LAS VEGAS — Heralded freshman receiver Micah Hudson is gradually increasing his workout regimen to be ready for the beginning of Texas Tech football preseason practice on July 31, coach Joey McGuire said Tuesday.

Hudson underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in January for an injury that dated to his high-school career at Temple Lake Belton.

"Micah did everything yesterday, just in half volume," McGuire said. "So anything the players did yesterday — running, lifting, routes, anything like that — he did. Just, he's doing half the volume.

"We'll increase him to three-quarters of the volume going into next week, and then next week he'll be past six months (from the surgery). So we'll start increasing him as we go so he's good to go during camp. ... He'll be on the field the first day of camp."

McGuire made the comments during the two-day Big 12 football media days at Allegiant Stadium.

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Hudson, 6-foot and 195 pounds, is No. 16 in the nation and No. 4 in Texas in the 247Sports composite index of top recruits for incoming freshmen. In four varsity seasons, Hudson caught 202 passes for 3,885 yards and 47 touchdowns while rushing for 1,243 yards and 11 TDs.

McGuire is breaking policy in allowing Hudson to wear jersey No. 1 for the Red Raiders after saying two years ago that a "stud high-school kid" wouldn't get a coveted single-digit jersey over players who "are already taking snaps in red and black."

McGuire explained the reversal in May, saying Dezmon Briscoe, DaMarkus Lodge, Quincy Adeboyejo and Charleston Rambo "can't compare to Micah Hudson." McGuire coached the other four at Cedar Hill, and they all went on to productive college careers and time in pro football. On Tuesday, he called Hudson a "generational" talent.

Among others coming back from injury, tight end Jalin Conyers (broken foot) and defensive tackle James Hansen (calf strain) are medically cleared after missing spring practice. Deep snapper Jackson Knotts continues trending toward an early-season return.

"He's in great shape," McGuire said of Knotts. "He's not fully released, but everything that (head athletic trainer) Mike Ramirez has said, he feels like he's fully released week one, so going into the Abilene Christian game (Aug. 31). He'll get some practice before then. He's snapping, but ... we don't have him cutting and stuff like that."

Knotts underwent surgery for three torn knee ligaments he suffered in the 2023 regular-season finale. A senior, he's been the Red Raiders' first-team deep snapper since his first game as a true freshman.

Linebacker Mike Dingle, sidelined since midseason, had a checkup Monday. Though McGuire had not learned the result yet from Ramirez, he said, "Dingle sent me a text yesterday. He was really happy with how it went. Dingle would tell me if he wasn't happy. ... I expect him to be cleared."

The redshirt freshman has been withheld from contact since October with what McGuire has described as a shoulder problem and "continuous stingers."

Tech coaches have decided to use Dingle at inside linebacker and redshirt freshman Marcus Ramon-Edwards at star, the field safety/outside linebacker. During spring practice, Dingle worked at star and Ramon-Edwards at boundary safety. The two-deep at the latter position has Julien (C.J.) Baskerville and TCU transfer Javeon Wilcox.

Ramon-Edwards will slide into the mix at star with A.J. McCarty and Brenden Jordan.

Regarding the deployment for Ramon-Edwards, McGuire said, "We felt that Javeon Wilcox had such a good spring, it looks like he's going to be the number-two boundary safety. And so we don't want to just stack guys. We want to give guys opportunities to play. There might be a few more reps at star."

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This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football: Micah Hudson status, other rehabbing players