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FRISCO — Behren Morton has been at Texas Tech since 2021, practically a lifetime for quarterbacks these days. A lot has happened in Lubbock since he arrived as a teenager from Eastland. He goes back so far, he can even remember when the Red Raiders weren’t sitting on the front row of college athletics’ bold new era.
Which beats the back row, by the way.
“Being at Tech for such a long time,” Morton said, “I’ve seen the really bad of Texas Tech, and now I’m starting to see the good of Texas Tech.”
Related:Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire details re-recruitment of WR Micah Hudson
Sports Roundup
Here’s what it looks like from here: Red Raider athletes will make a reported $55 million in name, image and likeness deals this school year, apparently an NCAA record. And that doesn’t count the $5.1 million Tech just guaranteed a Mansfield Lake Ridge offensive tackle over three years. Once he actually graduates from high school, that is.
And let’s not forget the former Red Raider offensive tackle turned billionaire out to spend whatever it takes to make his alma mater a national contender while simultaneously making a case to save college football from itself.
If it sounds like a lot for a school that hadn’t made any waves since the Pirate sailed the West Texas plains, it is.
Consider the case of Cody Campbell, a 43-year-old billionaire who went from slugging it out in the offensive line under Mike Leach to hitting it big in oil and gas. Campbell is the face of the Texas Tech Matador Club, the collective financing most of those NIL contracts, including the million-plus that persuaded NiJaree Canady to leave Stanford and lead Tech to within one game of a national softball title.
Tech’s NIL profile is the reason the Red Raiders came in second behind only LSU in the latest transfer portal rankings after finishing no better than 25th in the previous three.
Case in point: Micah Hudson, a five-star receiver out of Lake Belton, who boomeranged from Tech to Texas A&M and back again.
“I think it’s going to be a great story,” Joey McGuire said.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire speaks during Big 12 Media Days at the Ford Center, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Frisco.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Before getting to the story on the field, how about the one Tech made Tuesday in USA Today? Under the headline, “Meet Cody Campbell, the billionaire Texas Tech booster with plan to save college football,” the subject proposed a cure for college athletics. His solution would require the Big Ten and SEC to pool their media rights with the Big 12 and ACC. Why would the big boys do that when their payouts far outpace those of the Big 12 and ACC? Because, as a “high-placed” industry official told USA Today, the four conferences could double their current combined take of $3 billion in a single-payee model.
Campbell thinks he can make it work because of his relationship with the White House’s current occupant, a noted sports fan. Campbell apparently won’t need a commission like the one headed by a former MLB executive to vet NIL deals and police the market.
Per USA Today: “Campbell, for lack of a better explanation, will be the deal-maker — with the power of the presidency, the threat of antitrust law and a growing disdain for the evolving state of college sports behind him.”
The irony in all this is that a lot of folks who work in college athletics think Campbell is one of the problems, not the answer.
He’s aware of the irony, if you were wondering.
“The best thing that could happen to Texas Tech is the same system persists,” he told USA Today. “We are gaining ground on blue blood programs because we have donor money, and people willing to put it to work. Why would I do anything to fix things long-term? I have no reason to do it other than the system, and the opportunity to change the trajectory of student athletes’ lives and preserve the system long-term for more than 500,000 student athletes.
“This isn’t a hobby, this has become my calling.”
If it all seems more than little incongruous, Dallas’ Jim Sowell, a former chair of Tech’s Board of Regents, is a believer.
“The SEC and Big Ten dismiss him at their peril,” he told me.
First, of course, the Red Raiders need to demonstrate all the money boosters are throwing at them actually pays off in something more than the usual. Over the last four seasons, Tech has alternated seasons of 8-5 and 7-6, no better than what it’s averaged over the last 40 years. The Red Raiders will need to do better than that if they want to become one of the two or three top programs Brett Yormark says the Big 12 needs to make inroads in a national conversation.
Can the Red Raiders make such a statement? They’ve got the bank statement, as well as a veteran quarterback who’s finally healthy; a promising new offensive coordinator in Mack Leftwich; an embarrassment of riches at receiver and three members of the Big 12’s preseason All-Conference team, including linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the projected Defensive Player of the Year. It’s more than what we’re used to from Lubbock, all right. Spike Dykes would hardly know the place.
Welcome back:! See photos from Big 12 Media Day at Ford Center in Frisco
View Gallery
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
During Big 12 Media Days, Morton said this is the best he’s felt in a long time.
After weighing his NFL options, the veteran LB will be a key player for the Red Raiders in 2025.
Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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FRISCO — Behren Morton has been at Texas Tech since 2021, practically a lifetime for quarterbacks these days. A lot has happened in Lubbock since he arrived as a teenager from Eastland. He goes back so far, he can even remember when the Red Raiders weren’t sitting on the front row of college athletics’ bold new era.
Which beats the back row, by the way.
“Being at Tech for such a long time,” Morton said, “I’ve seen the really bad of Texas Tech, and now I’m starting to see the good of Texas Tech.”
Related:Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire details re-recruitment of WR Micah Hudson
Sports Roundup
Here’s what it looks like from here: Red Raider athletes will make a reported $55 million in name, image and likeness deals this school year, apparently an NCAA record. And that doesn’t count the $5.1 million Tech just guaranteed a Mansfield Lake Ridge offensive tackle over three years. Once he actually graduates from high school, that is.
And let’s not forget the former Red Raider offensive tackle turned billionaire out to spend whatever it takes to make his alma mater a national contender while simultaneously making a case to save college football from itself.
If it sounds like a lot for a school that hadn’t made any waves since the Pirate sailed the West Texas plains, it is.
Consider the case of Cody Campbell, a 43-year-old billionaire who went from slugging it out in the offensive line under Mike Leach to hitting it big in oil and gas. Campbell is the face of the Texas Tech Matador Club, the collective financing most of those NIL contracts, including the million-plus that persuaded NiJaree Canady to leave Stanford and lead Tech to within one game of a national softball title.
Tech’s NIL profile is the reason the Red Raiders came in second behind only LSU in the latest transfer portal rankings after finishing no better than 25th in the previous three.
Case in point: Micah Hudson, a five-star receiver out of Lake Belton, who boomeranged from Tech to Texas A&M and back again.
“I think it’s going to be a great story,” Joey McGuire said.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire speaks during Big 12 Media Days at the Ford Center, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, in Frisco.(Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer)
Before getting to the story on the field, how about the one Tech made Tuesday in USA Today? Under the headline, “Meet Cody Campbell, the billionaire Texas Tech booster with plan to save college football,” the subject proposed a cure for college athletics. His solution would require the Big Ten and SEC to pool their media rights with the Big 12 and ACC. Why would the big boys do that when their payouts far outpace those of the Big 12 and ACC? Because, as a “high-placed” industry official told USA Today, the four conferences could double their current combined take of $3 billion in a single-payee model.
Campbell thinks he can make it work because of his relationship with the White House’s current occupant, a noted sports fan. Campbell apparently won’t need a commission like the one headed by a former MLB executive to vet NIL deals and police the market.
Per USA Today: “Campbell, for lack of a better explanation, will be the deal-maker — with the power of the presidency, the threat of antitrust law and a growing disdain for the evolving state of college sports behind him.”
The irony in all this is that a lot of folks who work in college athletics think Campbell is one of the problems, not the answer.
He’s aware of the irony, if you were wondering.
“The best thing that could happen to Texas Tech is the same system persists,” he told USA Today. “We are gaining ground on blue blood programs because we have donor money, and people willing to put it to work. Why would I do anything to fix things long-term? I have no reason to do it other than the system, and the opportunity to change the trajectory of student athletes’ lives and preserve the system long-term for more than 500,000 student athletes.
“This isn’t a hobby, this has become my calling.”
If it all seems more than little incongruous, Dallas’ Jim Sowell, a former chair of Tech’s Board of Regents, is a believer.
“The SEC and Big Ten dismiss him at their peril,” he told me.
First, of course, the Red Raiders need to demonstrate all the money boosters are throwing at them actually pays off in something more than the usual. Over the last four seasons, Tech has alternated seasons of 8-5 and 7-6, no better than what it’s averaged over the last 40 years. The Red Raiders will need to do better than that if they want to become one of the two or three top programs Brett Yormark says the Big 12 needs to make inroads in a national conversation.
Can the Red Raiders make such a statement? They’ve got the bank statement, as well as a veteran quarterback who’s finally healthy; a promising new offensive coordinator in Mack Leftwich; an embarrassment of riches at receiver and three members of the Big 12’s preseason All-Conference team, including linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the projected Defensive Player of the Year. It’s more than what we’re used to from Lubbock, all right. Spike Dykes would hardly know the place.
Welcome back:! See photos from Big 12 Media Day at Ford Center in Frisco
View Gallery
Twitter/X: @KSherringtonDMN
During Big 12 Media Days, Morton said this is the best he’s felt in a long time.
After weighing his NFL options, the veteran LB will be a key player for the Red Raiders in 2025.
Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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