Texas Tech football: Antoine Wesley snubbed by Biletnikoff voters

The star of the Texas Tech football team’s high-powered offense, Antoine Wesley, was subbed by Biletnikoff Award voters Monday when the wide receiver was not named a finalist for the award.

Sunday afternoon, we discussed whether Antoine Wesley’s quiet game against Kansas State hurt his chances of winning the Biletnikoff Award. Monday, we may have received our answer. Despite being the second-leading receiver in the nation, the Texas Tech football team’s best offensive player was not named a finalist for the prestigious award.

The three finalist for the award are Jerry Judy of Alabama, Tylan Wallace of Oklahoma State and Andy Isabella of UMASS, all of whom are fantastic players. But it is hard to figure out why the committee picked each of them over Wesley.

Jeudy has put up stats that do not even compare with Wesley’s. The sophomore trails Wesley by 33 receptions and 373 yards on the season.

Working in Jeudy’s favor though, is the logo on his helmet and the fact that he plays an important role for the No. 1 team in the nation. And certainly, he would have put up better numbers if Alabama threw the ball more often and played in more close games that forced the offense to keep its stars on the field in the 4th quarter.

But receivers, perhaps more than any other position besides running backs, are evaluated on statistics. This is not supposed to be an award given to the most physically gifted receiver or the best receiver on the best team but to the receiver who has had the best season. It is hard to see how Jeudy, who is not the focal point of his team’s offense or opposing defenses, can be judged to be a better receiver this year than Wesley.

But if we assume that team success and the level of competition is important to the Biletnikoff committee, how do we justify Isabell’s inclusion over Wesley? On one hand, Isabella is more than deserving because he is putting up astronomical stats.

He’s caught 102 passes for 1,698 yards and 13 touchdowns. But his UMASS team is just 4-8 on the year playing a schedule that includes the likes of Duquesne, Georgia Southern, Florida International, Charlotte, Ohio and Liberty. Certainly, Isabella has faced far weaker competition than Wesley has seen in the Big 12.

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While Isabella went off for over 200 yards against Georgia, he was held under 100 yards by BYU, Boston College and UCONN. It is tough for Red Raider fans to see a player that played against an inferior schedule be considered to have had a better season than the leading receiver in the top offensive conference in the nation.

But according to Biletnikoff voters Wesley isn’t even the best receiver in his conference. Oklahoma State’s Tylan Wallace’s inclusion as a finalist over Wesley may be the toughest decision to understand.

Wallace and Wesley have virtually identical stats this year. Wesley has 31 more catches and nine more receptions while Wallace holds a two-touchdown advantage.

So how did the voters decide to pick Wallace over Wesley? Perhaps it is the tear Wallace has been on in recent weeks.

He has had two 200-yard games in the last four weeks including huge performances against Texas and Oklahoma on national television. But Wesley has been no slouch on the big stage either. He had 199 yards against Oklahoma and 117 yards and two touchdowns against Texas (both nationally-televised prime time games) before his quiet day against Kansas State last week.

It is also worth noting that Wesley has put up his numbers despite having to catch passes from three different starting quarterbacks this year. Meanwhile, Jeudy has benefitted from playing with the run-away Heisman Trophy favorite and Wallace has had the same quarterback throwing to him all year.

I’m not one to say that there is a national bias against Texas Tech. The Red Raiders would have had to be much more impactful on the national stage over the decades than they have been for some kind of hate or resentment to build up towards them. Rather, the opposite is likely true in that Tech has not had enough national notoriety to remain in the public consciousness and that may have hurt Wesley’s Biletnikoff candidacy.

But even though Wesley will not be handed the Biletnikoff trophy on December 6th, Texas Tech football fans know that no receiver in the nation has been better this year. Even if the nation does not realize it.