Max OlsonNov 7, 2025, 07:00 AM ETCloseCovers the Big 12Joined ESPN in 2012Graduate of the University of NebraskaFollow on X
‘College GameDay’ travels to Texas Tech for a big matchup (0:25)”College GameDay” is going to Lubbock, Texas as the Red Raiders face BYU. (0:25)
Minutes after David Bailey entered the transfer portal March 28, Texas Tech general manager James Blanchard sent him that text message. The pass rusher from Stanford didn’t respond. He wasn’t answering calls, either.
Blanchard reached out to Bailey’s agent, who informed him that the coveted transfer was leaning toward going to UCLA. But Blanchard wasn’t giving up that easily. That night, he tried appealing to Bailey with one more text.
David, give me 120 seconds to have a convo with you. If you’re not interested after that, I’ll leave you alone.
Within two days, Bailey was on Texas Tech’s campus for a visit. He still went on trips to Texas and UCLA, trying to gather as much information as he could ahead of a life-changing decision. But in the end, the Red Raiders made an offer he couldn’t refuse.
And just like that, Texas Tech has built what it believed to be the best defensive line in college football. Bailey and Romello Height (Georgia Tech) bringing nonstop pressure off the edge. Lee Hunter (UCF), Skyler Gill-Howard (Northern Illinois) and A.J. Holmes Jr. (Houston) wreaking havoc inside. Five hand-picked players out of the portal who could transform not just their front but their entire defense.
Blanchard knew it when he first spoke with Bailey. “I’m telling you this is going to be the outcome,” he remembers saying. Bailey asked what made him so certain.
The Red Raiders invested more than $7 million to secure these newcomers along the defensive line. They’ve been worth every penny for a program chasing its first Big 12 title and now ranks No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings ahead of Saturday’s game with unbeaten BYU (12 p.m. ET, ABC).
Bailey is the national sack leader with 11.5 and well on his way to becoming a first-round pick. He and Height, whom Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire lovingly refers to both as “Velociraptors,” are two of the most destructive pass rushers in the sport. Hunter, their star defensive tackle, is enjoying a career-best year. The Red Raiders have generated an FBS-high 175 pressures through nine games and needed just seven games to surpass their 2024 season sack total.
“Ever since we walked in the building, I told Lee, ‘Man, this team is going to be special. We’re going to go a long way. This team is going to go far,'” Height said. “Lee was like, ‘We’re going to see.’ But now we all see.”
Height said he made $250,000 last year at Georgia Tech. His agent was seeking a raise to $500,000 ahead of Height’s senior season, a number he felt was fair market value, but was rebuffed. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound outside linebacker had a good year for the Yellow Jackets after transferring from USC, totalling a team-high 29 pressures off the edge, but finished with only 2.5 sacks. Height insists he wasn’t looking to leave.
“They were like, ‘Nah, we overpaid him already,'” Height said. “So, my agent was like, ‘All right, we’re going to go get overpaid somewhere else.'”
“People were trying to say it was other guys, but Romello was the best one,” Blanchard said. “Y’all don’t know what y’all are looking at.”
The Red Raiders made the decision even easier for Height when they signed Hunter. The two were close friends from playing together at Auburn in 2021 and eager to reunite.
Hunter, the massive 6-foot-4, 330-pound defensive tackle from UCF whom teammates nicknamed “The Fridge,” entered the portal after coach Guz Malzahn left to become the OC at Florida State. Hunter had a lot of loyalty to Malzahn, who had recruited him since he was a high school freshman, and felt ready for a fresh start.
“When your mama keeps telling you something, you got to go with it, you know?” Hunter said. “Probably one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.”
“Me and my mom didn’t have much time to talk because we had like 10 minutes to get to the next gate,” Hunter said. “We kept walking. I got on a plane and went to Alabama and came back a Red Raider.”
Texas Tech paired him with two more key defensive tackles in Gill-Howard from Northern Illinois and Holmes from Houston. Many coaches were hesitant to pursue Gill-Howard based on his size (he was listed at 6-foot-1 and 285 pounds), lack of starting experience and concerns he might not perform at the Power 4 level.
Blanchard had stumbled upon him during the scouting process and trusted what he saw on tape, a disruptive player on a top-25 defense who played well against Notre Dame. He felt comfortable taking a chance on Holmes, a 16-game starter who had just played for new Red Raiders defensive coordinator Shiel Wood at Houston. Wood believed he hadn’t come close to reaching his ceiling.
All four of those moves might’ve been more than enough for Texas Tech as it aspired to build the top portal recruiting class in college football. But then, in the middle of spring practice, Bailey hit the portal after Stanford fired coach Troy Taylor.
