Joey McGuire did what? Again?! Inside Texas Tech’s shocking five-star commitment and why it might not be its last
On Thursday, 2027 five-star EDGE LaDamion Guyton committed to Texas Tech over the likes of South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. The No. 1 overall junior prospect in the country chose the Red Raiders over offers from just about everyone and spurned the home state Bulldogs when he picked up the black Texas Tech rope hat […]
On Thursday, 2027 five-star EDGE LaDamion Guyton committed to Texas Tech over the likes of South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. The No. 1 overall junior prospect in the country chose the Red Raiders over offers from just about everyone and spurned the home state Bulldogs when he picked up the black Texas Tech rope hat at his announcement ceremony at Benedictine Military School.
The obvious cause to the effect is Cody Campbell, The Matador Club, and Texas Tech’s efficient NIL machine. And, yeah, that’s part of it. But, the recruiting experts across the country spoke with Guyton before he made it official and after he flashed “Guns Up!”.
Here’s what some of the top recruiting analysts in the business got when peeling back the curtain on Joey McGuire’s second five-star commit of the summer.
Rivals’ Chad Simmons said the prevailing sentiment LaDamion Guyton got every time he visited was “family”.
“The best thing about the visit was just feeling at home,” he said. “I wanted to get away, try something new — and the people there made it easy. The people make me feel like family. You can tell what’s real and what’s fake, and they’re real at Texas Tech. It felt like family. Nothing weird, nothing forced — it is all natural with them.
“God doesn’t make mistakes,” Guyton told Rivals. “I didn’t think I’d commit this early either, but after talking with my mom, it just felt right. That visit showed me exactly what I needed to see.”
Along with the tight-knit community generated by McGuire and his staff, he said it was the consistency and desire to add him to the 2027 class at Texas Tech.
“As soon as they offered, they came strong,” Guyton said. “Coach CJ Ah You has been consistent — he treats me like one of his own. He’s got a plan for me, and a plan for his players. He’s really smart and I know he can help me a lot.”
“Coach McGuire cares about his players — every coach there does. They have something going on. The energy in the program is real, and it’s growing.”
McGuire, along with general manager James Blanchard, have quite the culture shock reverberating around college football right now. Those two along with a young, talented, and hungry staff have landed Guyton and 2026 five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo in a matter of months.
Guyton spoke with 247Sports’ Tom Loy about how he views Texas Tech and how others might view the program.
“I just feel like people look down on them, but it’s a new day of football and they are headed in the right direction. A lot of good things are coming for Texas Tech.”
LaDamion Guyton’s high school teammate is also a believer in Texas Tech.
2026 quarterback prospect Stephon Cannon committed to the Red Raiders in April. And ever since then, he was recruiting Guyton to join him in Lubbock. He spoke with Rivals about the pursuit and what kind of player the 2027 five-star is.
“On the field he has been annoying to play against,” Cannon laughs. “He’s unblockable. I’m glad he’s on my team. Off the field we have grown very close. He’s a hard worker and easy to get along with. We have a great connection since he’s come in.”
Cannon went on to acknowledge the work McGuire and his staff have done and how it’s truly sending a message to the rest of the country.
“It proves that something special is going on in Lubbock and the whole country will find out soon,” Cannon remarks. “I think the family feel is the best part about the culture. When Dame (Guyton) came back from his visit the first thing he mentioned was the family feel.”
So how much of this was real feelings and belief in TTU and how much was NIL?
Rivals’ Matt Clare went in-depth on how McGuire and Texas Tech pulled it off.
“The main reaction to Texas Tech’s surge in recruiting on a national level has been the idea of ‘pay for play’ or pointing towards the revenue sharing / NIL aspect of college football recruiting,” Clare said.” There is no doubt this played a big part in Guyton’s decision to choose the Red Raiders, and some of the commentary from opposing fan bases could be relevant or even true, but the Texas Tech coaches and donors are simply working under the current rules and framework allowed to every other program in the nation.
“You will be hard-pressed to find a single member of the staff, donor base or Texas Tech Football fandom feeling sorry for the Georgia’s of the world in this scenario.”
And, well, there’s good reason for this because of Cody Campbell, a former TTU offensive lineman, oil and gas magnate, and founder of the Matador Club.
Sam Khan Jr. of the Athletic recently spoke with Blanchard about Campbell doing whatever it takes to make it happen in Lubbock.
“Cody came in and said, in a professional way, that we had an open checkbook,” Blanchard recalls. “Telling that to a personnel guy is like telling a 6-year-old, ‘Here’s my platinum credit card, go get whatever you want.’”
There are college football staffers and coaches across the country who are critical of what TTU is doing off-the-field with its collective.
Personnel staffers at schools who competed for some of Tech’s transfers have remarked that the Red Raiders have gone well above “market value” to obtain players. Campbell told Khan it’s “sour grapes”.
“Market value is what somebody’s willing to pay for them,” he said. “So that’s just mostly from people that are upset because they get outbid. … I think other places just didn’t have the resources or weren’t organized enough.”
Blanchard is right there with him, too. Notre Dame tried to steal him away from McGuire and Lubbock. But it’s clear he believes in what they’re building alongside Campbell and the Matador Club. And now, the hottest GM in the country is backing it up with major results.
“We can’t say, ‘Someone offered this player $500,000, so we’re going to match.’ That’s not gonna work,” Blanchard said. “You’ve got to put your ego and pride to the side and say, ‘If one of the top five schools in the country offered $500,000, for us to be equal, we have to offer $675,000.
“Some people may say that’s over market value. No, I got the f—ing player.”
Now, the next question is will LaDamion Guyton fast forward his high school career and reclassify.
“While all signs point to Guyton reclassifying to the 2026 recruiting class, nothing is over until he signs a national letter of intent,” Clare said. “The coaches at Georgia and other programs are not going to stop communicating or recruiting a player of this caliber.
“Joey McGuire and his coaching staff have done a tremendous job getting Guyton into the fold, and now the goal is signing him and getting the five-star talent to Lubbock,” Clare said. “The revenue sharing aspect actually makes this part easier than ever before, but that will be the story throughout the season as it relates to Guyton and his commitment once the dust settles on his announcement today.”
Simmons spoke with Guyton about this as well. He knows good and well programs like Georgia and South Carolina are not just going to stop recruiting him.
“I’ll still take some visits, and I’m always going to listen,” he said. “But once I pick a school, I zero in. I feel good about the commitment after the talks we have had, but I will go to games and take visits.”
For now it seems Texas Tech is the hottest trend in college football and the wild and wonderful world of recruiting. If Guyton proves anything, it’s if you have a savvy head coach like Joey McGuire, a motivated collective like the Matador Club, and a tough love, no nonsense, tell it like it is general manager like James Blanchard, you can make some noise.
The only thing left to ask now is when will somehow turn it down?
