Texas Tech Football Loses Another Running Back

Wednesday, the Texas Tech football program lost another running back when senior Desmond Nisby announced his decision to leave the program.

The Texas Tech football team has lost its second veteran running back in a week. Following Demarcus Felton’s departure last week, Desmond Nisby announced on Wednesday that he is also leaving the program for his senior year.

This announcement is not a shock to most who saw Nisby fall out of the running back rotation as the 2017 season progressed. In the final six games of the season, he had five carries in a game only once despite some early-season indications that he might be able to help diversify the Texas Tech offense.

The 6-foot-1, 235-pound JUCO transfer provided a power element to the offense that had been missing from the Texas Tech football program for quite some time. In the first two games last year, Nisby averaged 7.5 carries and 51 yards per game while breaking off runs of 20 and 15 yards.

But after a turf toe injury slowed him, Nisby saw his role reduced significantly. Ball security became an issue and it appeared that Kliff Kingsbury lost confidence in the big back.

That situation did not seem to improve during spring practice prompting Kingsbury to refer to Nisby’s status with the team as “up in the air” last week. Now, Nisby and his 274 yards and seven touchdowns are gone from the Texas Tech football roster.

Tech might find it most difficult to replace Nisby in the red zone where the team struggled even with a power back at its disposal last year. In 62 red zone possessions, the Red Raiders managed just 15 rushing touchdowns and converted on just 69% of trips inside the 20, ranking 125 out of 129 teams in the nation.

Now, Kingsbury’s offense will have to rely heavily on 5-foot-11, 190-pound Tre King and five-foot-10, 180-pound DaLeon Ward as its primary running backs meaning short-yardage situations might be a dicey proposition in 2018.

The Red Raiders did sign two running backs in the 2018 class. SaRodorick Thompson, a 6-foot,

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200-pound two-star recruit from Irving, Texas is the most likely to become a power back in the mold of Nisby. Meanwhile, Ta’Zhawn Henry, a 5-foot-7, 170-pound three-star signee from Houston is looked at as more of a replacement for Justin Stockton, the blazing fast back that was great in space but lacked the ability to run between the tackles effectively.

Henry is the most likely of the two freshmen to see the field next season because he brings an element of speed to the Texas Tech football team that it lacks, especially from a running back. Still, neither freshman is expected to be a major contributor.

Nisby’s inability to contribute more significantly to the Texas Tech football team is disappointing. The potential he flashed early in the season had many fans excited about the possibilities of having a powerful back to compliment the more traditional “Air Raid” style backs on the roster.

Now, Kingsbury and his new offensive coordinator, Kevin Johns will have to find a third running back they feel comfortable with should an injury befall King or Ward. That could be one of the freshmen or it could prompt the Red Raiders to explore the JUCO ranks again.

King was a JUCO transfer who did not sign with Texas Tech until June of 2017 and he wound up as the team’s second-leading rusher. Kingsbury has been looking to add depth at the RB position missing out on talented graduate transfer Tre Watson, who committed to Texas last week.

Next: Five Biggest Busts Of Kingsbury Era

This transfer is far from devastating but it does make finding or developing depth at the running back position an even greater priority for the Texas Tech football team this summer.

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