Texas Tech Adds Safety Transfer John Bonney From UT

Tuesday, the Texas Tech football team added John Bonney, a graduate transfer safety from Texas to the roster.  Bonney is expected to be part of the Red Raider defensive backfield this fall.

The middle of August is unusually late for a football program to add a player to its roster, especially when it plans on that player seeing the field in the upcoming season.  Furthermore, it is almost unheard of for a program to add a potential impact player from an in-confercen rival in mid-August but that is what the Texas Tech football team has done.

Tuesday, senior safety John Bonney, a graduate transfer from Texas was on hand for Texas Tech football practice in anticipation of his joining the team.   Bonney has appeared in 37 career games making 15 starts.  For his career, he has posted 87 tackles, three sacks and an interception.

Last year, the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder started two games (appearing in all thirteen games) recording 19 tackles and picking off OU QB and eventual Heisman Trophy Winner Baker Mayfield in the “Red River Rivalry”.

But in 2018, Texas signed one of the best safety classes in America with two five-star and one four-star addition and with all three expected to push for playing time this fall, Bonney saw his role in Austin dissipating.  While the Texas Tech defense seems set at safety with preseason all-Big 12 safety Jah’Shawn Johnson and senior Vaughnte Dorsey set to start, Bonney could be a nice addition to the roster as a backup, special teams player and an insurance policy against injury.

The Texas Tech defensive backfield is already well aware of how injury can strike at any time after the loss of projected starting corner Octavious Morgan who injured his knee during Saturday’s scrimmage and is expected to miss the entire season.

While Bonney has some limited experience at corner but it would seem unlikely that he would be ready to step in for Morgan right away.  But his presence does add quality to a position group that was one of the weakest on the team last year as Texas Tech finished just 122nd overall against the pass.

Should Johnson or Dorsey go down (Johnson has been slowed by a shoulder injury thus far in camp), the addition of Bonney will take on even more significance that it appears to in the middle of August.

As a member of the 2014 signing class, the Houston, Texas native was ranked the No. 19 safety in the country and the No. 32 overall player in Texas.  He held offers from Auburn, Baylor, Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Stanford, TCU, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah and Texas A&M.

Following Tuesday’s practice, Kingsbury noted Bonney’s experience as something Tech wanted to add to its secondary.  He also indicated that there may be a way to move some players around in the defensive backfield to allow Bonney to see more action.

Those remarks from the head coach make one wonder if Dorsey might be capable of playing some corner allowing Bonney to move into the starting lineup at safety beside Johnson or if Bonney will be playing corner in Lubbock.  That is something defensive coordinator David Gibbs will have to work out over the next two weeks as Tech tries to get his newest defensive back up to speed for the September 1st opener.

But regardless of where Bonney eventually fits into the Texas Tech defense, his presence further solidifies a defense that is expected to be the best Red Raider defense in almost a decade.  And it might ned to be even better than that considering the question marks on the other side of the ball.