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Texas Tech football: 2020 commits that Red Raiders could have used this year

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 16: Texas Tech Red Rainders mascot the Masked Rider leads the team onto the field before the college football game against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 16, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 16: Texas Tech Red Rainders mascot the Masked Rider leads the team onto the field before the college football game against the TCU Horned Frogs on November 16, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images)
(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) /

6-foot-2, 185-pound WR Ja’Lynn Polk

This year’s Red Raider pass-catchers are the worst receiving corps in the modern era of the Texas Tech football program.  The team’s leading receiver is Dalton Rigdon, who has only 486 yards on the season.

Of course, the biggest disappointment has been junior T.J. Vasher, who has been suspended for the last two games and has given this team merely 473 yards.  Tech was counting on much more from the guy that most thought was about to establish himself as a true No. 1 receiver.

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That’s why Lufkin wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk’s arrival can’t come soon enough.  The 4-star recruit is the crown jewel of the 2020 signing class thus far and could likely have stepped in and contributed this year.  He’s that good.

Rated the No. 55 overall player in Texas and the No. 61 receiver in the nation, Polk’s offer list includes Arkansas, Baylor, Arizona, Houston, Minnesota, Kansas State, and Kansas.  When he committed to the Red Raiders back in June, it was for many the biggest win Matt Wells has had on the recruiting trail since he arrived.

Tech’s receivers have been pedestrian as a group.  It’s hard to remember the last time no Red Raider pass-catcher ranked in the top 10 in the Big 12 in yards but that’s the situation in 2019.

We thought that redshirt freshman Erik Ezukanma would make a quicker transition to the role of starter this year.  But though he’s shown recent signs of figuring it out (at least 62 yards in four of his last five games) he’s not been the type of force that many thought he might, which speaks more to our unfair expectations than anything.

Meanwhile, think about where this team would be were it not for grad transfer R.J. Turner, who has started the last two games in Vasher’s place.  The Louisiana-Monroe transfer has been solid with 478 yards (second on the team) and two scores but he’s not the type of game-breaker that this team is lacking.

Next. The all-time DWF Texas Tech football roster. dark

Tech is counting on this class of receivers to bring some much-needed juice back to the offense.  And the Red Raiders are the favorites to land 4-star Loic Fouongi from Midland (who is a bit more highly-rated than Polk, and hopefully, he stays home in West Texas to give this class a dynamic pair of receivers.  But if Polk had been able to come to campus this year, he likely would have been a legitimate option for the Red Raiders given how lackluster their receivers have been.

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