Texas Tech football: All-time West Texas Red Raider team
QB: Sonny Cumbie, Ron Reeves, Cody Hodges
The lineage of West Texas quarterbacks to play for the Red Raiders is rich. For decades, local products have grown up to be stars under (or behind) center at Texas Tech.
Starting for our West Texas Red Raider team would Snyder’s Sonny Cumbie. Waiting his time behind Kliff Kingsbury and B.J. Symons from 2000-03, the former walk-on beat out 5-star JUCO prospect Robert Johnson for the starting job in 2004 surprising most observers.
Most of the fan base was in love with the idea of Johnson being the first dual-threat QB of the Mike Leach era but the Pirate, as he was known to do, made a decision that went against conventional wisdom. Cumbie rewarded him with a 4,742-yard, 32-touchdown season, sixth and tenth-best in program history respectively.
That year, he led the Red Raiders to an 8-5 season that culminated in a stunning upset of No. 5 California and Aaron Rogers in the Holiday Bowl. In the 45-31 win, Cumbie threw for a career-high 520 yards and three scores as he outplayed a future Pro Football Hall of Famer Aaron Rogers.
Backing him up is Ron Reeves from Lubbock. The Monterey product was a 4-year starter from 1978-81 and left school as Tech’s all-time leader in passing yards (4,688 ), touchdowns passes (31), and completions (352).
The third spot on the roster goes to Cody Hodges from Hereford. Like Cumbie, Hodges had to ride the bench in his first three years in Lubbock (2002-04). But in 2005, he passed for 4,267 yards (9th in program history) and 31 touchdowns while leading Tech to a 9-3 season and an appearance in the Cotton Bowl.
Wolforth’s Seth Doege was also up for consideration after throwing for 8,636 yards from 2009-12. But though he had better numbers than Hodges, he never took his team to a bowl game anywhere near as prestigious as the Cotton Bowl.
Other West Texas QBs of note to play for Tech include Midland’s Rodney Allison (1975-77), Lubbock’s Zebbie Lethridge (1994-97), and Taylor Potts of Abilene (2007-10). And in 2019, Tech signed San Angelo QB Maverick McIvor who will look to continue the program’s tradition of developing local QBs into stars.
Most of these West Texas QBs were overachievers who defied expectations to become fantastic players. Just like the region they call home, they proved to be more than initially met the eye.