Texas Tech football portal target picks in-state school and that’s just fine
Friday, the Texas Tech football program learned that it will not add James Madison transfer wide receiver Yamir Knight to its roster despite pursuing the slot weapon via the portal. Instead, the 5-foot-8, 180-pounder has committed to SMU.
However, this news is not going to make a huge impact on the Red Raiders, at least for the 2025 season. That’s because last weekend, Tech added another slot receiver, Roy Alexander, to the program.
Last season at Incarnate Word (an FCS program), Alexander caught 100 passes for 1,108 yards and 13 touchdowns. Now, he’s set to compete for the starting job at inside receiver for the Red Raiders.
As for Knight, he pulled in 53 passes for 605 yards and four touchdowns. Of course, those numbers came at the FBS level, which might make them a bit more impressive than Alexander’s big stats at the lower level of the sport.
What’s more, Knight still has two years of eligibility remaining. Meanwhile, Alexander has only one.
Still, Texas Tech is in good shape at that position. Alexander gives the program an experienced and productive option in the slot for next season, a year in which the Red Raiders are going all-in to win the Big 12.
Then, when he departs, young players such as Micah Hudson or Leyton Stone could be ready to take over that critical role in 2026. While most Red Raiders are excited about what Hudson, the former 5-star prospect, could become, Stone, a former 3-star prospect from Frenship High School in Wolfforth and the son of Texas Tech head soccer coach Tom Stone, has turned heads in his first semester on campus.
Either way, the Red Raiders are set up well at the slot receiver position. With Alexander likely to man that spot this season and some talented players waiting in the wings, losing out on Knight doesn’t hurt at all.
Of course, the need to bring in a productive slot receiver was crucial this offseason. That’s because Tech’s top receiver last fall, Josh Kelly, is now in the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Cowboys.
Last year, Kelly caught 89 passes for 1,023 yards and five touchdowns in his senior season. What’s more, he had over 30 catches on third down as he became a go-to option for the Red Raiders.
It remains to be seen if Alexander will make that type of impact in 2025, but he is an excellent option to help bridge the gap to the up-and-coming options on the roster. Thus, even though Tech didn’t land Knight, the future of the slot receiver position in Lubbock looks bright.
Texas Tech football in heated battle for 4-star high school offensive lineman
After making a historic splash in the 2025 transfer portal, the Texas Tech football program is swinging for the fences in the 2026 high school recruiting class. Trying to strike while their name is hot and while the NIL money is flowing, the Red Raiders are in on some of the top prospects in the nation.
One player to keep an eye on is 4-star offensive lineman Noah Best. A native of Midlothian, Texas, the 6-foot-3, 290-pound prospect recently released a post on X that said “Where’s home” with the logos of Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Missouri, SMU, and Kansas State listed at the bottom of the graphic.
In addition to those schools, Best has offers from the likes of Arizona State, Auburn, Arkansas, Baylor, LSU, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Texas, UCLA, Wisconsin, and others. However, he appears to have narrowed his focus, and the Red Raiders remain in play.
Ranked the No. 398 overall player in the class of 2026, Best is the No. 35 interior offensive lineman in America and the No. 55 player in Texas, according to 247Sports. That site has one expert who has logged a prediction that he will land at Oklahoma, but only one such projection is far from a guarantee.
The Red Raiders have been recruiting Best for quite some time. In fact, they were the first program to offer him a scholarship, a development that occurred back in January of 2024.
Now, the plan is for Best to take a visit to Lubbock this offseason. Hopefully, he will be blown away by the new facilities the program lives in, and he will want to become a Red Raider.
Tech is trying to land some big fish along the offensive line in the class of 2026. Along with Best, 13 other offensive linemen in the class currently hold offers from head coach Joey McGuire.
Additionally, 5-star offensive lineman, Felix Ojo, the No. 7 overall player in the class of 2026, recently took a visit to Lubbock, where he reportedly came away very impressed with the Texas Tech program. To see Tech fishing in that deep of a pond is exciting for fans who are hoping that years of offensive line futility will soon be just a thing of the past.
