Since Mike Leach took over as Texas Tech’s head coach before the 2000 season, the Red Raiders have had one of the most defined identities in all of college football. Leach, who comes from the Hal Mumme school of “Air Raid” offenses, implemented an offensive system in Lubbock that has resonated for two decades.
Even when Leach was unceremoniously fired toward the end of the 2009 season, the high-flying Red Raider offense continued piling up points and passing yards. Whether it was Kliff Kingsbury or B.J. Symons or Graham Harrell or Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech’s quarterbacks have been among the most prolific in the country year in and year out since the 21st century began.
Kingsbury, who posted a 35-40 record over the last six seasons as the head coach of his alma mater before jumping to the Arizona Cardinals in the off-season, became the second college quarterback to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a single season when he did it in 2002.
Symons shattered the all-time single-season record of 5,188 held by BYU’s Ty Detmer for 13 seasons when he ripped off 5,833 yards in 2003.
Harrell is still fourth in career passing yards in NCAA history after throwing for 15,793 between 2005 and 2008.
Mahomes threw for 11,252 yards and 93 touchdowns in his career, including 5,052 yards and 41 touchdowns as a junior before becoming a first-round NFL Draft pick in 2016. Last season, Mahomes was the NFL MVP thanks to one of the greatest seasons by a quarterback in league history.
With Kingsbury also gone to the NFL, it remains to be seen if the Red Raiders continue to use the same formula that helped them to 15 bowl games in the last 19 seasons.
Matt Wells takes over after six seasons as the head coach at Utah State. During last season’s 11-2 campaign, the Aggies set a school record by averaging 47.5 points per game. USU did it with a balanced attack that rushed the ball 480 times for an average of 203.2 yards per game and threw the ball 465 total times for 294.2 yards per game.
The Wells era opens on Saturday in Lubbock against a Montana State team with rising expectations entering head coach Jeff Choate’s fourth season. The Bobcats have a deep and experienced roster that includes five former transfers from Power 5 conferences slated to start.
Texas Tech has 85 scholarships to Montana State’s 63 and will be opening a new chapter under a new head coach in a stadium that sits more than 60,000 against an MSU team with a redshirt freshman quarterback in Casey Bauman making his first career start.
The presumed talent disparity is only part of the challenge for the Bobcats.
“The two biggest challenges are one, the heat in Texas because you can’t really simulate that here in Bozeman and two, they have the new coaching staff so you have to watch some Utah State film to get some schemes and formations but then you have to watch Texas Tech to get the personnel, scouting side,” MSU senior captain strong safety Brayden Konkol said on August 22. “That’s a little challenging but nothing major.”
In less than a week, Montana State will meet those challenges head on. Kickoff from Lubbock is slated for 3 p.m. CST.
“You can’t make mistakes and you have to be really dialed in with your preparation,” MSU senior captain wide receiver Kevin Kassis said. “Those guys down there are going to be fast, physical so we have to be able to execute and be able to handle the hostile environment.”
QUICK HITS
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Nickname: Red Raiders
Founded: 1923. The Carnegie high-research institution offers degrees in more than 150 courses of study and specializes in research in of epidemiology, pulsed power, grid computing, nanophotonics, atmospheric sciences, and wind energy. The university has the seventh-largest enrollment in the state of Texas.
Enrollment: 38,209 including 31,957 undergraduates with an endowment of $1.3 billion.
Stadium: Jones AT&T Stadium, previously known as the Clifford B and Audrey Jones Stadium, was originally built in 1947, most recently renovated in 2010 and most recently expanded to its current capacity of 60,454.
The Coach: Matt Wells, first season at Texas Tech. The former Utah State quarterback returned to his alma mater in 2011 as the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator 15 years after graduating. Wells served as an assistant on Gary Andersen’s staff for two seasons before taking over as head coach in 2013.
In six seasons at the helm, Wells posted a 44-34 record that included a 30-18 mark in Mountain West Conference play. The Aggies won the Mountain West in Wells’ first and last seasons. Last fall, Utah State went 10-2, including 7-1 in league and posted a 52-13 win over North Texas in the New Mexico Bowl.
