raiders this offseason.

Despite losing four starters from the secondary last season, the Red Raiders have some exciting players on the roster this season. McGuire has expressed excitement about senior cornerback Bralyn Lux and a quartet of young players in the secondary looking to make the jump to real playing time for the Red Raiders this season.

Led by sophomore cornerback Maurion Horn, junior college transfer Devynn Cromwell and key safeties, the Red Raiders appear to be more athletic and talented than in past seasons.

4. Micah Hudson becomes an All-American freshman

The Texas Tech coaching staff continues to praise first-year five-star wide receiver Micah Hudson, who will have a chance to make an immediate impact with the Red Raiders.

Hudson is the highest-rated recruit in program history and will have the chance to prove his rank from the start and live up to the expectations of the fan base and McGuire.

“You’re going to see Micah Hudson in Week 1, a couple of coaches have talked about him as a generational player, he’s really special,” McGuire said at Big 12 Media Days in July. “He’s extremely athletic. But you know, his maturity level and his love of football and just the love of the locker room – I haven’t met many people like him.”

5. Tech’s trip to Oklahoma State in November will have implications for the Big 12 title

The Red Raiders have never appeared in a conference championship game and haven’t won one since the 1994 Southwest Conference season. This season could be different.

As McGuire works toward his goal of winning the Big 12 championship, Texas Tech has an opportunity to make the trip to Stillwater meaningful the week before Thanksgiving.

Tech’s schedule includes five of seven home games to open the season, which could lead to a strong start for the first time under McGuire. That could give the Red Raiders a strong finish, something that has become the norm in Lubbock the past two seasons.

If both of those things happen and Oklahoma State lives up to its own expectations, the game will almost certainly have implications for the Big 12 championship game.

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