Texas Tech football all-decade team: The receivers

Inside receiver: Jakeem Grant

There can’t be too many high school receivers with only three Power 5 offers to wind up being the all-time leading receiver for a Power 5 program, much less a program that produced Michael Crabtree.  But that’s what Jakeem Grant managed to accomplish.

The Mesquite product had offers from only Tech, Iowa State, and Wake Forest because of his 5-foot-7 frame but that didn’t stop him from being one of the Big 12’s most feared players from 2012-15.  By the time he was finished, he had racked up 254 catches, 3,286 yards, and 27 touchdowns, numbers that rank 4th, 1st, and 5th in Red Raider history.

What’s more, he was a feared kick returner who averaged 24.9 yards per kickoff return to finish with 2,169 yards and four touchdowns in that aspect of the game.  Thus, he was responsible for over 5,000 yards of total offense.

After his senior year, he was named an All-American by CBS Sports (second-team KR), Sports Illustrated (second-team all-purpose) and the Associated Press (third-team all-purpose) in addition to being named a first-team All-Big 12 performer by ESPN, the Associated Press, and San Antonio Express-News, while being named to the second team by the Waco Tribune and the conference coaches.

It was his final game as a Red Raider that was his masterpiece.  He racked 207 total yards including a 65-yard TD off a deflected pass and the famous trick play where he hid behind the offensive line before bolting for a 40-yard touchdown in the 4th quarter to essentially seal the game.

There have been tons of great inside receivers play for the Red Raiders this decade as well as over the entirety of the modern era but few can compare to Jakeem Grant.  That’s not bad for a player that most programs thought was too small to play at the highest levels of the game.