Texas Tech's defensive line reaps benefits at NFL scouting combine

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.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez (21) speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Texas Tech defensive lineman Lee Hunter (15) speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Texas Tech defensive lineman David Bailey (31) speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Texas Tech defensive lineman David Bailey (31) speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts and Nevis (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday defended the Trump administration’s military operation to capture Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, telling Caribbean leaders, many of whom objected to that move, that the country and the region were better off as a result.

Speaking to leaders from the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc at a summit in the country of St. Kitts and Nevis, Rubio brushed aside concerns about the legality of Maduro’s capture last month that have been raised among Venezuela’s island-state neighbors and others.

“Irrespective of how some of you may have individually felt about our operations and our policy toward Venezuela, I will tell you this, and I will tell you this without any apology or without any apprehension: Venezuela is better off today than it was eight weeks ago,” Rubio told the leaders in a closed-door meeting, according to a transcript of his remarks later distributed by the U.S. State Department.

Rubio said that since Maduro’s ouster and the effective takeover of Venezuela’s oil sector by the United States, the interim authorities in the South American country have made “substantial” progress in improving conditions by doing “things that eight or nine weeks ago would have been unimaginable.”

The Caribbean leaders have gathered to debate pressing issues in a region that President Donald Trump has targeted for a 21st-century incarnation of the Monroe Doctrine meant to ensure Washington’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere. The Republican administration has declared a focus closer to home even as Washington increasingly has been preoccupied by the possibility of a U.S. military attack on Iran.

His trip to the region came as Cuba’s government announced that its soldiers killed four people aboard a speedboat registered in Florida whose occupants it said opened fire on officers in Cuban waters.

“Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It’s not something that happens every day. It’s something, frankly, that hasn’t happened with Cuba in a very long time,” Rubio told reporters. He said that the U.S. is gathering its own information and that "we’ll be prepared to respond accordingly.”

In his remarks to the group, America's top diplomat tried to play down any antagonistic intent in what Trump has referred to as the “Donroe Doctrine.” Rubio said the administration wants to strengthen ties with the region following the Venezuela operation and ensure that issues such as crime and economic opportunities are jointly addressed.

“I am very happy to be in an administration that’s giving priority to the Western Hemisphere after largely being ignored for a very long time,” Rubio said. “We share common opportunities, and we share some common challenges. And that’s what we hope to confront.”

He said transnational criminal organizations pose the biggest threat to the Caribbean while recognizing that many are buying weapons from the United States, a problem he said authorities are tackling.

Rubio also said the U.S. and the Caribbean can work together on economic advancement and energy issues, especially because many leaders at the four-day summit have energy resources they seek to explore. “We want to be your partner in that regard,” he said.

Rubio said the U.S. recognizes the need for fair, democratic elections in Venezuela, which lies just miles away from Trinidad and Tobago at the closest point.

“We do believe that a prosperous, free Venezuela who’s governed by a legitimate government who has the interests of their people in mind could also be an extraordinary partner and asset to many of the countries represented here today,” he said.

Trump, in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, called the operation that spirited Maduro out of Venezuela to face drug trafficking charges in New York “an absolutely colossal victory for the security of the United States.”

The U.S. had built up the largest military presence in the Caribbean Sea in generations before the Jan. 3 raid. That has now been exceeded by the surge of American warships and aircraft to the Middle East as the administration pressures Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program.

In the Caribbean, Trump has stepped up aggressive tactics to combat alleged drug smuggling with a series of strikes on boats that have killed over 150 people and he has tightened pressure on Cuba. Regional leaders have complained about administration demands for nations to accept third-country deportees and to chill relations with China.

One regional leader who has backed the U.S. escalation is Trinidad and Tobago Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Persad-Bisses­sar, whom Rubio thanked for her public support, the State Department said.

Persad-Bissessar told reporters that her conversation with Rubio focused on “Haiti; we talked about Cuba, of course; we talked about engagements with Venezuela and the way forward.”

She was asked if she considered the latest U.S. military strikes in Caribbean waters as extrajudicial killings: “I don’t think they are, and if they are, we will find out, but our legal advice is they are not.”

Rubio had other one-on-one meetings with heads of government, including those from St. Kitts and Nevis, Haiti, Jamaica and Guyana.

Terrance Drew, prime minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and chair of the Caribbean Community bloc, said the region “stands at a decisive hour” and that “the global order is shifting.”

Drew and other leaders said Cuba's humanitarian situation must be addressed.

“It must be clear that a prolonged crisis in Cuba will not remain confined to Cuba,” Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness warned. “It will affect migration, security and economic stability across the Caribbean basin.”

Rubio told reporters that he talked to Caribbean leaders about how the “Cuba status quo is unacceptable. Cuba needs to change.”

“What the Cuban people should know is this, that if they are hungry and they are suffering, it’s not because we’re not prepared to help them. We are. It’s that the people standing in the way of us helping them is the regime. It’s their communist party,” he said.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday slightly eased restrictions on the sale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which instituted austere fuel-saving measures in the weeks after the U.S. raid in Venezuela.

Coto reported from San José, Costa Rica. Associated Press reporter Anselm Gibbs in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, contributed to this report.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, center front in red tie, poses for a group photo with other government officials attending the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. Also pictured are, Bahamas' Prime Minister Philip Edward Davis, left, Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, fourth from right, Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister Gaston Browne, second from right, Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, second from left, Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness, front row third from left, and St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew, third from right. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, shakes hands with St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, which is hosting the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio waits to meet with St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Terrance Drew in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, which is hosting the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a thumbs up during the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plenary session in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, right, meets with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar during the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, front center, attends the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plenary session in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives before President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)