Texas Tech Football Will Not Miss Breiden Fehoko

Former Texas Tech defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko has announced that he will transfer to LSU but this is not a devastating loss to the Red Raiders.

We’ve all been told that if something seems too good to be true then it likely is. For a Texas Tech defense desperate for difference-makers, the addition of 4-star All-American defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko (who seemed to be as full of Red Raider pride as any recruit in recent memory) was indeed fool’s gold.

After just two years, Fehoko’s time in Lubbock came to an end in January when he unexpectedly announced his intention to leave the program. On Monday, he made known that he will be transferring to LSU where he will sit out 2017 per NCAA transfer rules.

On the surface, the loss of a former 4-star recruit seems catastrophic for a defense that has ranked number 127 and 128 nationally in total defense the past two seasons. But the truth is that Fehoko’s play did not live up to the hype that accompanied him out of high school and his absence will hardly be felt on the field.

Breiden Fehoko came to Texas Tech with higher expectations than any recruit in the past two decades. So, it was likely that he was never going to meet most fans’ high hopes.

However, he didn’t even develop into anything more than a rotational piece on the worst statistical defense in the county. Despite the promise he once held, he will soon be forgotten; nothing more than ghost of expectation past.

In his two years at Texas Tech, Fehoko started every game. So, it is fair to say that his 38 tackles in those 25 games was underwhelming at best.

Consider that All-Big 12 first team defensive tackle Vincent Taylor of Oklahoma State (also a former 4-star recruit) had 51 tackles in 2016 alone. Taylor amassed 12 sacks over the past two seasons compared to the 2.5 sacks Fehoko totaled during that same time.

Comparing Fehoko and Taylor puts to bed the argument that Fehoko’s stats were deflated because he played on the interior of the defensive line. Some have argued that Fehoko was asked to be an immovable object in the Texas Tech defensive line meaning that he would occupy blockers to allow his teammates to make the play.

Even if that was what defensive coordinator David Gibbs asked Fehoko to do, Fehoko did not do it well enough. Last season, Tech allowed 554.3 total yards per game and an embarrassing 238.6 rushing yards per contest.

In fact, Fehoko made virtually no difference to the overall performance of the Red Raider defense. In 2014, the year before he arrived, Tech surrendered 259.5 yards rushing per game. Interestingly, the 2014 Red Raiders allowed 5.2 yards per carry which is better than the 5.7 yards per carry Fehoko and the 2016 defense surrendered.

To be fair, no individual player is responsible for an entire defensive unit. The blame for the putrid defensive stats of the past two years falls at the feet of every player and coach associated with the Texas Tech defense.

Certainly, he was not surrounded by all-American teammates. But if players must be paired with superstar teammates to make a difference, how did Kansas and Iowa State place a combined five players on the 2016 all-Big 12 1st and 2^nd defensive teams?

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Most of the Texas Tech defenders have underperformed over the past two years but none were as high profile as Breiden Fehoko. And much of that was by his own design.

Social media is a huge part of college athletics and no player hyped himself on Twitter or Instagram as much as Fehoko. He posted multiple videos in which he was lifting crazy amounts of weights and flexing his cartoonish biceps making him look like a professional wrestling star rather than a college football player.

Unfortunately, those massive arms were not as good at wrapping up ball carriers as they were at showing off new tattoos.

In other words, many of the lofty and somewhat unreasonable expectations placed upon his considerably broad shoulders were brought about by his own doing. And while Fehoko was good at talking the talk, he failed to walk the walk.

There are many possible explanations as to why the Under Armor High School All-American did not become the player his pedigree suggested he would. Many suspect that the level of competition he faced in Hawaii made him look more dominant than he would have had he played high school football in Texas.

Another factor could be the dismissal of former defensive line coach Mike Smith, a close personal friend of the Fehoko family. The Fehokos were outspoken about their love for Smith and how integral he was in getting Fehoko to Lubbock.

When Kingsbury fired Smith following Fehoko’s freshman season, it must have taken a toll on the young defensive tackle. He never publicly voiced displeasure with Smith’s firing but it is safe to surmise that Smith’s absence did not sit well with Fehoko and his family.

Then there is the fact that he just was not as good as initially thought. He displayed poor technique (often getting pushed off the line due to losing leverage with a high pad level) and seemed to lack the conditioning needed to be a consistently disruptive force.

"Former Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes (who passed away last week ) was famous for saying, “If you have to talk a kid into coming here, you’ll have to talk that kid into playing hard.”"

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For whatever reason, Breiden Fehoko no longer wants to be at Texas Tech but despite the promise of what could have been, his departure will make almost no ripple on the pond. Once considered the savior of the program, he will be nothing more than another in the long line of college football disappointments.

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