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On Monday, the Shriners Children’s East-West Shrine Bowl released its annual Shrine Bowl 1000, highlighting 1,000 NFL Draft-eligible players across college football for the 2026 season. For the second consecutive year, Texas Tech had more players selected than any other program in the country, having 27 Red Raiders making this year’s list. The selections included plenty of returning standouts, such as Cam Dickey, J’Koby Williams, Ben Roberts, Brice Pollock, AJ Holmes Jr. and Terrance Carter Jr., along with several transfer portal additions, such as Austin Romaine, Mateen Ibirogba, etc.
For the Red Raiders to have 27 players selected is impressive on its own, but the talent left off the list might say just as much about the depth of Texas Tech’s 2026 roster.
Texas Tech OFFENSE:
Will Hammond, QB
Jacob Ponton, OT
Micah Hudson, WR
Cash Cleveland, OG
Texas Tech DEFENSE:
Davin Martin, CB
Peyton Morgan, SAF
Corey Platt Jr., LB
JoJo Johnson, iDL
Tarrion Grant, CB
Jamond Mathis, EDGE
SPECIAL TEAMS:
These 11 players further illustrate just how much draft-eligible talent Texas Tech has accumulated heading into the 2026 season, especially considering several are expected to hold starting roles or make significant contributions for the Red Raiders this fall.
Hammond is going to lead the Red Raiders at quarterback once fully healthy, while Harrington, Ponton, Hudson, and Morgan are among the players who will start this season barring injury. Harrington returns as one of the best kickers in the country after an impressive 2025 season and has already earned preseason All-American recognition from Phil Steele heading into 2026.
The Red Raiders also have plenty of talented players fighting for roles throughout the two-deep, including Martin and Grant in the secondary, Platt at linebacker, Johnson along the interior of the defensive line and Mathis on the edge.
The fact that the Red Raiders can still put together a list like this of talented players who didn’t make the original cut of 1,000 NFL Draft-eligible prospects, is another indication of just how deep and talented the roster has become under head coach Joey McGuire and general manager James Blanchard.
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