Texas Tech football: The all-time Red Raider team from the rest of Texas
LB: Pete Robertson, Fletcher Session, Brock Stratton
Three productive but often overlooked linebackers comprise the middle level of the rest of Texas defense. Longview’s Pete Robertson was a 2014 All-Big 12 first-team selection and amassed 21 sacks from 2012-15 (5th-most in Tech history).
Playing a type of hybrid outside LB/DE end similar to what new DC Keith Patterson will employ this fall, Robertson racked up 12 sacks in 2014, tied for 4th best in a single season at Tech. Because he played on some of the worst Tech defenses of the last 20 years, his 227 career tackles feel a bit forgotten but he surpassed the 60-tackle mark in each of his final three seasons including a career-high 81 in 2014.
Another productive linebacker that most fans likely do not immediately recall is Fletcher Session. From 2003-06, the pride of Tyler, TX amassed 185 tackles while earning honorable-mention all-conference recognition in 2005.
From San Antonio Tech signed middle linebacker Brock Stratton in 2003 following his completion of a two-year Mormon Mission. Over the next four years, he amassed 156 tackles and was named a freshman All-American in 2003 and an honorable-mention all-conference performer in 2003 and 2006.
This trio is nowhere near as star-studded as the West Texas team is at linebacker and all three of these players few a bit under the radar. And if these teams were actually going to play a game, Robertson might slide down to end depending on the scheme.
This fall, keep an eye on redshirt freshman Xavier Benson from Texarkana. At 6-foot-3, 220-pounds, he is an ideal fit for Keith Patterson’s defense and he is already pushing for serious playing time this fall at outside linebacker. There’s a possibility that in a few years, he could be worthy of inclusion on this list.
Though over the years, the Texas Tech football program has struggled to field top-flight linebacking corps on a yearly basis (especially in the early portion of the “Air Raid” era), there have been some quality individual players man the LB spots including the three discussed here. They were all players that will never be thought of as stars but they all were players you could win with.