Texas Tech football: Matt Wells trying to instill discipline in his new team

After suspending four players (including three starters) new Texas Tech football head coach Matt Wells appears to be making a concerted effort to instill an increased sense of discipline in his football team.

Every spring in West Texas, you know you can count on crazy winds, rising temperatures and lately, the suspension of some key members of the Texas Tech football team. That is unfortunately the case again this year as new Red Raider Head coach Matt Wells has announced the suspensions of four players, including starters DaLeon Ward, Damarcus Fields and Joseph Wallace.

"“They could be back soon. They could be back in a while or could never be back. We’ll see. We’ve got to get some things cleaned up off the field and we’ll get it done.” Wells said."

It seems like creating a culture of discipline may be Well’s top priority this spring. In the first episode of the documentary series “Saddle Up”, which is a behind-the-scenes look at Texas Tech football spring practices, the topic of discipline was the biggest theme.

"“I would say that discipline is the No. 1 priority for Coach Wells,” said senior receiver Seth Collins in the first episode. “Not to say that we weren’t disciplined last year but it’s just more emphasized, just like the little things, like…feet behind the line and touching the cone. And if you don’t do those things they make a big deal out of it. So I think the main thing is really discipline and taking coaching…”"

And with new coaches comes new expectations making it no surprise that some of the players have already managed to come up short of Wells’ standards. But it is far from ideal to have three critical pieces of the team missing important spring workouts when they should be learning the new systems being installed by Wells and his staff.

Ward finished last season tied with freshman Ta’Zhawn Henry for second on the team in rushing with 341 yards. That duo were the leading rushers on the roster at the running back position as the team was led on the ground by QB Jett Duffey’s 369 yards.

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Ward is expected to be one of the players that could benefit the most from the scheme of new offensive coordinator David Yost who likes to run the ball as often as he throws it. But this is the second time that Ward has been suspended in his Texas Tech career after missing all of 2017 due to a team-imposed suspension brought on by academic troubles.

Now, his most recent suspension makes it fair for Red Raider fans to question whether Ward is a player that can be counted on to play such a vital role for this year’s team. His suspension could open the door for Henry and redshirt freshman SaRodorick Thompson (who showed promise in four games of action last year) to impress the coaching staff and move to the top of the depth chart.

As for Fields, he started all twelve games last fall as a sophomore recording 38 tackles while being credited with eleven pass defenses. The Taylor, Texas product is battling with Douglas Coleman for a starting spot at corner opposite of 2018 1st-team All-Big 12 performer Adrian Frye.

Meanwhile, Wallace started seven games at nose tackle last year. He recorded 37 tackles including four for loss. At 320 pounds, the junior could be a perfect fit in the middle of defensive coordinator Keith Patterson’s 3-3-5 defense, which utilizes a nose tackle differently than the previous system of David Gibbs.

Tech needs Wallace to be a presence inside and occupy the center and possibly a guard as well to free up the team’s star linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Riko Jeffers to make plays. But just like Ward, Wallace redshirted in 2017 (after an impressive debut season in 2016) because of off-field maturity issues leading some to wonder if he too will be a player that can’t be counted on moving forward.

The fourth suspended player is redshirt freshman receiver Corey Fulcher. The Dallas native did not play last season after being a 3-star signee from Lake Highlands High School where he had 1,252 all-purpose yards and 22 total touchdowns as a senior. Now, the former top-150 player in Texas will miss out on valuable practice reps as he attempts to earn playing time in a wide receiver rotation looking to replace its top two receivers from last year in Antoine Wesley and Ja’Deion High.

But spring football suspensions are nothing new to Red Raider fans. Last year, Kliff Kingsbury suspended four players, including QB Jett Duffey and corner Des Smith, after an incident outside a Lubbock bar.

We have no word on what led to this year’s spring football suspensions but they come as no surprise given the troubles the program has had with player discipline in recent years. Hopefully, Wells’ approach can finally help the Red Raiders fix one of the longest-running issues within the Texas Tech football program.

For the better part of the last two decades, Texas Tech has been one of the most penalized teams in the nation. In the bottom quarter of all teams in penalty yardage on a seemingly annual basis, Tech ranked No. 125 out of 130 teams last year with 72.4 penalty yards per game. And in the last ten seasons, the highest Tech has ranked in penalty yards is No. 96 in the nation in 2010.

Most believe that discipline on the field has its roots in the amount of discipline that exists in the other aspects of a program. It appears that Matt Wells adheres to that philosophy as well. Now, Texas Tech football fans hope his approach will finally be the one to solve one of the most frustrating aspects of Red Raider football.