Texas Tech football: How transfers that left performed in 2018

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Desmond Nisby: Running back Texas Wesleyan

Speaking of players that went from the Big 12 to the college football version of Siberia, former Red Raider running back Desmond Nisby spent 2018 at Texas Wesleyan. The 2017 JUCO signee had a strong start to his career in Lubbock with195 yards and six touchdowns in the first five games last year.

He had a career-best four touchdowns to go along with 93 yards in Tech’s win at Kansas in week-five. But fumble issues and inconsistencies caused him to fall out of the regular rotation and after the year, he left for other opportunities.

After running for 273 yards and seven touchdowns for the Red Raiders, he went for 338 yards and seven more touchdowns in 2018. And like Dauphine, Nisby could have been a help this year.

At 224-pounds, he brought a physical element to an offense that had to rely on smaller running backs in 2017 and that is something Tech was missing again in 2018. When Thompson was redshirted, all size in the backfield was gone and Tech had to rely on backs that weighed less than 200-pounds in Henry and Ward.

For an offense that lacked physicality down the stretch, a bruising back like Nisby could have been a tremendous luxury. But he was never able to get out of Kliff Kingsbury’s dog house after struggling with ball security and pass protection issues in 2017. As a result, he spent his final year of college football playing for a program that virtually no fan has ever heard of.

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Tony Brown: Receiver Abilene Christian

One former Red Raider who landed at another Power 5 program is Tony Brown who spent 2018 with Colorado in the Pac 12. The California native caught 32 passes for 333 yards and a touchdown in Boulder this season.

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Coming out of high school, in 2015, Brown was a three-star prospect with offers from Tech, Colorado, UCLA, Nebraska, Purdue, Utah, Washington State and Cal. He was ranked the No. 56 receiver in the nation and the No. 59 player in California.

And he looked to be a potential contributor for the Red Raiders almost as soon as he arrived on campus. He caught 14 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman and 13 passes for 128 yards as a sophomore.

But he decided to follow his receivers coach Darrin Chiaverini from Lubbock to Colorado after the 2016 season. Brown was not going to see the field much behind Dylan Cantrell, Derrick Willies and T.J. Vasher last season so he redshirted for the Buffalos assuming that more opportunities would come his way with Chiaverini in place as offensive coordinator.

He ranked third on the team in receptions and yards this year but took a back seat to a receiver with some potential Texas Tech ties. CU’s leading receiver, Laviska Shenault Jr., had 1,011 yards and 86 catches for the Buffs in 2018 and is the older brother of La’Vontae Shenault, a 2019 4-star receiver currently committed to Texas Tech.

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Brown is one of four receivers from the signing class of 2015 to transfer. That class was one of the more highly-regarded receiving classes in the Big 12 but proved to be a tremendous disappointment. Fortunately, the Red Raiders have always been able to find plenty of receivers capable of being stars and did not miss Brown or any of the other receivers to transfer.

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