Position switch coming for Texas Tech football lineman Caleb Rogers
SHREVEPORT, La. — Caleb Rogers is coming back to play a fifth season for the Texas Tech football team, but the Red Raiders plan to use him at a different position.
Rogers, who's started 41 consecutive games at offensive tackle, will move inside for next season, Tech coach Joey McGuire said Wednesday. That's based on a recommendation provided by pro scouts who evaluated Rogers' NFL prospects.
"I don't know if he'll play center or guard for us next year," McGuire said. "Of course, he can still play tackle, but the NFL (said), 'If we can get some tape with him moving inside and playing that — because that's what he's going to play in the NFL — now we're not projecting. We know he can do it.' "
McGuire made the comments upon the Red Raiders' arrival at their team hotel to begin onsite preparations for the Independence Bowl against California.
Doak Walker Award semifinalist Tahj Brooks announced Monday he plans to stay at Tech for a fifth year, and Rogers announced the same on Tuesday.
"That's huge," McGuire said of Rogers' decision, "because he's one of our team captains. ... We had two of the best things you could say: Tahj Brooks, the fourth-leading rusher in the nation, saying he's coming back, and then Caleb saying he's coming back."
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Tech already is parting with starting left tackle Monroe Mills, whose name is in the NCAA transfer portal. Mills made 22 starts the past two seasons.
Third-year sophomore Ty Buchanan will train to take over at right tackle, McGuire said. Other tackle options, he said, are sophomores Matt Keeler and Dalton Merryman, true freshman Daniel Sill and additions via recruiting. Keeler and Buchanan have been the top backup tackles this season.
Merryman joined the team last off-season as a preferred walk-on from Blinn College. Late Tuesday, the Red Raiders got a commitment from another preferred walk-on tackle, J'Marion Gooch from Garden City (Kan.) Community College. Tech lists Merryman at 6-foot-9, 305 pounds, and Garden City lists Gooch at 6-9, 310.
Between April 2020 and June 2021, Gooch was committed to Auburn, signed by Tennessee and then enrolled at Missouri. He was let out of his letter of intent at Tennessee after the Volunteers fired head coach Jeremy Pruitt. In August 2021, Missouri coach Eliah Drinkwitz said Gooch was "medically disqualified" from playing with the Tigers because of an undisclosed medical issue that surfaced in a physical exam.
College football
Who: Texas Tech vs. California
What: Independence Bowl
When: 8:15 p.m. Saturday
Where: Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana
Records: Texas Tech 6-6, California 6-6
Line: Texas Tech favored by 3. Over-under: 58 points.
TV: ESPN
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Position switch coming for Texas Tech football lineman Caleb Rogers