THE OFFENSE – Players to watch
Alan Bowman, quarterback, sophomore, 6-3, 210 — Bowman has basically been the starting quarterback since his first day of high school in Grapevine, Texas. That is, until the talented sophomore got hurt with four games left in the 2018 season.
During his four years as a starting quarterback at Grapevine High, the former 3-star recruit threw for 11,393 yards and 119 touchdowns. He won the starting job by the second week of last season and completed 69.4 percent of his passes for 2,638 yards and 17 touchdowns during his seven weeks as the starter. He did not throw his first career interception (he only threw seven last season) until his 151st passing attempt.
During his second career start, Bowman threw for 605 yards and five touchdowns, setting a par of BigXII records in a 63-49 vicotry. He fell just five yards short of the NCAA rookie record for passing yards in a game. His 329.8 passing yards per game set a Texas Tech single-season record.
T.J. Vasher, wide receiver, junior, 6-6, 210 —Vasher earned recognition on the national scene for his highlight-reel catch against Ole Miss last season. The one-handed snagged earned him an ESPY nomination for “Play of the Year”.
Of Vasher’s 54 catches last season he earned a first down or caught a touchdown on 75 percent of the receptions. He finished the season with 687 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches. He caught at least three passes for at least 60 yards in all but two games last season.
In his career, Vasher has 85 catches for 1,241 yards and 13 touchdowns. As a prep star coming out of Wichita Falls, Texas, the long, athletic jumping jack had multiple Division I offers to play basketball as well as football offers from Ohio State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Houston, North Texas and SMU.
Jack Anderson, offensive guard, junior, 6-5, 320 — The former high school All-American chose Texas Tech over offers from Georgia, LSU, Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Stanford, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Nebraska and Kansas State. Since joining the Red Raiders, he has fulfilled that potential and then some.
He became the first Texas Tech player to earn Freshman All-American honors since quarterback Davis Webb did five years ago. The gigantic, powerful Anderson became the first Red Raider offensive linemen to earn All-Big XII honors last season in four years.
The rising NFL prospect enters his junior year with 25 straight starts under his belt at right guard. If Anderson can recover from off-season shoulder surgery that kept him out of spring practices and limited during summer workouts, he could be a top 50 NFL Draft pick as early as next spring.
THE DEFENSE – Players to watch
Broderick Washington Jr., defensive tackle, senior, 6-3, 305 — The two-time honorable mention all-conference selection enters his third year as a starter hyped as one of the best run-stopping interior defensive linemen in the league.
Over the last three seasons, Washington has totaled 99 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and six sacks. His seven tackles for loss last season tied for the Texas Tech lead.
The returning team captain is again expected to be the tone setter for the Red Raiders defense and a handful on Saturday for Montana State’s offensive line.
Jordyn Brooks, linebacker, senior, 6-1, 245 —Brooks, one of the Top 50 prep linebacker recruits in the country coming out of Stratford High in Houston, has been nothing but a tackling machine since arriving in Lubbock.
The fast, physical inside linebacker has led Texas Tech in tackles twice over the last three seasons. His career-high single-season total of 89 did not lead the Red Raiders two seasons ago.
So far in his career, he has 259 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, four sacks, two interceptions, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Last season, he notched a team-high 85 tackles, a team-high 7.5 tackles for loss and added three sacks.
Adrian Frye, defensive back, sophomore, 6-1, 195 — The Houston native earned first-team All-Big XII and Freshman All-American honors last season as a cornerback by averaging 1.5 passes defended per game. He snared five interceptions and broke up 13 more passes during his standout true freshman year. All three of those totals ranked first in the Big XII and among the Top 10 nationally.
A year after becoming the first Texas Tech freshman to earn first-team all-league honors since Michael Crabtree in 2007, Frye has move from cornerback to safety to fill a need. One source who has watched Frye during Texas Tech’s most recent camp said “He’s made it look easy” when referencing the transition.
Photos courtesy of Lee Green and Texas Tech Athletic Communications. All Rights Reserved.
