Joel Filani was really good for Mike Leach and his Air Raid offense. Really good. During the 2005 season, Filani managed to be the only receiving threat to rack up more than 1000 receiving yards on the season. That held true again in 2006, but that’s not necessarily the interesting note. As part of that success from Filani in 2006, he managed to join a pretty small group of TTU football players.
At the time, actually, he was literally half of said group. During the 2006 Texas Tech football season, Filani joined Wes Welker as the only Red Raiders in the history of the program to record multiple seasons where they had over 1000 yards receiving.
That seems absurd and a little impossible when you think about all of the talented wide receivers that have been coached in Lubbock, but that’s where we are right now. More would eventually join that group (we’ll get there soon enough), but at this time in 2006, it was just Filani and Welker.
Texas Tech football history: Joel Filani joined Wes Welker as the only Red Raiders with multiple 1000 yard receiving seasons
Just like in 2005, Filani proved to be a reliable and consistent receiving threat for the Red Raiders. But, unlike 2005, Filani had a handful of games with over 100 yards receiving.
Against UT-El Paso, Filani caught 10 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. When facing the Texas A&M Aggies a few weeks later down the line, Filani managed to snag 10 passes for 154 yards and another touchdown. The following week, Filani caught 11 passes for 114 yards and a touchdown against Missouri.
When facing the Baylor Bears in November of 2006, Filani caught eight passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Then, to wrap up the season, Filani caught 11 passes for 162 yards and a touchdown.
In total, Filani had 91 receptions which he was able to turn into 1300 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns during the 2006 season.