Texas Tech football alums earn opportunities in the NFL

Antoine Wesley – Baltimore Ravens

The biggest disappointment in this year’s draft for Texas Tech football fans was the fact that wide receiver Antoine Wesley was not selected after foregoing his senior season.  Last year, Wesley had a breakout junior campaign with 1,410 receiving yards (third-most in program history) and 9 touchdowns despite his team’s chaos at the quarterback position.

Earning recognition as a semifinalist for the Biletnikoff Award, Wesley was the second Texas Tech receiver in as many years to head to the NFL early after a stellar junior season.  In 2018, Keke Coutee was selected in the 4th round after leading the Red Raiders in receiving in 2017.

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But unlike Coutee, Wesley was not able to impress NFL teams enough to be drafted.  At 6-foot-5 and only 200-pounds, teams feared that Wesley would not be physical enough to beat press coverage on Sundays.  And given the fact that he did not display elite speed, he was passed over despite being one of the most productive receivers in college football last fall.

Still, according to Matthew Stevens of USAToday.com, wide receiver remains one of the Ravens’ biggest needs to address following the draft.

"“But there is still one glaring hole that needs to be addressed if the Ravens are going to have a truly complete wide receiver corps for quarterback Lamar Jackson.” Stevens writes. “Baltimore needs a possession receiver with great hands.”"

And it could be argued that no receiver in the nation displayed better hands last year than Wesley, who was terrific at coming down with the ball on big plays, often when he had to battle a defender for the ball.  That ability might be enough to earn him a roster spot in Baltimore, despite the fact that the Ravens picked two receivers in this year’s draft.

But one must wonder if Baltimore will try to bring in a veteran receiver this offseason given that their offense will feature a QB with less than one season of starting experience and a young group of receivers.  (They parted ways with former Red Raider Michael Crabtree this offseason further depleting their experience level at receiver.) Still, Wesley has shown that he can come up with big plays and if he can prove capable of winning physical battles with the Ravens in training camp, he could be the next undrafted Texas Tech receiver to make a name for himself in the NFL.