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Five Most Disappointing Players of the Kingsbury Era

By Matthew Conner

MORGANTOWN, WV - NOVEMBER 07: Skyler Howard #3 of the West Virginia Mountaineers is tackled in the first half during the game against Nigel Bethel #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders on November 7, 2015 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
MORGANTOWN, WV - NOVEMBER 07: Skyler Howard #3 of the West Virginia Mountaineers is tackled in the first half during the game against Nigel Bethel #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders on November 7, 2015 at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /
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KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 09: A Texas Tech Red Raiders cheerleader performs during their first round game against the Missouri Tigers in the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at Sprint Center on March 9, 2011 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MO – MARCH 09: A Texas Tech Red Raiders cheerleader performs during their first round game against the Missouri Tigers in the 2011 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament at Sprint Center on March 9, 2011 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

No. 1 – Breiden Fehoko

For most of Kingsbury’s tenure, the joke has been that he’s coached the “Re Raiers” because his team had no “D”.  But when Under Armour All-American Breiden Fehoko signed with Tech in 2015, fans were certain that the nation’s worst statistical defense was about the take a turn towards respectability.

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He was the No. 4 defensive line prospect in the nation and the No. 24 overall player in the class coming out of Hawaii.  He had offers from virtually every program in the nation including Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, Oregon, Stanford, Texas A&M, Wisconsin and Louisville among others.

But when Fehoko arrived on campus, the results did not match the hype.  More concerned with posting instagram videos of his cartoonish biceps than improving as a football player, the highest ranked defensive player to sign with Texas Tech in the modern era of recruiting became the most overrated player to don the Double-T in decades.

In 25 career games at Tech, Fehoko totaled just 38 tackles and two sacks.  By comparison, a former 2-star recruit from that same class, Eli Howard put up 27 tackles and 5.5 sacks in his first season at Texas Tech in 2017.

Then Fehoko clashed with the new strength and conditioning staff, led by Rusty Whitt, brought in by Kingsbury following the 2016 season, he left the program eventually landing at LSU.  The saga of Breiden Fehoko is one as old as time.  Far too often, high-profile players come to college believing their own press clippings and expecting the world to be handed to them without putting in the required work.

Next: Putting a Positive Spin On Basketball Departures

Texas Tech is not the type of program that is built around marquee players.  Rather, the foundation of the program has always been players with as much grit as talent that are willing to out work the competition and who commit themselves every day to being the best players they can be, not showing off their physique on social media.

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