Texas Tech football's hottest competitions can be found at star safety, cornerback, right tackle, left guard and a backup defensive edge.
The Texas Tech football team staged its first preseason scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 9, putting the Red Raiders three weeks away from the season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Jones AT&T Stadium.
The depth chart probably won't change much between now and then, but the amount of experience the Red Raiders possess means there'll be a lot of competition for playing time. Starting jobs are unsettled at a few positions.
Here are five position battles to watch:
Star safety: John Curry, Mike Dingle and A.J. McCarty
Tech coach Joey McGuire revealed Saturday that his staff has switched Curry's position again, trying to find him playing time. The sophomore from Coronado has gone from Ben Roberts' backup at field inside linebacker last season to Jacob Rodriguez's backup at boundary inside linebacker coming out of spring to, as of the past few days, star, the hybrid safety/outside linebacker position.
He might not be a backup there.
"I think there's a battle at star," McGuire said, "because John Curry wants to be on the football field. So somebody's going to have to sit down if that dude makes his mind up and says, 'You're not starting in front of me,' and that's what he's doing right now."
Dingle and McCarty were the 1-2 going into camp. McCarty, who started 11 games last season, has been out with a hamstring injury since the start of preseason practice.
"We've got to find a way to get John Curry on the field," McGuire said Saturday. "We have three different packages with different people size-wise. He had an interception today and two huge tackles in the open field. He is really having a great camp, and he showed up today. Really impressed with him."
Right tackle: Jacob Ponton and Hunter Zambrano
This is another position where the candidate with the most experience has been on the sideline. Though he's expected to return this coming week, Zambrano missed nearly all spring recovering from surgery to fix torn labrums in both hips and has been sidelined the past few days by a lower-back issue. The transfer from Illinois State also had core-muscles surgery in April 2024, plus a surgery on his nasal passages and a tonsillectomy, the latter two procedures done at the same time, after spring practice this year.
The sixth-year senior has starter potential, but he needs practice time to crack the lineup.
In the meantime, Ponton has taken advantage of his absence by building up repetitions with the rest of the first unit. The redshirt freshman started the Liberty Bowl last season.
Cornerback: Brice Pollock, Maurion Horn and Dontae Balfour
Three candidates are fighting for the two spots. All were full-time starters last year: Pollock at Mississippi State, Balfour at UNC-Charlotte and Horn for the Red Raiders. Pollock and Horn were first team after spring ball. Balfour's not giving in.
"Man, he is really having an incredible camp," McGuire said. "He's really physical. He's long. I love watching him practice, because he loves playing football. He had another really good scrimmage."
Asked which two would start if the season started next week, McGuire said, "It's almost like flip of a coin or do a little rock, paper, scissors between them, because I really wouldn't mind any of them out there. They've all done different things."
McGuire said Horn and Balfour started the scrimmage Saturday. Horn's been practicing with a bruised heel.
Left guard: Will Jados and Vinny Sciury
Jados started 38 games for Miami (Ohio), and Sciury started 33 games at Toledo and the first two last year for Texas Tech before season-ending knee surgery.
The latter sidelined Sciury through spring practice. Although he was back on the field in June, he's been out this past week with what McGuire described as an intestinal problem.
Sciury's edge is having established himself in the program for more than a year. Jados' advantage is he's stayed healthy and on the field since he arrived in January. He also offers positional versatility, having played almost exclusively at left tackle during his four years at Miami (Ohio).
Backup boundary edge: Terrell Tilmon, Cheta Ofili and Dylan Spencer
So much attention's been shown to touted transfers David Bailey and Romello Height it's easy to forgot they won't play every snap. Who comes in when they need a breather? McGuire lists steady veteran Charles Esters III behind Bailey at field end.
The boundary edge is harder to handicap. Tilmon was second on the team with 3 1/2 sacks last season and started the bowl game, but the fifth-year senior hasn't practiced yet because of the broken toe he suffered at the end of spring ball. Ofili and Spencer, a redshirt freshman and a sophomore, respectively, are practicing, Spencer coming back from the torn knee ligament that cost him the 2024 season.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football top 5 position battles after first scrimmage
Category: General Sports
