Texas Tech football players are accustomed to having cameras around their day-to-day operation in the form of Tech athletics' in-house creative services and social media staff. Over the past eight months, though, they've been followed by a crew shooting a docuseries on the Red Raiders. Now it's almost game day — for the show and for the football season. Paramount+ is scheduled to release "The Program: Texas Tech" on Friday, Sept. 4, the day before the Red Raiders' opener against Abilene Christian at Galaxy Stadium. All four parts are scheduled to drop on the same day. "I've seen a few of the trailers," Tech running back Cameron Dickey said this week. "As soon as the trailer came out, goosebumps just flooded, and I'm so excited to see it." More: Stars of Cedar Hill's 2006 state champs come to town for Joey McGuire More: Texas Tech football great Robert Hall, a quiet killer of pass defenses
The docuseries, headed by director and showrunner Micah Brown, has been in production since January. "It was definitely a neat experience," center Sheridan Wilson said. "It was a little awkward at times, because you're not really used to having a camera in your face all the time. Like, you break the huddle, you turn around (and) there's a guy with a camera — like, whoa, you know? But it was definitely a cool experience and I can't wait to watch it." The show's creative team got more than it bargained for. Shooting and interviews for the series were already more than three months along when expected starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who signed in January, left the team in late April for gambling addiction treatment and ultimately parted ways with the program. Promotional material describes how "The Program: Texas Tech" goes behind the scenes with the Red Raiders "during an off-season that could redefine college football, capturing head coach Joey McGuire's race to reinvent the team and build a new identity around a prized transfer quarterback whose future suddenly hangs in the balance." Actor Dennis Quaid narrates the shows. Skydance Sports and Second Wind Creative produced the series, which includes interviews with McGuire, Sorsby and Texas Tech University System Board of Regents Chairman Cody Campbell. "It's been awesome," McGuire said of the relationship with Paramount+. "We get to … preview a lot of stuff. They've been a great partner, and so some of it's painful to relive, but I think our fans and the rest of the country are going to really enjoy it. But (they're) a most professional group, and they've become part of our family."
McGuire said the series reveals an unvarnished side that he called "a very animated coach McGuire." "I think our fan base and the rest of the world that aren't in this building every single day is going to see a different side of me and a part that our players know," McGuire said. "Whenever I'm outside the white lines, I have a lot of fun. I joke a lot, usually pre-practice. But man, when we start competing inside the white lines, the intensity ramps up tremendously, and I expect that out of our players." Tech finished a 12-2 season with a 23-0 loss to Oregon at the Orange Bowl, a quarterfinal of the College Football Playoff. McGuire said having to bounce back from that and go through the Sorsby drama has "made this team a lot closer." With Sorsby gone and Will Hammond having healed from a season-ending knee injury last year, Hammond is expected to start the season opener. "Just being able to showcase the team and the culture that we've got is really important to me," Hammond said, "so I'm excited for that to be shown." This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football players, staff eager to see Paramount+ docuseries