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Texas Tech Football Selects Four To Speak At Media Days

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - OCTOBER 10: Sam B. Richardson
LUBBOCK, TX - OCTOBER 10: Sam B. Richardson /
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The Big 12 will hold its annual football media days on July 17-18 in Frisco, Texas. Texas Tech has selected Jah’Shawn Johnson, Keke Coutee, Dylan Cantrell and Cam Batson to represent the team at the event.

Big 12 football media days are the first sign each summer that the college football season is on the horizon.  Texas Tech will be featured on the first day of the event and the program has selected four players to represent the school.

Senior wide receiver Dylan Cantrell, senior inside receiver Cam Batson, junior safety Jah’Shawn Johnson and junior inside receiver Keke Coutee will join head coach Kilff Kingsbury at the podium at the Ford Center (the indoor practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys where Texas Tech held its spring football game in April).

These selections are revealing for multiple reasons.  Not only do they give fans some insight about which players the coaches view as leaders, but they also illustrate where the strength of the 2017 Texas Tech roster lies.

Three of the four players are receivers.  It is unusual for Texas Tech to have such an imbalance of representation from one position at this even.

However, the receiver position is by far the deepest unit on the team.  Cantrell and Batson are joined by senior wide receiver Derrick Willies to form a triumvirate of dangerous senior weapons.

Cantrell caught 58 passes for 675 yards and 8 touchdowns in ten games last year.  Batson was second on the team with 60 catches for 644 yards and he matched Cantrell’s eight touchdowns.  Willies, the nation’s top JUCO wide receiver transfer in 2016 is looking to rebound after an injury-plagued 2016 that saw him catch 18 passes for 288 yards and two scores.

Meanwhile, junior slot receiver Coutee is posed to have a huge 2017.  He emerged late in the 2016 season to position himself as one of the most dangerous receiving threats in the nation.

The speedy receiver started only two games last year but averaged 98.5 yards per game over the final eight contests.  He had four 100-yard games including a career-high 221 in the season finale against Baylor.

Batson (who recently ran a 4.3 40-yard-dash according to the Texas Tech training staff) and Coutee will be looked upon to make up for some significant losses on offense.  2016 receiving leader Jonathan Giles has transferred to LSU and senior-to-be Ian Sadler retired because of a knee injury.


While the wide receivers are well-presented, the marquee position on the team is not.  The game of football revolves around the quarterback position and nowhere is that more true than at Texas Tech.  However, senior quarterback Nick Shimonek was not chosen to attend media days.

This decision is not unprecedented under Kingsbury.  He has traditionally used media days as a way to reward and honor players that have proven themselves as leaders on the field.

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While Shimonek is by all accounts a leader among his teammates and one of the most popular players on the team, he is yet to start a game for Texas Tech.  In fact, he has not been officially named starter (though that remains a formality) so Kingsbury decided to honor players with more skins on the wall.

And perhaps no player on the roster has as many skins as Johnson.  If it seems like the Ennis, Texas native has been around forever, it’s because he’s been making plays since stepping foot on campus.

After receiving a medical redshirt in 2014 because of an injury that forced him to miss 8 games, he returned to start 13 games in 2015.  That season, he forced four fumbles, recovered two and had two interceptions.

Last season, he was second on the team in tackles after starting every game.  He forced three more fumbles and recorded another two interceptions cementing his stats as the biggest playmaker on the Texas Tech defense.

Defensive coordinator David Gibbs has made his name on forcing turnovers.  However, that trait yet to come to fruition in his two seasons at Texas Tech.

Needless to say, he will be counting on Johnson to lead an inexperienced Texas Tech secondary (which could feature as many as four newcomers in the rotation).  If the Red Raiders are to make a turnaround on defense, Johnson will have to be one of the catalysts.

Texas Tech fans can find coverage of the Red Raiders at media days on numerous media platforms.  Kingsbury’s press conference will air on Fox Sports Southwest at 11:15 am CT on July 17th.

Next: Linebackers Should Be Strength Of Texas Tech Defense in 2017

Further coverage will be available by following Texas Tech football on twitter and Instagram and by checking out the Texas Tech football Facebook page.  Of course, “Wreck ‘Em Red” will have complete coverage as well.

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