Texas Tech Football selects team captains for 2017 season

With Texas Tech Football’s season beginning in just a few days, Tech announced five team captains to represent the Red Raiders this upcoming season.

Texas Tech Football has selected senior quarterback Nic Shimonek; senior wide receivers Dylan Cantrell, and Cameron Batson; junior defensive back Jah’Shawn Johnson; and junior linebacker Dakota Allen as team captains for the 2017 season.

Nic Shimonek transferred from Iowa back in 2014, and did was most quarterbacks in a fact-paced, immediate satisfaction environment won’t; he stayed at Texas Tech despite Patrick Mahomes being named the starter. Shimonek is a fifth-year senior who developed under Kliff Kingsbury’s system over the years, and rightfully so, earned his place as not only the starting quarterback this season, but now, as a team captain.

Shimonek has been credited this offseason for his tough approach both on the field, and in the weight room. During the ESPN Car Wash last month, Kingsbury said, “He worked like he was a starter every week; that was kind of his mindset when he was called upon to play last year.” Kingsbury continued by saying, “[He’s] very tough. One of those guys who will fight anyone on the team; doesn’t matter what they are.”

That kind of attitude is what Texas Tech needs in a leader; someone who wants his team mates to push each other, and take each other out of their comfort zones.

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For Dylan Cantrell, fans have grown accustomed to his performance on the field, but off, he’s taken on a more lighthearted one. During Big 12 Media Days, Cantrell debuted his sportscaster alter ego in “Tony Magnum,” and managed to trick Jah’Shawn Johnson there, and several Texas Tech players at Tech’s own media day in Lubbock.

It’s clear that team mates appreciate the trickster in Cantrell, and offensively, it’s a nice contrast between Shimonek’s intensity.

Cameron Batson not only had 60 catches in 2016, for 644 yards, and eight touchdowns, but he had the lowest drop rate among all returning Big 12 receivers this season. Batson is detail oriented, and will help Cantrell lead the most important weapons in Tech’s arsenal this season, so the balance of personalities is critical in production.

The two defensive players who earned team captain roles are Jah’Shawn Johnson, and Dakota Allen. I wrote about the potential intrinsic meaning Johnson’s Bingo clipboard at Media Days, and deduced that Tech is tired of hearing the same narrative. When year-after-year of the same story makes headlines, it gets to players, but the best players emerge when changes and productivity become the response. While that has yet to be seen this season, Johnson seems to be the perfect player to encourage details on the defensive side.

Few ever expected Dakota Allen to be back at Texas Tech following his arrest and dismissal last summer. But after a proving himself at EMCC, where he had 117 tackles, an interception, fumble recovery, five broken up passes, and two sacks last season, Allen not only showed fundamental improvements, but allowed himself to undergo personal life-changes, too.

on ‘Last Chance U’, Allen was seen as an under-the-radar guy, who allowed his own back story to motivate, and keep his team mates on the right path. His journey through spirituality, and allowing newly restored religious beliefs to guide him is a quality team mates at Tech have gravitated to. For Allen, his spiritual rehabilitation coupled with his development on the football field is the correct recipe for leadership, and clearly, Texas Tech Football coaches continue to believe in him, too.

Next: Texas Tech Football: Pros/Cons Of 2017 Schedule

All five captains come from different backgrounds, and have admirable leadership traits, but more importantly, they’re all demonstrating maturity, accountability, and urgency–traits Texas Tech needs to move the ship in the right direction.

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