For Texas Tech football team, two offensive line spots generate fierce competition
The makeup of the Texas Tech football offensive line in 2024 has been a source of intrigue ever since Tech coach Joey McGuire said in December that Caleb Rogers, a 42-game starter at tackle, would move inside.
Tech coaches will spend the spring deciding whether inside means to center, which Rogers viewed as most likely, or to guard. Vinny Sciury, a 33-game starter the past three seasons at Toledo, is projected to play left guard. Rogers, sophomore Sheridan Wilson and Memphis transfer Davion Carter are leaders in competition for the other two inside positions.
"The three guys we're really trying to figure out," Tech coach Joey McGuire said Friday, "are who's going to be our center? Sheri (Wilson), Caleb and Davion. And then who's going to be the (right) guard between Caleb and Davion."
Carter (6-foot, 295 pounds) started 23 games the past two years at Memphis and received some of the highest grades for an FBS offensive guard last season by Pro Football Focus. The Red Raiders added him and Sciury in December via the NCAA transfer portal.
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Only 15 months ago then-Tech offensive line coach Stephen Hamby said Wilson had surprised him "more than anybody in a freshman class in a long time." Wilson, then 6-5 and 285 pounds, was perhaps a little light, but serious, a quick study and already second on the depth chart.
Now he's listed at 305 pounds, maintaining the weight and becoming more of a factor. The Argyle graduate has the bloodlines, his brother Preston Wilson being a 34-game offensive line starter at Oklahoma State.
"He's really having a great spring," McGuire said. "I wouldn't say he's a surprise, because he had such a great off-season. He's got a lot stronger. He is over 300 pounds. He's been over 300 pounds every weigh-in, so that just shows his maturity in his body and in his mind, the way he's doing things."
This past week and during the team's scrimmage on Friday, McGuire said the first team had Ty Buchanan and Sterling Porcher at tackle, Rogers and Sciury at guard and Wilson at center.
"Next week, we'll kind of shake it up," McGuire said. "Caleb will get a little more center. Davion Carter, he was playing right guard with the twos (second team). He'll play some right guard with the ones with Caleb moving over to center and then Sheri (Wilson) will go with the twos. They'll all kind of mix in and go with the ones."
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The offensive tackle spots appear more clearcut, even though the Red Raiders are replacing Rogers' spot and that of Monroe Mills, who transferred to Louisville after starting 22 games for Tech. Next season will be the fourth in college football and the third at Tech for Buchanan, a 6-6, 310-pound junior who's setting up shop at right tackle.
"I expect that he can hold everybody off there," McGuire said.
Porcher, a 25-game starter the past two years at Middle Tennessee State, is the man to beat at left tackle. He's a 6-4, 315-pound senior.
Tech also won a recruiting battle for Saddleback College offensive tackle Maurice Rodriques, who captivates with his 6-foot-7, 340-pound frame and long arms. Rodriques is also practicing at left tackle, but he's not as polished, having come to the U.S. from Jamaica when he was in high school.
"If you say who's winning today and we go play, it's going to be Sterling," McGuire said. "He's ahead. He's a guy that's played a lot more football than Mo (Rodriques). But it's great to have Mo. The good thing with him: He's learning fast. He's a large human being."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: For Texas Tech football team, two line spots generate fierce competition
