Texas Tech football: The Good, the bad and the ugly of Jett Duffey’s performance
Against West Virginia, Texas Tech football fans finally got to see quarterback Jett Duffey play extended snaps in a meaningful game and the results were mixed. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from Duffey’s most significant outing to date.
Texas Tech football fans have been waiting to see redshirt sophomore quarterback Jett Duffey play meaningful snaps for the past two-plus seasons. Saturday, they got their wish, although not under the circumstances that anyone would have wanted.
Entering the game in relief of injured starter Alan Bowman with just under one minute left in the first half, Duffey was thrown into the fire against the No. 12 team in the country, which had already built a 25-point lead in the game.
Such a scenario would be challenging for even the most experienced collegiate quarterbacks, much less for one who entered the game having appeared in just two previous games and with only 11 pass attempts on his resume.
That was certainly not the type of Big 12 debut most expected for the Mansfield, Texas native when he signed his letter of intent in February of 2016. As perhaps the most highly-decorated high school quarterback to ever sign with the Texas Tech football program, the dual-threat prospect was expected to be the heir-apparent to Patrick Mahomes.
But a much-publicized Title IX investigation led to Duffey being suspended for the spring and summer semesters in 2017. That time away from the team caused Duffey to lose any shot of winning the starting quarterback job last season as fifth-year senior Nic Shimonek was tabbed to fill Mahomes’ shoes.
But heading into this season, Duffey was looked at as the favorite to win the 2018 QB job because of his pedigree and his freakish athleticism, something that was glaringly absent from the 2017 Red Raider offense with the statuesque Shimonek in the pocket.
However, much to the disappointment of a large portion of the fanbase, Duffey did not win the starting job, nor did he even win the backup job coming out of fall camp. But injuries forced Kliff Kingsbury to turn to Duffey in one of the most important home games in recent memory.
It was an opportunity for the entire Texas Tech football family to finally see what the once-prized recruit turned third-stringer could bring to the field. The results were quite the mixed bag. Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly from the first meaningful appearance of Jett Duffey’s career.