Texas Tech football: Game balls for McCann, Wesley, Brooks vs. UT
Wide receiver Antoine Wesley
Antoine Wesley…what else is there to be said about his season? Regardless of who plays quarterback and who the opponent is, the junior wide receiver seems to put up monster numbers.
With 8 catches for 178 yards and two touchdowns, Wesley was the best wide receiver on the field Saturday though his work will be overlooked because of the night UT’s Lil’Jordan Humphrey had, which included the game-winning touchdown.
But if not for Wesley’s heroics, Humphrey would not have had the stage to be the hero. Wesley had a 57-yard touchdown reception to pull Tech to within ten points at 27-17 and a 9-yard touchdown reception to tie the game at 34-34 with under two minutes to play.
But let’s stop to consider the historic numbers Wesley is putting up in his first season as a starter. He now has 78 catches for 1,347 yards and 9 touchdowns. He is just five yards behind Jace Amaro for the third-most single-season receiving yards program history and he will likely finish second on that list to Michael Crabtree who had 1,962 yards in 2007.
Crabtree’s redshirt freshman numbers rank as the third best season in NCAA history. Should Wesley reach his season average of 134.7 yards per game in the Red Raiders next two games and a bowl game, he would finish with 1,751 yards which would be the 15th best season in NCAA history.
Westley has played so well this year that many are beginning to wonder if he may leave school early for the NFL Draft following this season. That is something that Kingsbury addressed after Wesley’s latest big game.
"He’s being very, very productive this year, and so after the season we’ll sit down and see where all that other stuff’s at.” Kingsbury told Don Williams of the Avalanche-Journal."
Kingsbury: "But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. He's being very, very productive this year, and so after the season we'll sit down and see where all that other stuff's at."
— Don Williams (@AJ_DonWilliams) November 12, 2018
Considering that Tech faces Kansas State (last in the Big 12 in defense) and Baylor (5th in the Big 12 in total defense) in its final two games, Wesley isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. And after his fourth-consecutive 100-yard game and sixth overall, he is more than deserving of yet another game ball.