Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire can't knock Mike Dingle for a shortage of enthusiasm. The second-semester freshman linebacker didn't play a lot Saturday in a 41-3 victory against Tarleton State, but he played early and made himself conspicuous by throwing his body around.

"Kind of typical Dingle," McGuire said Monday. "It's funny. Coach Kittley, Wes Kittley, always talks about he's a bull in a china closet and has no fear. If he doesn't go over the hurdle, he'll go through the hurdle. That's kind of how he plays the game."

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound inside linebacker doubles as a hurdler on the Tech track and field team. In February, Dingle finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles at the Big 12 indoor championships with a time of 7.85 seconds.

Saturday was his first playing time in a Tech football game. He was credited with one solo tackle and two assists.

McGuire said after spring football Brenden Jordan and Dingle were two freshmen least likely to redshirt, Dingle because his speed made him a special-teams candidate.

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Jordan has been the top backup since spring at Star safety and wound up starting the first two games when Julien (C.J.) Baskerville went into the season opener at Wyoming dealing with turf toe and then suffered a broken wrist in the same game.

Dingle and Jordan joined the team in January. So did 6-foot-5, 250-pound defensive end Dylan Spencer, who also might be hard to redshirt. McGuire said Spencer is reminding him of end Isaac Smith, who blossomed late last season but suffered a season-ending knee injury in August.

"He's very strong," defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said, "he's got some natural pass-rush ability and when he fully develops and gets a little more size to him, he's going to be a really strong force as an edge player for us, both in the run game and in the pass game."

Spencer, described by McGuire as "one of the most physical kids I've been around," is playing field end behind starter Myles Cole.

Spencer, from Class 6A Houston King, was a unanimous state top-100 prospect among recruiting services. Tech took him away from Texas just before the December signing period.

DeRuyter said Spencer's development "has been gradual, but you see bursts where it's like, 'He's different.' "

McGuire said he wants to keep safeties Chapman Lewis and Jordan Sanford in the four-game redshirt window, provided depth allows.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How Dingle, Spencer are emerging among Texas Tech football freshmen