Texas Tech football: 5 unknowns that remain ahead of 2019 season

How will the offense look with a traditional tight end on the field full-time?

In Kliff Kingsbury’s version of the spread offense, the tight end position was about as antiquated as a VCR.  In fact, the youngest generation of Red Raider football fans may look just as puzzled when they see a true tight end as they might when trying to figure out how to make the time stop blinking on a VCR display.

We have not seen a true tight end on the field full-time for the Red Raiders since the1990’s.  The closest we came was in the Jace Amaro years from 2011-13 when the San Antonio native caught 138 passes for 1,818 yards and 13 touchdowns in his prolific career.

But Amaro was less of a true tight end and more of an inside receiver who just happened to be 6-foot-5 and 260-pounds.  He didn’t move like a tight end and wasn’t asked to play like a tight end because he was the team’s best mismatch in the passing game.

This year, expect the Red Raiders to use the tight end in a much more traditional sense.  Certainly, new offensive coordinator David Yost will still run a version of the spread offense, but he is going to do so with the goal of running the football as often (if not more) than he throws it.

Thus, expect Tech’s tight ends to be doing a ton of the dirty work in the blocking game.  For example, last season Utah State’s tight end Dax Raymond caught just 27 passes for 345 yards and two touchdowns in ten games.  The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder was signed last month by the Chicago Bears after not being drafted in the NFL Draft.

It will be interesting to see if Yost uses the tight end position simply as a primary blocking position only to catch passes on occasion or if he will try to keep some of the Leach principals of trying to equally distribute the ball to all four of his receiving positions.

None of the options Tech has on the roster have a history of being advanced pass-catchers.  JUCO tight end Travis Koontz caught just 16 passes last year at Ventura College while freshman Simon Gonzalez is yet to play one collegiate down.  Meanwhile, the trio of Donta Thompson, Tyler Carr and Mason McHorse have just five combined receptions.

By taking a typical slot receiver off the field and replacing him with a traditional tight end, Yost will be altering the look of the “Air Raid” offense as we’ve come to know and love it in Lubbock.  Just what that looks like this fall is something Texas Tech football fans are eager to see.