Texas Tech football: Ranking the offensive position groups

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The running backs have tons to prove this year

If David Yost’s offense is going to operate at its peak this year, the Red Raider running backs are going to have to outperform what they have done in their careers thus far. Given what they did last year, there’s little doubt that they will at least outpace last fall’s pedestrian performance.

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Anytime your backup QB is your leading rusher, as was the case for the Red Raiders in 2018 with Jett Duffey, it is a poor sign for your running backs. Tech got only 1,242 yards from the five running backs that played a year ago and that will not cut it this fall.

Of that group, only two, Ta’Zhawn Henry and SaRodorick Thompson, return. Henry was tied with Da’Leon Ward as Tech’s second-leading rusher with just 341 yards last year while Thompson ran for only 105 yards.

That duo did reach the endzone eleven times in what was the true freshman season for both. Eight of those scores came from Henry, who unlike Thompson, did not redshirt and will be a sophomore.

Adding to the RB rotation will be grad transfer, Armand Shyne. The Utah transfer has a career 885 yards and 9 touchdowns making him the most accomplished running back on the roster. Last fall, he put up 512 yards and five touchdowns as the Utes’ second-leading rusher.

That is not an impressive resume for the backs Texas Tech will be relying on. With only three 20-carry games between them (two from Shyne and one from Henry) this trio has not proven capable of carrying the type of load that Yost will want to give them.

Unfortunately, there is little depth behind these three. True freshman Alante Brown, a high school QB from Chicago, and 5-foot-6 walk-on Chux Nwabuko are the only running backs the Red raiders added in the 2019 signing class and the only other players on the roster that would be able to help carry the ball should an injury force them into action.

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There will be plenty of opportunities for Tech’s running backs to prove their worth in Yost’s system as his running backs at Utah State got 100 more carries last fall than Tech’s backs. And the fact that Yost produced a 1,200-yard rusher and a 900-yard rusher in 2018 should suggest that he can coach RBs. But until someone in this group takes the next step, they will be the biggest question that the offense must answer.

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