The Texas Tech football team would take back Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford in a heartbeat.

The Red Raiders knew what to expect from the reliable pair of defensive tackles who made 95 college starts between them.

Nevertheless, Tech coach Joey McGuire needs to see more push up the middle from the defensive front than the Red Raiders got last season. That was one of McGuire's several takeaways from the coaching staff's rigorous self-evaluation in February when they rewatched every game from 2023.

"When we rushed four," McGuire said in an interview with the Avalanche-Journal, "the pocket of the quarterback, we might get pressure on them, but we're not hitting them. The pocket, it was almost a U with no pressure in the middle. So (the conclusion was), 'We've got to change the way we rush in the middle.' "

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Texas Tech football plans to challenge pass protection with more loops, twists

One of the solutions: Run more twists, stunts and loops with the defensive line. The Red Raiders used those tactics more in 2022, the first year for both McGuire and defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter on the Texas Tech staff, than they did last season.

Upon further review, when they did it last season, it yielded some results.

"When we started running more games with our (front) four," McGuire said, "we were either hitting the quarterback or getting more pressure on him — minus a couple of games where we were playing bad (offensive) tackles. And so we really worked in the spring on the way we're going to affect the pocket. I think we really came out ahead."

Bradford led the Red Raiders with four sacks last season. Hutchings and end Myles Coles were next 3½ apiece. All three completed their eligibility.

Along with being more strategic up front, McGuire said the Red Raiders need to rethink bringing pressure from their inside linebackers, noting that position group produced only 1½ sacks. McGuire suggested, and inside linebacker Ben Roberts agreed, that Roberts and Jacob Rodriguez are better suited to drop into coverage and break on the ball.

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In spring practice, the increased use of twists and stunts was noticeable to at least one of the returning defensive tackles.

"We did much more of that," Quincy Ledet said at the end of July. "We're really just trying to get our timing down. From the spring, I feel like we're real comfortable with each other.

"We had a problem with level rushing last year during the season. So the twist games and stuff like that are going to help us get to the quarterback better and keep us on our right rush paths."

Tim DeRuyter thinks Texas Tech football could be more athletic up front

A big theme of the Tech staff's offseason self-study was to better recognize and maximize what the Red Raiders do well, both as a team and as individual players, and to get away from calls they don't do well.

"Last year, I don't think we mixed the pass rush up enough," McGuire said. "Or we didn't recognize when we did mix it up, that's where we were most effective. So that's something that we're good at. We've got to do more of that."

DeRuyter didn't disagree.

"Sometimes you don't see the forest through the trees while you're trying to get ready for games," he said Thursday, "and you're trying to see, what were the issues of why we didn't defend things as well as we should have?

"I should have seen it quicker, but we weren't crowding the ball as well as we needed to last year. We were off the ball a little too much. Depending on a certain call, if you're moving, you want a little bit of space to be able to get there, but too many times when we were trying to get off the ball and get forward we're still off the ball too much."

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DeRuyter's optimistic the Red Raiders can affect opposing passers more this season for another reason: Though Tech's defensive tackles are less experienced, he thinks some look more athletic.

He singled out Ledet, Jayden Cofield, Dooda Banks, Braylon Rigsby and Rice transfer De'Braylon Carroll as defensive tackles who have shown the ability to get a push up the middle.

"We've got guys who have a little bit more twitch than what we've had in the past," DeRuyter said. "We're getting them to crowd the ball and get that push in the middle and not fly by on the edge of the quarterback. And so putting that all together and putting a quarterback in a situation where he's got to feel the squeeze of the pocket and make a throw is something we've been coaching up, and I think we're getting better at."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football hopes to unlock pass rush with stunts up front