Texas Tech football all-decade team: The linebackers

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Jordyn Brooks #1 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

1st-team: Jordyn Brooks

The best Red Raider linebacker since Zach Thomas, Jordyn Brooks just wrapped up his magnificent career with a senior season that saw him finish as a finalist for the Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top LB.

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With 108 tackles and 3.0 sacks after moving into the middle LB spot for the first time in his career, he has earned second-team All-American honors making him the first LB in program history to be named an All-American since Thomas.

His 346 career tackles are good for 9th-most in program history. The fewest he ever had as a collegiate was the 78 he came up with as a junior in 2018.

Brooks was an absolute monster who had the size and speed that only elite linebackers possess. He also had an incredible knack for finding the football as he showed in registering 19 tackles against Oklahoma State this year.

That day, he also three sacks and a forced fumble in helping lead his team to one of its only two Big 12 wins this year. It was one of six double-digit-tackle games this fall for the Houston native.

Now, Brooks is almost certain to hear his name called in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft in April. When he does, he will become the program’s best linebacker prospect to enter the professional ranks since Thomas in 1997.

Of course, living up to Thomas’ career in the NFL will be tough but no one in Lubbock is betting against Brooks. That’s because we’ve already seen him play LB at the college level better than anyone since the best player in program history.

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