Clay McGuire looking for 8 good men for Texas Tech football's offensive line
Clay McGuire just can't seem to quit on the Texas Tech football team entirely.
McGuire estimates that between 1993, when his brother Cody joined the Red Raiders, until his first coaching stint in Lubbock came to an end in 2009, he missed a grand total of six games inside Jones AT&T Stadium. Working under former Tech coaches Mike Leach and Kliff Kingsbury, with plenty of other stops along the way, McGuire jumped at the chance to return to Lubbock again, this time as the team's offensive line coach.
"Any time you get come to come home and coach your alma mater," McGuire said Thursday, "it's special."
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Cody McGuire had a bit of influence of Clay's decision to return as well. Cody used to work under Joey McGuire (no relation) while at Cedar Hill High School and has talked Joey up to his sibling for decades since.
"To get a chance to coach for a guy like Coach McGuire at a place like Texas Tech," Clay said, "... was an easy decision for me and my family to make."
Leaving Washington State to return to where it all began, Clay McGuire is tasked with assembling an almost entirely new offensive line for the Red Raiders. Replacing four of Texas Tech's five regular starting linemen won't be an easy task, and the starting point for McGuire is figuring out the best lineup to piece together.
Doing that will take some time as the Red Raiders not only figure out who will be on the field, but where they will be slotted.
Caleb Rogers, the lone returning starter up front, will be making the move from tackle to an inside position. Whether that's at center — where Rogers said in December he expected to play — or at guard is still being sorted out.
McGuire said most of Rogers' reps have come at guard through spring ball. And depending on the team's needs, Rogers can also bounce back out to tackle, where he's started 42 games in his collegiate career.
"It's been really valuable for us to have a guy that we can move in and fix problems and do those things," McGuire said. "And I think for him and his development, goals of playing at the next level, having the ability to be at all five positions will be extremely valuable for him."
Rogers is currently battling Memphis transfer Davion Carter and returner Sheridan Wilson for the center spot. McGuire said Wilson, a sophomore out of Argyle, has carried himself like a four-year starter rather than the backup center who has appeared in two games in two years that he is.
"I'm really pleased with what he's doing and the leadership role he's taken on and how hard he works and the example he is," McGuire said. "He's kind of the epitome of what we're trying to build here."
McGuire said in an ideal setting, the Red Raiders would be able to have at least one true backup to each position on the line with all 10 players being able to be plugged in for any situation. For now, the focus is on establishing a top eight that will carry the load and adjusting from there.
"We're trying to develop who those eight guys are going to be," McGuire said. "It's kind of a number you always look for, so we've still got a long way to go and it'll be all the way up to mock (game) week (in August) until we figure out who those guys are."
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This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: McGuire looking for 8 good men for Texas Tech football's offensive line