It wasn’t hard for Blanchard to sell him to Wood. The defensive coordinator said Bailey was a “two-clipper.”
“You watch two clips and say, ‘Yeah, I like him. Absolutely,'” Wood said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘If there’s a possibility of getting this guy to come here and y’all think you can make that happen, please do so. We’ll find a spot for him to play.'”
“We’re halfway through the spring, and Romello is just unblockable,” McGuire said. “I go, ‘You’re telling me he’s better than him?'”
As they watched Bailey’s Stanford film together, McGuire knew he was a “no-brainer” evaluation just like Height and Hunter. But did Tech really need him? Blanchard kept talking him up and explaining how they could get Bailey enrolled immediately for spring practice. Then, Blanchard brought up the defending Super Bowl champs.
Bailey arrived in Lubbock in time to go through the Red Raiders’ final spring practices. As he watched Height, Hunter and Gill-Howard compete in one-on-ones, Bailey was blown away.
“I’ve never seen a D-line like this,” he said. “I’ve seen some high-caliber skill players. But a D-line like this? This is different.”
He hasn’t seen anything close to this, enduring three consecutive 3-9 seasons at Stanford. He was underutilized last year, playing 20 to 30 snaps a game and special teams for much of the season. What he sought most in the portal — more than the money — was a team that would play as much as possible.
Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech’s All-America senior linebacker, keeps coming back to the word “unreal” as he attempts to describe what the Red Raiders have put together on defense.
“I’ve never played football like this,” Rodriguez said. “It’s all 11 people on the field flying around and doing their job and executing at a high level. It makes football so simple and so easy. I’ve never had this much fun playing football ever.”
Offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich said there were a few days when his unit couldn’t get a first down. After Texas Tech’s second spring scrimmage, he overheard tackle Howard Sampson lamenting to Blanchard, “Man, I don’t know, we’re going to suck on offense.” McGuire reminded a frustrated Clay McGuire, Tech’s offensive line coach, that it wasn’t a fair fight for the No. 2 offensive line in practice because Texas Tech’s No. 2 defensive line was made up of last year’s starters.
“Mello and David were running so fast around the edge, beating the tackle so bad, that they were running into each other before they hit the quarterback,” Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton said.
“I’m telling him to slow down, bro!” Height said with a laugh. “It takes me three seconds. It takes him 1½ seconds.”
Campbell, Texas Tech’s board chairman, was a starting offensive lineman for the Red Raiders during his playing days and tends to keep his eyes affixed on the line of scrimmage during games. As exciting as it was to piece together a highly touted portal class, Campbell’s objective from the start was winning in the trenches.
Once Bailey was on board, Campbell was confident they’d assembled the best defensive line in Texas Tech history. That’s what he’s seeing every Saturday.
“They didn’t miss on anybody,” Campbell said. “It helps a lot with keeping donors happy whenever they see that return on investment.”
All they’ve ever done during their careers is go above and beyond to help make up for the talent around them. They’re used to having to strain, sacrifice and do more for their team to be competitive.
“Let’s put them in an environment where now they’ve got dudes around them,” Blanchard said, “and let’s see what happens.”
As the Red Raiders made their way through the tunnel into Jones AT&T Stadium to a sold-out crowd for a Saturday night kickoff against Kansas earlier this season, Hunter ran beside Height and let out a roar.
IT’S A RACE to the quarterback every time Texas Tech’s defensive line gets an opportunity to rush the passer.
“Nobody’s looking at each other,” Height said. “We’re looking at the ball. It’s time to go get it. It’s money time.”
Against Kansas State on Saturday, Bailey burst past the Wildcats’ right tackle on a third down and crashed into quarterback Avery Johnson within 2.2 seconds. In the fourth quarter, Height hunted him down from behind for a sack and forced fumble that Tech linebacker John Curry scooped up for a score.
After a long afternoon of hard hits, scrambles and incompletions in a 43-20 defeat, Johnson was asked if Texas Tech’s D-line was as good as advertised.
“Uh, yeah, I would say so,” Johnson said. “That’s probably the best defense I’ve faced in my three years in college.”
Texas Tech has built a top-five scoring defense thanks to an overwhelming amount of pressure up front.
The Red Raiders have generated 175 pass rush pressures this season, according to ESPN Research, despite blitzing only 20% of the time. Bailey (46) and Height (37) rank first and third, respectively, in edge pressures this season, and Holmes ranks fourth in defensive tackle pressures (18) since stepping in for Gill-Howard, who’s sidelined after undergoing surgery for an ankle injury last month. Together, they’ve already broken Texas Tech’s single-game record with nine sacks against Kansas.