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Texas Tech football: The five best players on Red Raiders’ roster

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 03: Texas Tech Red Raider mascot "Raider Red" fires his pistols during ceremonies before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners on November 3, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech 51-46. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 03: Texas Tech Red Raider mascot "Raider Red" fires his pistols during ceremonies before the game against the Oklahoma Sooners on November 3, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Oklahoma defeated Texas Tech 51-46. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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No. 2: LB Riko Jeffers

Leading the Texas Tech defense this fall will be Riko Jeffers.  It’s hard to believe that the Garland, Texas native is already a senior and as such, he will be expected to be the best player on his side of the ball.

After a junior season that saw him rack up 76 tackles and three sacks, he’s poised to be the heir-apparent to Jordyn Brooks as the most athletic and disruptive player Tech will have to throw at opposing offenses.  However, he isn’t expected to move into the middle LB spot that Brooks vacated, at least not initially.

The expectation is that Michigan State transfer Brandon Bouyer-Randle will get the first opportunity to nail down the MLB position thus leaving Jeffers free to play his outside LB spot, which he manned rather effectively last year.   But Bouyer-Randle was an OLB with the Spartans and at 234 pounds, he needs to add some bulk to his frame if he is going to fill Brooks’ role.

Jeffers can play either of those positions because at 240 pounds he’s got the size to stuff the run and he is athletic enough to be a disruptive force off the edge.  Defensive coordinator Keith Patterson became rather fond of sending Jeffers on blitzes as 2019 progressed and it appeared that over the course of the second half of the season, Jeffers became Tech’s best pass rusher.

For his career, he’s had only five sacks but much of that was because he played the first two years of his career at Tech under DC David Gibbs, who would only blitz if someone put a gun to his head, and even then, he’d check to make sure it was loaded first.  This year, Jeffers could be unleashed in a way that allows his explosive athleticism to turn him into one of the Big 12’s most disruptive players.  If that’s the case, he will continue Tech’s recent history of producing excellent linebackers and maybe, he can help this program finally turn its defensive woes around.

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