Texas Tech football: Players that saw their stock rise the most in 2019

 RB SaRodoick Thompson has become this team’s most proven offensive weapon

Those who watched SaRodorick Thompson in his limited action as a true freshman had to like what they saw.  But none of us expected to consider him the unquestioned pick as the best kill-position player on the team heading into his redshirt sophomore season.

But that’s the case as spring practice begins.  Much of that is because QB Alan Bowman was forced to miss significant time again in 2019 as he missed the final nine games of the year.  Coming on the heels of his injury-plagued freshman season, that caused Red Raider fans to lose a ton of faith in his ability to play a full season.

Also, T.J. Vasher‘s inability to turn into a star receiver has made Thompson more invaluable.  Vasher has all the physical tools needed to dominate opposing defenses but thus far, he’s not displayed the maturity required to hone his craft well enough to get to that place.  Last year, he was suspended for two games for off-field issues and his stock is at its lowest point since his true freshman year when he missed all but one game with an injury.

That brings us to Thompson as the player we most trust on the offense.  Last year, he proved to be everything that Bowman and Vasher weren’t, healthy and dependable.   And even when he wasn’t at 100% physically, he fought through an ankle sprain to carry the offense as the only scholarship RB that didn’t miss a game last fall.

In all, he had 919 yards from scrimmage (765 on the ground) and 12 touchdowns making him Tech’s mos productive non-QB in both categories. He needs to be as productive, if not more so this fall.

It’s still unclear if Tech has the receivers capable of measuring up to the lofty standards that previous versions of this program have set at that position.  While next year’s group of pass-catchers should be able to outperform the pedestrian totals of the 2019 group, there’s no certainty that they will be among the best in the Big 12.

Thus, Thompson will likely be as important to the offense as any running back we’ve seen since Washington in 2015.  And don’t forget that playing QB next to Washington that year was Pat Mahomes meaning that Thompson might be even more essential to his team’s success than Washington was when he went for 1,000 yards rushing in consecutive seasons to end his career.

Entering last year, many of us thought that Thomspon would be a good situational RB who would be used primarily in short-yardage situations because of his size.  But he showed an impressive ability to evade tacklers and more burst than we expected as he had six games with over five yards per carry, an indication that he broke off some big runs in those contests.

Now, we don’t look at him as merely a situational piece.  Rather, he could be the player around which the offense revolves in 2020.