Greg McElroy pegs Texas Tech to rebound in 2024

The 2024 college football season will officially kick off next month. College football expert and host of the Always College Football Show, Greg McElroy already has in mind which team is poised for a big comeback this year. According to the former Alabama quarterback, he is recasting his vote for a team he selected last year for this very category: the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

“Well, if we went to it last year, why don’t we just go back to it again? We were very high on the Texas Tech Red Raiders last year,” said McElroy. “And, unfortunately, Texas Tech kind of let us down a little bit… but there’s a lot of momentum actually this year, too.

“While they do have some expectations, they’re not nearly as lofty as they were a year ago… there is some optimism surrounding this team. The good news is Behren Morton is taking the reins at the quarterback spot, OK? If you look at the quarterback dynamic last year, it was Tyler Shough and Behren Morton. Shough has now transferred to Louisville, and Morton is the guy moving forward. So that will be beneficial… I’m optimistic about him being in the driver’s seat at that position.”

McElroy sees Texas Tech as a sneaky good team that could possibly rise out of the shadows in the Big 12 and win the conference. That will be no easy task, considering last year’s conference runner-up, Oklahoma State, is a heavy favorite along with conference newcomer Utah. Still, the newfound stability at quarterback should have Texas Tech towards the top of the conference, according to McElroy.

Not only does the college football expert see the stability at quarterback as a plus, but also the Red Raiders’ ability to run the football. McElroy has bought into Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire as a recruiter at the high school level. As he continued, he highlighted one of the biggest high school recruits Texas Tech will likely lean on in 2024, along with revealing why he is so high on McGuire as a recruiting coach.

“They also have a top wide receiver, Micah Hudson, who’s a consensus All-American high school player; that’s significant,” said McElroy. “[He] should be one of the best wide receivers on their roster [from] day one. You also look at Joey McGuire’s ability to recruit… Remember, Joey McGuire [is] very tapped in as a [former] high school coach in the state of Texas. So, he is about as tied into the high school recruiting world as he can get. But he also, has done a pretty good job in the portal market as well. And we already know that they are a team that’s going to be able to run the football. So, I’m really optimistic about Texas Tech this upcoming year; kind of flying under the radar.”

Texas Tech will get the ball rolling on their 2024 season with a home game against Abilene Christian on August 31. That will give Red Raider fans an opportunity to see what their team has to offer this season and whether or not McElroy is right on the money this time around in terms of them being one of the comeback teams of the season.