Texas Tech football: Position groups to watch vs. Montana State

Will the defensive line apply consistent pressure on the QB?

If Keith Patterson’s defense is going to be successful this year, the defensive line will have to make life difficult on opposing quarterbacks.  So keep an eye on how uncomfortable Montana State’s redshirt freshman Casey Baumann, who will be making his first career start, looks.

Though the base defense will be a 3-3-5 scheme, in passing situations, Eli Howard will slide back to the 9 technique that he has played for his entire career.  The junior from San Angelo has to improve upon the 2.5 sacks he had last year, which was down from 4.5 in 2017.

We know that senior DT Broderick Washington will be as steady as they come but will the man next to him, Nick McCann, be able to hold up his end of the equation?

The 310-pound junior has just 29 career tackles but he did come up with 24 last year in a backup role.  This will be his first season as a starter and he has to prove capable of replacing Joe Wallace, who left the program this offseason.

Finally, let’s see how the two youngsters set to man the “Raider” position perform.  Both true freshman Tyrique Matthews and redshirt freshman Xavier Benson will see plenty of action and they need to give us some reasons to be confident that they can play such important roles this year.

Being as both are around 220 pounds, it would seem likely that Montana State will run right at each of them.  Keep an eye on how physical both are in taking on blockers as well as how well they can come off the edge when rushing the passer.