Texas Tech football: What Red Raider fans should be thankful for

Jordyn Brooks has been the best Texas Tech defensive player since Zach Thomas

Consider just how lucky we have been over the last four years to watch Jordyn Brooks play football for the Red Raiders.   After all, it was not long ago that the linebacker position was this program’s biggest weakness.  In fact, you could argue that no spot on the field has been more troublesome than LB in the “Air Raid” era (perhaps corner might have something to say about that).

But with Brooks and 2018 Tech graduate, Dakota Allen, this program has been privy to some elite-level linebacking play for the last five years.   That’s something to be thankful for.

Brooks arrived as a 3-star player and the No. 115 prospect in Texas.  But he was far from being heralded as a player who would finish his career as a Butkus Award finalist as he is this year.

He is the first Red Raider since Michael Crabtree to be named a finalist for his position’s national award.   That’s the caliber of player Tech needs to find more of if the program is going to return to its lost glory.

When Matt Wells was hired, there was considerable discussion about whether QB Alan Bowman would stay with the program but Brooks was Tech’s best returning player and could have gone almost anywhere he wanted should he have entered the transfer portal.  We are all thankful that he didn’t.

Though is efforts have been overshadowed by this program’s overall struggles, we all must recognize what Jordyn Brooks has meant to Tech football.  He has racked up the most tackles (346) of any LB for this program since Lawrence Flugenge graduated in 2002 with a program-best 500 and he could arguably be the best defensive player to come out of Tech since Zach Thomas.

We will likely see Brooks have a successful career in the NFL, which is something this program needs to be able to point to as a selling point for upcoming recruits.  That’s just another reason that we should not take for granted what he’s brought to Tech football.

Just like Pat Mahomes, Brooks’ career was somewhat wasted because of factors beyond his control.  But in a time when this program needed a leader to guide it through a tough transition, we should all be thankful that Jordyn Brooks decided to finish his career as a Red Raider.