Texas Tech football: Players that need a strong spring

With spring practice set to begin in early March, let’s look at some Texas Tech football players that need a strong showing to solidify their positions.

The Texas Tech football program is staying home this spring.  After several years of taking the team to Midland and Frisco, Texas for scrimmages the Red Raiders are going to spend all 15 of their practices in Lubbock this spring beginning on March 3rd and concluding on April 10 with the spring game at 6 p.m. at Jones Stadium.

It is an obvious attempt to reconnect with a Lubbock fan base that clearly voiced its displeasure with the state of the program at the end of last season as the final two home games of the year against TCU and Kansas State were played in front of more empty seats than actual humans.  In addition, a new “Fan Fest” will take place on Saturday, April 4th at 11 a.m. at which time fans can watch practice prior to other planned events.

There’s no doubt a push by the athletic department to try to get the community of Lubbock to emotionally reinvest in Texas Tech football after a decade of futility.  A recent email campaign encouraging season ticket renewals was just sent out with the tag line “Our town, our team” underscoring the focus on reconnecting Red raider football and its fans.

But the only way the Red Raiders are going to win back the hearts of the local populace (as well as those across Texas and around the country) is to win games, especially at home.  After starting last year 3-0 at home, Matt Wells and his team lost the final three games at Jones Stadium to finish with just a 1-4 Big 12 home mark.

That comes on the heels of a stretch from 2016-18 that saw Tech’s only Big 12 home wins come against Kansas in 2016 and 2018.  Until that trend comes to an end, fans in Lubbock are going to remain more supportive of the basketball and baseball programs and Wells knows that.

This season provides a perfect opportunity for Tech to start to reverse that trend with seven home games.  What’s more, marquee games against Texas, OU, Baylor, and Arizona will all draw significant interest and large crowds meaning that Wells and his program will have several opportunities to win back the local fans with meaningful home victories against programs that actually move the needle.

But for that to happen, a collection of players that went just 4-8 last year is going to have to significantly improve, especially given the lack of true immediate impact signees there were in the 2020 signing class. So let’s look at some players that need to have a strong spring in order to both solidify their place in the two-deep and help this team get back to being competitive this fall.