Texas Tech football alums: Two former Red Raiders make XFL rosters

As the XFL nears the start of its re-boot, two former Texas Tech football players have made rosters for teams that will be competing in this spring football league.

It seems like Americans’ craving for football is never satisfied. But despite that fact, any attempts at bringing more professional football to fans outside of the NFL season just haven’t worked out. This year, the XFL is giving that endeavor another shot and two former Texas Tech football players will be on the field.

Playing for the New York Guardians will be running back Justin Stockton while linebacker Will Smith will be suiting up for the Los Angeles Wildcats. The season for all XFL teams begins Sunday, February 9th.

A Red Raider from 2014-17, Stockton ran for 1,714 yards and 14 touchdowns while catching 82 passes for 872 yards and 10 more scores. His best season came as a senior when he ran for 797 yards and accumulated 1,032 total yards and nine touchdowns.

For his college career, he had six 100-yard games. His best was a 161-yard outburst against Kansas in 2017 during which he scored a TD. He also exploded for 135 yards on the ground on just nine carries while scoring a TD against UTEP in his second-ever college game.

Meanwhile, Smith was only in Lubbock for two seasons being as he arrived as a JUCO transfer. From 2012-13, he made 175 tackles while registering 4.5 sacks. As a senior, he was fantastic with 120 tackles (10.5 for loss) including all of his career sacks to earn honorable-mention All-Big 12 honors.

His signature performance as a Red Raider came in his final game for the Double-T. In the 2013 Holiday Bowl victory over Arizona State, Smith had 14 tackles (two for loss) to earn the game’s Defensive MVP honors. That came one game after he made a career-high 18 tackles against Texas in Austin.

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He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 7th round of the 2014 NFL Draft but he did not make the team that season. He has since spent time with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

Owned by Vince McMahon, the current owner of the WWE professional wrestling promotion, this is the second incarnation of the XFL. Back in 2001, the XFL had a failed first run that lasted only one season due to a poor product on the field and a struggle to iron out the technical aspects of starting a new football league that fans often aren’t cognizant of.

This time around, the XFL will play a 10-game season that will lead up to a two-round playoff that will crown a champion on April 26th. And to try to hold the public interest, the league is attempting to implement some new rules.

For instance, there will be no kicks for an extra point after a TD. Rather, After the scoring team has the option of running a play from the 2, 5, or 10-yard line, worth 1, 2, or 3 points respectively.

A rule that might make the 2018 Houston Cougars happy is also being implemented. Teams are now allowed to throw two forward passes on the same play provided that the first pass does not cross the line of scrimmage. When the Cougars played in Lubbock in 2018, they got away with doing exactly that on a key second-half play, which was not called for a penalty as it should have been by rule.

Beginning one week after the Super Bowl, the XFL hopes to fill the void we all feel after the end of the football season by bringing us what they are selling as a cutting-edge product. While many fans remain skeptical of the league’s viability given its initial failure and the disaster that was last year’s AAF league, which folded before even finishing the season due to the loss of its primary financial backer. But at least Red Raider fans will have a couple of reasons to check in when Stockton and Smith are on the field.

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