Texas Tech football: Spooky possibilities for Red Raider fans to consider

The next star Red Raider QB may not be on campus for two years

One of the biggest assumptions I had when the season began was that Alan Bowman would be one of the top three QBs in the conference this year.  Of course, he can’t rise to that level unless he is able to stay on the field, which he hasn’t done yet as a collegiate.

After missing parts of five games last year, he made just three starts this year before a shoulder injury knocked him out of action again.  That’s not how program-changing QBs are developed.

But even when Bowman was on the field, the Red Raider offense didn’t look all that impressive.  In fact, it looked just as pedestrian as it has in his absence.

Bowman has played only one Power 5 team thus far in his sophomore season and in that game, he completed just 54.5% of his passes while being picked off twice against Arizona.  That’s not the makings of a star QB.

If you look at what Bowman has managed against Power 5 teams in his career, he’s been merely average.  His completion percentage of 64.4% is four points lower than his career average.  What’s more, his average of 343.6 yards passing per four quarters against major conference opponents, is down over 20 yards from his career average.  Meanwhile, his TD to INT ratio is just 11:9 because all but one of his ten career picks have come against Power 5 teams.

Is Bowan the long-term answer at QB?  We think so but we aren’t certain given that he’s played in just eleven games over two years.

What we do know is that junior Jett Duffey is not the answer.  He’s proven to be nothing more than an adequate backup as it’s become clear that he’s not going to live up to the hype that accompanied his arrival in 2016.

Meanwhile, we know nothing about freshman QB Maverick McIvor because he’s yet to play after breaking his foot in fall camp.  If he does not play this year, it will mean he will have played only one game in the last two years because of injuries.   Additionally, 2020 commit Donovan Smtih is far from a sure-fire prospect given that he’s playing his first season as a starting QB this year at Frienship H.S.

There’s a possibility that our next star QB may be Eastland’s Behren Morton, who committed to Tech earlier this month.  The 4-star prospect is likely to arrive with as much fanfare as any QB in the last 15 years and has all the makings of an all-conference player.  The problem is that we may have to wait until 2021 until our next All-Big 12 QB even sets foot on campus.