Texas Tech football: How former Red Raiders performed in 2019
Quan Shorts: Northwestern State
Speaking of receivers that could have given this program some extra punch over the past few years, Quan Shorts had a fantastic year for FCS program Northwestern State. The 6-foot-2, Humble, Texas native caught 100 passes for 994 yards and 11 touchdowns this season as he averaged 9.9 yards per catch.
Shorts was a promising player for the Red Raiders from 2015-17 pulling in 14 passes for 233 yards and three scores. Against Kansas in 2017, he had four receptions for 76 yards and a TD and in 2016, he had an 81-yard TD catch and run against Baylor.
Unfortunately, off the field issues caused Shorts’ time in Lubbock to end following the 2017 season after his second arrest for marijuana possession. But playing for the Demons, he became one of the top FCS receivers in the country.
In 2018, he snagged 56 passes for 542 yards and two touchdowns. That led to a stellar senior season in 2019 when he pulled in 100 balls for 994 yards and 11 scores.
His reception total set a school record and was the third-best ever by a Southland Conference receiver earning him first-team all-conference honors. Shorts also finished with the second-most TD catches in one season in Northwestern State history.
Both members of the 2015 class, a recruiting haul that was the best of Kliff Kingsbury’s career on paper but one which ultimately proved to be his undoing, Shorts and Brown could have formed a rather productive tandem in Lubbock and might have been able to join with Antoine Wesley to give the 2018 team a fantastic stable of receivers.
What’s more, had one or both redshirted at some point, they could have been starring for the Red Raiders this year. Had either been on campus this fall, he likely would have been a go-to option give how lacking this year’s Red Raider receivers proved to be.
Looking at the recent decline in the explosiveness of the Tech offense, we have to start with the injuries at QB but we also have to factor in the lack of talent at wide receiver as well. That downturn in productivity from the position that has thrived for so long in Lubbock began with both Shorts and Brown flammed out thus leaving the program to scramble to fill their shoes.