Texas Tech football: Important position battles to watch this spring
As spring practice for the Texas Tech football program gets underway, keep an eye on these key position battles.
Sunday, the Matt Wells era of Texas Tech football reaches an important juncture as spring practice begins. In his first year at the helm of the Red Raiders, the new head coach and his staff face a tough test as over the next month-and-a-half, they must begin to mold the roster to fit new schemes on both sides of the ball as well as special teams.
The smoothest transition should come on offense. Tech returns all but three starters on that side of the ball, including three quarterbacks that started at least two games last year.
What’s more, offensive coordinator David Yost will keep most of the same spread principals that the Texas Tech offensive players are accustomed to. While Yost will likely run the ball more than Red Raider fans are accustomed to, what he will ask his players to do from a physical standpoint should not be much different than what the Kingsbury staff asked of them.
But on defense, there is likely to be a steeper learning curve. New defensive coordinator Keith Patterson is going to employ a scheme that is different in both alignment and attitude from that of his predecessor, David Gibbs.
"“We built a system that’s aggressive, multiple, multiple-up-front, multiple coverage wise, which I think you have to be because you get so many shots-on-goal,” Patterson told Austin Watts of the “Daily Toreador” in December."
Whereas Gibbs ran a 4-2-5 defense that was at times maddeningly cautious, Patterson has said that he will look to apply extreme pressure on opposing offenses. To do so, he will take one defensive lineman off the field and replace him with a hybrid pass-rusher that can play anywhere in the front seven and blitz from all over the formation.
Likewise, he is going to have his fifth defensive back be a hybrid safety/linebacker that must be able to be a jack of all trades. That is much different from Gibbs’ system which was more traditional in what it asked its players to do from play-to-play.
On both sides of the ball, the next 15 practices will be critical as the 2019 team begins to truly take shape. This is an opportunity for the players on the roster to being to impress their new coaches and stake their claim to roles on the team. So as spring ball begins, let’s take a look at some key position battles to watch.