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Texas Tech football: The biggest JUCO flops in Red Raider history

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 12: The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot Fearless Champion leads the team onto the field prior to the game against the UTEP Miners September 12, 2015 at Jones AT
LUBBOCK, TX - SEPTEMBER 12: The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot Fearless Champion leads the team onto the field prior to the game against the UTEP Miners September 12, 2015 at Jones AT /
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(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images)
(Photo by Brett Deering/Getty Images) /

S Josh Keys 2014

You will see as this list progresses, Tech has repeatedly struck out with high-profile JUCO players that were supposed to help fix the program’s defensive ineptitude.  Another of those players that did not come through in that regard was safety Josh Keys.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College product signed with the Red Raiders in 2014 as the No. 53 JUCO player in the nation.   He picked Tech over offers from Nebraska, Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Georgia, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and West Virginia.

Given that offer list, quite a bit was expected from the 6-foot-2, 191-pounder.  But it turned out that he would not even finish his two years of eligibility with the Red Raiders.

After recording 14 tackles in five games as a backup safety in his first season, he was kicked off the team after a failed drug test.  It was his second failed test as a Red Raider.

Keys had the size and athleticism to be a difference-maker in the Red Raider secondary.  But his off-field issues kept him from realizing his potential.

In 2014, Tech finished 95th overall against the pass by allowing 253.2 yards per game.  The next season, which should have been when Keys made his greatest impact, Tech fell to No. 112 nationally in that category, surrendering 267.8 yards per game.  One must wonder if Keys could have made a difference.

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