"Can any of you guys kick?"

Kenny Perry's question on Monday to a group of reporters may have seemed rhetorical, but it's an inquiry the Texas Tech football team's associate head coach and special teams coordinator has to ponder heading into the 2024 season.

Coming off the 2023 campaign, it seemed like easy money that sixth-year senior Gino Garcia would remain the field goal kicker for the Red Raiders. Garcia missed four of his seven attempts in Tech's first two games of the season, both single-digit losses, before bouncing back to end the year strong, hitting nine of his last 10 tries.

Garcia told the Avalanche-Journal recently that he changed some aspects to his approach during spring practice, which didn't lead to results he hoped for. That left the door open for Reece Burkhardt, who had how had a game-tying 54-yarder and a game-winning 43-yard kick during the spring game in April.

Fast forward four months and not much has changed. Texas Tech has a full-fledged kicking competition in its hands.

"We've had good days and bad days," Perry said. "There's definitely competition. One day Gino does good, the next Reese does good. I wish someone would take it, to be honest with you. We've got a good football team. We've just got to get to the point where. ... we can't start like last year."

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Burkhardt has never attempted a field goal during a game. Now in his fifth year of college — the first three at UAB before joining Texas Tech last season — the Andalusia, Alabama, native has had 214 kickoffs in his career. The way things are going, he could add field goals to his game duties.

Head coach Joey McGuire said Saturday that Garcia was the better kicker in the team's first scrimmage of preseason camp, but Burkhardt had been ahead in the competition before that. Perry said he's not overly concerned at this point, and has considered using both kickers to start the season. He used a similar approach during the 2022 season when Garcia and Trey Wolff were battling for the spot.

Wolf ultimately took the job after a 2-for-3 showing against Houston, including the game-tying kick to send the game into overtime. Perry hopes either Garcia or Burkhardt will make a statement like that in the near future.

"I'm hoping," Perry said, "that one of them can just come in and say, hey, I'm the guy and they make the kicks."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football's kicking competition heating up