Sophomore cornerback Kobee Minor has the No. 3 jersey on the Texas Tech football team. Now he has competition from a hundred other players to keep it.

No. 3 was the jersey preferred by Luke Siegel, and Joey McGuire plans to award it to a player who best exhibits the fighting spirit displayed by the late son of former Tech tennis coach Tim Siegel.

"The guy that will come in in the fall wearing the number 3 will be the toughest, hardest-working, most competitive guy on the team," the new Tech coach said. "If it ends up being an (offensive) lineman, we'll just put a '3' on his helmet as a helmet sticker."

Luke Siegel was 15 when he died last August, six years after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a golf-cart accident. Tim Siegel regularly documented his son's ups and downs in recovery, which attracted widespread attention and led to the Team Luke Hope for Minds foundation that helps families of children who have had similar accidents.

"With the team already having a really good mindset with the fight like Luke, with Tim and the team already knowing his son who passed away," McGuire said, "the guy with the brand is going to wear number 3."

A team vote of coaches and players will determine who gets the number.

Without prompting, McGuire said safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and tight end Henry Teeter are leading candidates from what he's observed.

"Those two guys, if you went out and voted right now, the team would probably pick one of those two guys," McGuire said. "I could be wrong, but those two are the guys that really jump out at me."

NCAA rules allow more than one player to wear the same number as long as they aren't on the field at the same time. With Taylor-Demerson playing defense and Teeter offense, Tech conceivably could give No. 3 to both.

"You could. I think I'm going to go with one, but we could," McGuire said. "If the team wants that and feels strongly about it, then that's what we'll do."

At Luke Siegel's funeral, a decorative wreath depicted a "3" on a baseball.

"Whenever Tim told the story and talked about how tough (Luke was) and how he fought and everything, it kind of made me think, 'This is the brand,' " McGuire said. "This is who we're going to be, so that's kind of how we decided to do it."

McGuire said he told Minor not to give up No. 3 without a fight.

" 'I know you want to wear number 3,' " McGuire said he told Minor, "'so go make sure that everybody knows that you're the hardest worker on this team. Don't give it up just because.' "

Tech hired McGuire last November from Baylor, where he'd spent five years as an assistant. Former Bears coach Matt Rhule, who brought McGuire to Baylor, awarded single-digit numbers to players showing exceptional leadership and dedication.

Nos. 0 through 9 have subsequently been a coveted badge of honor for Bears players.

McGuire intended to do the same with the Red Raiders, but he backed off the idea.

The reason: He doesn't want to affect players who have a name, image and likeness agreement that trades on their single-digit jersey number.

"Whenever I came in, I was going to do that," McGuire said. "Then when you start looking at name, image, likeness ... I'm talking to Behren (Morton, who wears No. 2), and he's already got stuff with 2, and I'm like, 'Man, I don't want to mess with anybody like that.' "

Even so, several Tech players have switched to single-digit numbers this off-season. Among them are cornerback Rayshad Williams going from No. 12 to No. 0, running back Cam'Ron Valdez from No. 27 to No. 0, receiver Myles Price from No. 18 to No. 1 and safety Reggie Pearson from No. 22 to No. 2. In addition, receiver J.J. Sparkman is switching from No. 84 to No. 6, linebacker Kosi Eldridge from No. 20 to No. 6, and linebacker Jesiah Pierre from No. 16 to No. 8.

Not just anybody gets to do it, though.

"The one thing I did tell the guys when I came in," McGuire said, "I said, 'Guys, listen, if you want to start changing your number, you've got to earn it. I'm not going to change your number just because you want to change your number.'

"It's never going to be a situation either that some kid comes in here that's this stud high-school kid that thinks he's going to get a number over the guys that are already taking snaps in red and black."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Joey McGuire plans to make No. 3 Red Raiders' coveted jersey