Texas Tech football: The other Red Raiders in Super Bowl LIV

Though the world is obsessed with former Texas Tech football great Pat Mahomes, there are two other participants in Super Bowl LIV who are Red Raiders.

You may have heard by now but there’s a former Texas Tech football star set to start at QB in this week’s Super Bowl LIV. But while everyone in West Texas and around the world is in the throws of Pat Mahomes madness, there will be a couple of former Red Raiders on the other side of the field or at least the sidelines. What’s more, one of them is just as legendary of a college football figure as is Mahomes, if not greater.

Coaching for the San Francisco 49ers will be former Texas Tech football players Wes Welker and Kris Kocurek, both of whom played at Texas Tech in the 2000s. Though it might not be as exciting for fans to think about given that they won’t be on the field, the two former Red Raiders on the San Francisco staff guarantee that a Red Raider will have a part in hoisting the Lombardi Trophy Sunday night.

You could make a case that Wes Welker was to Texas Tech football in the 2000s and the first half of the 2010s what Mahomes has become today. He was the first player of the “Air Raid” era of the program to take the NFL by storm and in fact, he was responsible for changing the way the game is played.

Playing from 2004-15, he had a career that deserves Hall of Fame consideration. With 903 career receptions for 9,924 yards and 50 touchdowns, he defied the odds and made the role of the full-time slot receiver invaluable in the NFL just the way he did in the Texas Tech offense under Mike Leach.

You could also argue that Welker deserves to be in the College Football Hall of Fame. That’s because he was one of the best receivers of his generation while also being an all-time great in the punt-return game.

With 259 career catches for 3,069 yards and 21 touchdowns, he was the first star inside receiver of the “Air Raid” era in college football. What’s more, he left school as the NCAA all-time leader in punt return touchdowns with eight.

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Following his playing career, he got into the coaching game with the Houston Texans. From 2017-18 he was an offensive and special teams coach before joining the 49ers as wide receivers coach prior to this season.

Though Mahomes is already well on his way to a historic career, Welker had one of his own. He played in three Super Bowls (2007 and 2011 with New England and 2014 with Denver) but unfortunately for him, he was 0-3. Still, his status as a 5-time Pro Bowl selection and a player who led the NFL in receptions three different seasons makes Welker’s career one of the two or three best by any Red Raider thus far.

Meanwhile, Kocurek is in his 11th season as a coach. He coached for the Lions and Dolphins before heading to San Francisco in 2019.

After wrapping up his playing career with the Red Raiders in 2000, Welker’s first year in Lubbock, the defensive tackle was taken in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks. But he saw action in only nine NFL games prior to starting his coaching journey.

For a time, he actually was a student assistant coach at Tech before heading to Texas A&M Kingsville as a grad assistant. He also coached at Texas A&M Commerce, West Texas A&M, and Stephen F. Austin prior to joining the Detroit Lions’ staff in 2009. During his time there, one of the many players he coached was former Red Raider defensive end Kerry Hyder.

The Mike Leach coaching tree continues to spread across the college landscape as the “Air Raid” becomes more influential at every level of the game with each passing year. That’s why a guy like Kliff Kingsbury has a head coaching position in the NFL despite having a losing record in the college ranks.

Now, two of Kingsbury’s former teammates at Tech will be trying to help guide a team to the Super Bowl title. If they do, most Texas Tech fans will be disappointed that they did so at the expense of Pat Mahomes but it will still be nice for Red Raiders to see these alums hoist the Lombardi Trophy as well.

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