Number Of Texas Tech Players In NFL Is Troublingly Low

The Texas Tech football program currently has only 11 players in the NFL, a number that reflects the recent struggles of the program.

The NFL Draft is dominating the national sports scene this week. The event is massive because it is the perfect merging of the college and professional games, drawing interest from rabid NFL and college football fans alike.

This weekend, 256 players will hear their names called at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and they will span the college football landscape from the blue-blood power-5 programs to the smallest schools to field a team. Many are predicting three Texas Tech Red Raiders, receivers Keke Coutee and Dylan Cantrell and QB Nic Shimonek, to be among that group which would match the most Kliff Kingsbury has had drafted in any single year.

But even if all three are picked as expected, that will not change the fact that Texas Tech is lagging behind its rivals when it comes to putting players in the NFL.

That should no come as a huge shock considering the recent struggles of the program but the problem is likely far greater than many realize. Looking at the sobering numbers will help put the Red Raiders’ struggles into perspective.

In week one of the 2017 NFL season, Texas Tech was tied with Kansas State for the third-fewest among Big 12 teams in number of players on active NFL rosters with 11. Only Iowa State (5) and Kansas (6) had fewer.

By contrast, Oklahoma led the way with 33 while Texas (30) and West Virginia (23) rounded out the top three in the Big 12. Meanwhile, TCU had 17, Baylor 14 and Oklahoma State 12.

The recent history of Texas Tech draft picks shows that this problem has been congruent with the decline of the football program in the last decade. Just consider the difference between the Mike Leach era and the Tuberville/Kingsbury years.

During the ten years Leach was in Lubbock, Tech had 18 players drafted. In the eight years since, Tech has had just seven players selected, a drop of about one drafted player per season.

Furthermore, in the post-Leach run, there have been three years, 2012, 2013 and 2015 that saw no Red Raiders selected. Leach had only one such season, 2008 which came on the heels of the 2007 college football season that saw Tech go 9-4 with the youngest roster in the nation.

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These numbers reveal a few harsh realities. First, Texas Tech is fighting an up-hill battle against some of the top programs in the NCAA. Each year, the Red Raiders have to compete with teams like Oklahoma, Texas or West Virginia that have significantly more NFL prospects on their roster. While that is far from the only factor that matters in college football (Tech has gone 2-2 against Texas in the past four years), it does underscore the fact that Texas Tech is at a perceived talent disadvantage on most weeks.

Second, these numbers show that the Texas Tech coaches have not been able to produce a schematic advantage to even the playing field like Leach so often did. This is born out by Kingsbury’s struggles against teams with similar NFL draft numbers.

Kingsbury has not beaten Oklahoma State, which had only one more NFL player than Tech in 2017. Likewise, he is 1-4 against Kansas State, 2-3 versus Baylor and TCU and his teams have been outscored a combined 97-23 in two straight losses to Iowa State.

The difference in the schematic advantage between Kingsbury and Leach boils down to two factors. Leach was far more experienced as a coach when he took over at Texas Tech having been an offensive coordinator for eight seasons compared to Kingsbury’s two.

Second, the “Air Raid” passing attack is no longer revolutionary. When Leach brought his pass-happy offense to the Big 12, most teams were still playing a 1990’s style game and found they were ill-equipped to defend the Red Raiders. But now, teams have had almost two decades to scout the “Air Raid” and bring their defenses to a place where they are capable of better combatting Kingsbury’s offense.

Putting players in the NFL is a hallmark of a healthy team. Of course teams like Alabama, Clemson and LSU have alumni all over the NFL. But even teams of a similar pedigree to Texas Tech like Cal (32), Utah (31) and Arkansas (27) have three times more players in the NFL.

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Kingsbury must start to consistently recruit and develop players that find their way to the NFL. If he can’t begin to do that, Texas Tech will continue to flounder near the bottom of the Big 12.