I am always quick to point out to Texas Tech fans it is your fandom, do with it what you want, but one of the more confusing bouts of hand wringing I have witnessed this week on Inside the Red Raiders message boards and social media is over multiple departures from a Red Raider offense many complained about all season.
I’m not going to bash the outgoing players. What they did this season is on film and I offered criticism on many of them during the season on the radio,
in copy and on videos. Instead, I’m going to recap who has left, share who will be taking their place and state why I think the offense might actually perform better than what we saw for most of the season.
The departures on offense include three starters; outside receiver Jerand Bradley, inside receiver Myles Price and left tackle Monroe Mills.
Veteran receiver Jordan Brown, who was just put on scholarship along with kicker Gino Garcia, will replace Bradley outside,
while Xavier White will continue as starter inside for Price, who missed the last couple games of the regular season with an unjury.
6-foot-6, 310-pound sophomore offensive lineman Ty Buchanan will replace Mills at left tackle. The rest of the starters–Jacoby Jackson at left guard,
Dennis Wilburn at center, Rusty Staats at right guard and Caleb Rogers at right tackle are expected to play. Cole Spencer, who was the original starter at left guard before suffering an injury, is also expected to be available.
I am also intrigued by the potential opportunity for some of the younger receivers to play in the bowl game with several veteran backups such as Loic Fouonji, JJ Sparkman,
Nehemiah Martinez and Tyler King all transferring out. True freshmen Kelby Valsin, D.J. Crest and T.J. West have all received praise from the coaching staff for their development and production in practice.
I can’t confirm all that, but can say I have seen Valsin make eye-popping catches in traffic at practices I attended before the season. I’m curious to see if it will translate in a real game under the lights.
My main reason for optimism heading into Texas Tech’s Independence Bowl matchup against Cal is the improved health of Behren Morton’s throwing Shoulder.
The sophomore toughed through a third-degree AC sprain to his throwing shoulder for most of the season, but is expected to be much improved with the time off between games.
“I think by the 16th, I would be shocked if Behren Morton is not 100-percent or at least as close as you can get,” said Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire on Sunday.
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