Texas Tech football: All-time West Texas Red Raider team
DB: Jamar Wall, Denton Fox, Tracy Saul, Kevin Curtis
In the West Texas secondary, the Red Raiders would be in great shape with Denton Fox, Tracy Saul, Kevin Curtis, and Jamar Wall. That group provided the program three All-American seasons and nine all-conference awards.
From Claude, Texas the Red Raiders landed Denton Fox who starred at corner from 1966-69. Inducted into the SWC Hall of Fame this year, he was the first Red Raider defensive back to earn All-American honors, doing so in 1969. He picked off seven passes in his career, impressive for an era when teams did not throw the ball with much regularity. He was a third-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 1970.
Idalou’s Tracy Saul is also a Southwest Conference Hall of Famer, being inducted in 2015. Playing for the Red Raiders from 1989-92, Saul was an all-conference selection in all four of his college seasons, one of only four players in the history of the SWC to accomplish that feat.
He is Tech’s career leader with 25 interceptions and the eight he had in 1989 are the second-most in a season in school history. What’s more, he ranks 4th in NCAA history in that category which is mind-blowing given the way that teams throw the ball in the modern era.
Born in Germany but raised in Lubbock, Coronado’s Kevin Curtis was one of the best and most versatile Red Raider safeties in program history. With 430 career tackles from 1998-2002, he ranks third in program history.
His 153 tackles in 1999 are tied for fifth-most in a season for the Red Raiders. Additionally, the two-time All-American is tied for 7th in Tech history with ten career interceptions. He went on to have an eight-year NFL career.
The second corner in this defensive backfield is Plainview’s Jamar Wall. From 2006-09, the former high school running back made 144 tackles and intercepted nine passes. He also averaged 22.3 yards per return on 23 kickoffs. Perhaps the most important was the 38-yard return he had against Texas in 2008 to help set the Red Raiders up in great field position to begin the game-winning drive.
Just missing out on this list is Coronado’s Ryan Aycock who had eleven career interceptions, including one that sealed Tech’s upset of No. 4 Texas in 2002 and one that sealed the Red Raiders’ comeback win over Eli Manning and Ole Miss in 2003.
This is a fantastic collection of pass defenders from West Texas. These four players combined for 51 career picks, an area in which the Red Raiders hope to improve under new defensive coordinator Keith Patterson.