Texas Tech Football: Why McLane Carter is not the popular choice for QB
As it becomes increasingly clear that McLane Carter will be the starting quarterback for the Texas Tech football team in week-one, many fans are expressing their disappointment. Here’s a look at why Carter is the least popular of the three QB candidates in the minds of most Red Raiders.
Most indications point to junior McLane Carter getting the start at quarterback for the Texas Tech football team in the season’s first game against Ole Miss, which is not what a large swath of the fan base wants to hear. And that section of the Red Raider contingency has a number of factors they can point to as reasons for their pessisimism.
But Kliff Kingsbury believes that Carter gives his team the best shot at knocking off Ole Miss on September 1st. According to reports, Carter has done everything he needed to do to win the job this fall and the competition has not been all that close.
Reading between the lines and piecing together what little Kingsbury and the football program has released, leads us to believe that Carter has been the far more consistent player of the three candidates. While Jett Duffey and Alan Bowman have had their share of “wow” moments, they have also had just as many frustrating mistakes.
Going all the way back to the start of this competition in spring ball, Kingsbury has been consistent with what he has said he wants from his starting quarterback. Virtually every time Kingsbury has addressed the situation, he has mentioned protecting the football as the first priority for his quarterbacks.
That is where Carter has set himself apart. Duffey is a natural risk-taker whose elite athleticism leads him to think he can make even the most impossible plays. Meanwhile, Bowman is a true freshman less than a year removed from high school football. Both are far more prone to turnovers than Carter and as such, neither has been able to earn Kingsbury’s trust as well as McLane Carter.
Another factor working in Carter’s favor is the 2018 Texas Tech defense. Kingsbury believes that the days of having to score at least 50 points to win a game are over thanks to a much-improved defense.
Therefore, Kingsbury doesn’t need a quarterback capable of the spectacular. Rather, he can roll with a game-manager knowing that the defense will keep the Red Raiders in most games.
Carter is not Pat Mahomes and that may be fine because in 2018, Texas Tech doesn’t need Pat Mahomes. (Though we would not turn him away if he still had eligibility remaining.) Carter could be exactly what the 2018 Texas Tech football team needs but right now he is not the quarterback the majority of the fan base wants.
Throughout this quarterback battle, fans have taken to social media and internet message boards to voice their opinions on which QB they hoped to see win the job. Very few were pulling for Carter.
Most fans believe that he will be decent enough but they are not pumped up to see him play. To Texas Tech fans, watching McLane Carter play QB this fall will be like eating vegetables. Though it may be what you know you need, it is not what you want and it does not make you salivate.
It is nothing personal against Carter. He may be a great young man. We have no evidence to the contrary. But the fact remains, most Texas Tech fans are receiving this news less than enthusiastically and here’s why.