WOODROW — Joey McGuire has a deep admiration for West Texas high school football. Such is reflected in Texas Tech’s roster.
These days, the Red Raiders head coach doesn’t have to go far to take in a night of high-end talent.
Pirate Stadium featured plenty of Division I talent during Friday’s Frenship-Lubbock-Cooper game. In fact, two Tech pledges stood on opposing sidelines. They gave Red Raiders fans on both sides reason for excitement.
Frenship’s Leyton Stone and Cooper’s Michael Dever helped their teams light up the scoreboard in a 51-42 win by the Tigers. The senior receivers are verbally committed to be teammates under McGuire.
Each led his team in receiving yards and netted two touchdowns. It was certainly a duel worthy of the big stage the players will join next year.
“There was a huge game in Lubbock, Texas, this week with Frenship and Cooper,” McGuire said Monday. “After the fact I was like, man, I wish I would have pushed to put that in Jones AT&T (Stadium) because that would have been a cool atmosphere for that game. The one thing I do love, I love this football out here.”
Stone hauled in seven passes for 174 yards. He showed his speed with four catches of 25-plus yards. Even more memorable, Stone finished 4-0 against rival Cooper.
“I’m sure they’re ready for him to graduate,” Frenship coach Jay Northcutt said postgame. “I can remember when he was a sophomore he caught four touchdowns and almost single-handedly won that really close game.”
Dever went for 147 yards on six grabs. He wiggled his way through the final 10 yards of a 24-yard score and later made an acrobatic catch on a jump ball in the end zone.
“He made some great plays,” Stone said. “I can’t wait to play with him.”
Frenship teammate Chase Campbell joined in the fireworks. He matched Stone with seven catches for 133 yards and two TDs, including a 65-yard deep strike. Campbell, a two-sport star in the class of 2026, holds an offer from Tech football, among others.
Wherever Campbell ends up, Cooper coach Chip Darden knew exactly what he was watching Friday.
“(Frenship) has two Power 5 receivers that are as good as anybody in the state,” Darden said. “And I think we’ve got one, too. I think there were three receivers that are about as good as anybody’s got in the state.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football recruits put on show in Frenship-Lubbock-Cooper
