College football’s traditional powers have always hated seeing non-name-brand programs try to jump up and join the contender party. However, now that N.I.L. payments have given traditional mid-tier programs a means of competing in the talent acquisition game, that’s exactly what’s happening and no program is threatening the establishment more than Texas Tech.
Wednesday, On3 Sports published a graphic on X showing the five football programs that spent the most on their 2025 transfer portal class. On that list you will find the usual suspects such as Auburn, Ole Miss, Michigan, and Texas. But you will also find Texas Tech.
What’s more, the post quotes an anonymous SEC personnel staffer who says, “In theory, Tech [messed] up the market for everybody.”
This is yet another instance of someone from one of the two conferences who believe it is their birthright to control the sport (the SEC and the Big Ten) complaining about an outsider trying to upset the status quo. Of course, Texas Tech fans love being the school in the role of the disruptor.
NEW: An anonymous SEC personnel staffer tells @PeteNakos_ Auburn, Michigan, Ole Miss, Texas, and Texas Tech spent the most money on their Transfer Portal class👀
By now, everyone around the country has come to grips with the fact that the Red Raiders went all-in to overhaul their roster via the portal. Picking up 17 transfers, head coach Joey McGuire and his staff have the No. 3 transfer class in the nation according to 247Sports.com.
However, many people still don’t understand how the Red Raiders managed to become a power broker in the portal. In their opinion, Tech should simply be resigned to stay in the corner and keep to itself rather than try to jump into the fray and compete at the highest level of the sport.
Fortunately, that’s not what the Red Raiders have decided to do. This week, Max Olson of ESPN published an article detailing how Texas Tech made such a splash in the portal, and in that piece, there was no holding back by key Red Raiders.
