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Texas Tech football: Areas of concern for Red Raiders as 2019 season nears

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 03: Ta'Zhawn Henry #26 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders gets past Tre Norwood #13 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the first half of the game on November 3, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 03: Ta'Zhawn Henry #26 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders gets past Tre Norwood #13 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the first half of the game on November 3, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
(Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /

The rebuilt secondary also lacks depth

New defensive coordinator Keith Patterson is counting on a rebuilt secondary to help his defense survive in the nation’s top passing league.  But while the individual pieces in the defensive backfield might seem strong, there’s reason to wonder if they are going to come together to form a cohesive unit.

The Red Raiders have moved former corners Douglas Coleman and Ardian Frye to safety to replace last year’s starting duo of Jah’Shawn Johnson and Vaughnte Dorsey.  Even with Johnson (a 4-year starter) and Dorsey (a two-year starter) in place last year, Teh’s secondary was repeatedly torched last year.  Now, we must wonder if we can expect better results from a secondary that will be led by two players that have never started a game in their current position.

What’s more, should either Coleman or Frye be lost to injury, Tech will have to turn to either Thomas Leggett or Adam Beck.  Leggett has made just two starts in his two years at Tech and Beck has never played in a college football game after redshirting at Minnesota in 2017 and sitting out last year after transferring to Tech.

This is an area where the loss of Justus Parker could be an issue.  The senior was suspended for a year by the NCAA last month after testing positive for a banned substance and given that he has already used his redshirt season, his collegiate career is now over.

What’s more, putting two of the roster’s best corners at safety means that the depth at secondary is also diminished.  Fortunately, Tech added grad transfer Zech McPhearson from Penn State.  But though he was one of the highest-rated corners in the nation in high school and held offers from the likes of Alabama, Clemson, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, he has made just 14 tackles and appeared in only nine games in his career.

The other options at corner are true freshmen Alex Hogan and Dadrion Taylor or sophomores John Davis Jr. and Quincy Addison, neither of whom have any career starts.  In other words, Tech needs its secondary to remain healthy this fall if the pass defense is going to be better than last year.

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