INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Texas Tech had the best college defensive line money could buy last season.

Ends David Bailey and Romello Height each had double-digit sacks totals and were ranked among the top 15 in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Tackles Lee Hunter and Skyler Gill-Howard each relished their opportunities to take on blockers and let teammates fill in the gaps.

The immediate payoff came with the Red Raiders celebrating their first outright league title since 1955, their first Big 12 crown and their first College Football Playoff appearance.

Four of the five transfers who helped transform Texas Tech into a national power received a different reward — appearing at the NFL's annual scouting combine in Indianapolis.

“All five of those guys we had come in, they’re really good football players, tremendous football players, and pretty much they’re all here getting ready for the combine,” former teammate Jacob Rodriguez said Wednesday.

"Shoot, they’re even better human beings. The people that they care about, the way they came in the program and made a difference in the program was really special.”

Rodriguez benefitted, too.

Playing behind the speedy pass rushers and big, beefy interior linemen, the linebacker had the best season of his college career — 128 tackles, seven forced fumbles, four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. His draft prospects soared and Rodriguez finished fifth in Heisman Trophy balloting.

Still, it was a costly proposition for Texas Tech, which paid an estimated $7 million to get the five game-changing linemen. Nearly half of that total reportedly went to Bailey, who some dubbed the highest-paid defensive player in college football's NIL era.

Bailey, of course, insists he was worth every penny and few at Texas Tech would quibble with him given the results.

“They should have paid the inside linebackers a little bit more,” he said. “They were the leaders of the defense, everything ran through them."

For combine observers, this is life in a new world — one where more than 300 invitees no longer arrive dreaming of big paydays and joking about how some players might pocket less cash after turning pro.

“I never had to deal with that,” 53-year-old New York Jets coach Aaron Glenn said, discussing the absence of NIL deals during his college days in the early 1990s. “I do know it's a real thing and a lot of these players are taking pay cuts (to play in the NFL). But I will say this is what they deserve, probably, because of the amount of money they bring to the college.”

Just how much has changed?

Wednesday's interview room could have doubled as an entrepreneurs roundtable.

At one point, defensive tackle Cam Ball explained why he spent all five seasons at Arkansas and how he's attempting to honor his late father's passion for barbecuing. Ball grew up moving grills for his father's Atlanta-based catering company and once his NIL deals kicked in, he continued to help his father though no longer needed need the paycheck.

Today, eight months after his father, Charles, died, Ball and his girlfriend are still cooking. Ball continues to perfect his secret, vinegar-based sauce with seasonings and trimmings his father taught him, while his girlfriend takes care of things such as baked beans and macaroni and cheese.

“Every now and then I would help with the grills on his truck, I started to become more curious about it,” Ball said, with a large silver chain and a large photo of his father dangling near his heart. “When I got to college, I started experimenting on my own how to do things, how to cook, how to season meats because he taught me how to do all those things. We had NIL in my second or third year, so I didn't really need the money, I just wanted to get the experience.”

Former Bearcats defensive tackle Dontay Corleone, naturally, has an NIL deal with a Cincinnati restaurant that features “The Godfather” burger.

And Hunter explained how he'd used his NIL money to buy his mother a house and a car, to care for his 5-year-old daughter, Kaylee, and to help his brother start a trucking business by purchasing two 18-wheelers.

“It feels amazing,” Hunter said. “There's still more, now I'm working to get (my brother) a bigger truck. That's my goal, to provide for my family and the people I love.”

Texas Tech gave Hunter that opportunity last season and he and the school both cashed in. Now the question is will that continue in the NFL?

While Bailey could be a top-five selection and Hunter and Rodriguez are both ranked in the top 10 at their respective positions, the futures of Height and Gill-Howard are more uncertain. But at Texas Tech, there's no doubt about their overall value.

“I think we had the best defensive front in the country this year. It was a lot of fun to play behind those guys and play with them,” Rodriguez said. “They should have paid them more, I guess. They were as advertised and better.”

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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek never uttered the name Fernando Mendoza while speaking at the NFL's annual scouting combine Tuesday.

He didn't need to.

As Spytek ran through the list of traits he needs in a franchise quarterback — humility, selflessness, a relentless student of the game, capable of setting the tone in the locker room — it seemed he was using the same words and phrases so often used to describe Mendoza by his college teammates during last season's Heisman Trophy campaign.

And for the team holding the No. 1 pick in April's NFL draft, selecting Mendoza only seems natural.

"It's such a hard game, your competitive spirit has to run really high,” Spytek said. “You've got to be willing to play through, you know, tough circumstances and to me, it always goes back to the love of the game. The guys that truly love football, they love to practice, they love to prepare, they love to watch film, they love to play hurt, so I think those things are kind of uncompromising.”

Mendoza showed all that and more in his only season at Indiana. He demonstrated his moxie with an incredible last-minute throw to beat Penn State; missed only one play of the Big Ten championship game after getting injured on his first throw; and twisted his way into the end zone for the decisive score in the national championship game at Miami.

The Raiders certainly could use some of that magic after using 10 different starting quarterbacks over the past four seasons. They haven't had a clear-cut franchise quarterback since Derek Carr was released in February 2023.

Geno Smith was supposed to fill the void after being acquired in a trade last offseason, but a 10-game losing streak sent the Raiders spiraling to a 3-14 mark, putting Smith's future with the franchise in peril.

Now, Las Vegas is looking for a fresh start.

The Raiders fired coach Pete Carroll and replaced him with Klint Kubiak, the offensive coordinator for Super Bowl champion Seattle, and now have a chance to find the perfect pairing for running back Ashton Jeanty, last year's first-round pick.

"I think you want to limit the amount of pressure you have on that guy from the start,” Spytek said. “I'm not necessarily in favor of running him out there right away, either. So, you know, having another quality player that can play the quarterback position could help. You have a young quarterback, you want to have a great offensive line, a run game, all the things that can like really limit his chances to have him really get killed — and a great defense, too.”

The Raiders believe the centerpiece of their defense will continue to be Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby, who has been the subject of trade speculation this offseason. Spytek said Tuesday he speaks routinely with Crosby as he rehabs at team headquarters and that he expects Crosby to be in a Vegas uniform next fall.

But will he be joined by Mendoza, who led what had been the losing-est program in FBS history to Indiana's first national championship in a season filled with highlights?

While Spytek said he will listen to trade offers and won't put need ahead of value, it sure seems like Mendoza would be the perfect match for Las Vegas — right down to Mendoza's Boston roots and his embrace of Raiders co-owner Tom Brady, who played for both the Patriots and in Florida, where Mendoza attended high school.

“I think whoever is playing quarterback for the Raiders has a unique opportunity to learn from the best,” Spytek said. “You know, Tom's got a lot of humility to him, and just because he did it a certain way, he doesn't have expectations that you do it that way. too. But there are some things he's uncompromising on, and I think that whoever the quarterback is for the Raiders, I think Tom is a great resource.”

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