What Darrion Williams Return Means for Texas Tech
Darrion Williams commits to Texas Tech
Darrion Williams Is Back, and Texas Tech's Roster Might Be the Best in Program History
One year after he left, Darrion Williams is a Red Raider again.
Texas Tech officially announced the signing of Williams, the forward who helped carry the program to the 2025 Elite Eight, confirming he will transfer back to Lubbock for a fifth and final season. It caps a whirlwind year that took him from Texas Tech to NC State and back, and it hands Grant McCasland arguably the most talented roster of his tenure.
The Obstacle
Williams' path back to Texas Tech runs through federal court. He is one of dozens of players from the 2022 high school graduating class caught in the middle of a legal fight over the NCAA's five-year eligibility rule. A preliminary injunction from U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney in Colorado cleared a path for those players to compete for an extra season. Williams is also suing the NCAA in Texas over this same issue.
The NCAA has appealed the Colorado ruling, but I would be shocked if it gets overturned. Texas Tech seems to think the same. The are proceeding as if it will hold, and the program has already added another player under the same ruling: UCF transfer forward Jamichael Stillwell.
What he brings back
Williams isn't a reclamation project. He's a proven Big 12 performer who already has multiple signature moments in a Texas Tech uniform.
After starting his career at Nevada in 2022-23, Williams transferred to Texas Tech and immediately became a focal point of the offense. He averaged 11.4 points and 7.5 rebounds as a first-year Red Raider in 2023-24, led the team with nine double-doubles and earned Third-Team All-Big 12 and Big 12 All-Newcomer honors.
He was even better the following season. Williams averaged 15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 2024-25, earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors and turned in the signature stretch of his college career during Texas Tech's run to the Elite Eight. He averaged 21.0 points over the Red Raiders' final three tournament games, including a 23-point performance against eventual national champion Florida in the regional final.
Williams left for NC State last offseason, choosing Will Wade's rebuild over Kansas and Ohio State after briefly testing the NBA draft waters. He was named the Preseason ACC Player of the Year, but Williams' lone season in Raleigh was a down year. He still averaged 14.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists and earned All-ACC Honorable Mention recognition, short of the star turn many expected.
Williams entered the 2026 NBA draft, went unselected and did not play in summer league. Instead, he's back in Lubbock. He is ready to come back and finish what he started in Lubbock just a few years ago.
Texas Tech’s Roster
Williams doesn't return to a rebuilding program. He returns to one that just finished 23-11, made its third straight NCAA Tournament appearance under McCasland and got there despite losing All-American JT Toppin to a torn ACL in February.
Toppin is expected back in 2026-27 and I believe he will return around November or December. He tore his ACL against Arizona State on Feb. 17 while averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.4 blocks a game, numbers that had him on pace for a second straight Big 12 Player of the Year season. McCasland said Aug. 1 that Toppin's rehab is going "awesome" but that he won't be ready anywhere close to the start of the season.
Around Toppin and Williams, McCasland has rebuilt the roster through the portal:
Cruz Davis (Hofstra) averaged 20.1 points, 4.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds last season and was named CAA Player of the Year.
Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn (UNLV) led the Mountain West in scoring at 20.7 points per game.
Jamichael Stillwell (UCF) averaged 11.6 points and 8.1 rebounds with nine double-doubles.
Damarion Dennis (Wyoming) averaged 11.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists on 52% shooting and earned All-Mountain West Honorable Mention honors.
DaKari Spear, a four-star freshman guard out of Dallas' Dynamic Prep, is McCasland's highest-ranked signee since taking over the program and is expected to play a huge role this season.
Josiah Moseley returns after averaging 5.5 points and 3.6 rebounds last season, and has a chance to be the most improved player from last season’s team.
Texas Tech is also still chasing Malian big man Bassala Bagayoko, and 2022-class guard Donovan Atwell could return under the same eligibility ruling that brought back Williams and Stillwell. Neither is finalized. At least yet…
the best roster in texas tech history?
McCasland is 74-31 in three seasons in Lubbock with three straight NCAA Tournament trips, but the program's ceiling has always been measured against the 2019 national runner-up run and the 2025 Elite Eight. If McCasland can bring back Donovan Atwell, land international big man Bassala Bagayoko and get Toppin back on the floor, this group has a real case to be the most talented roster McCasland, or the program, has ever put together.
The pieces are there for Texas Tech to open the season in the national title conversation. The question is how fast we can put them all on the floor at once.
