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Texas Tech football: Injury-plagued players will be key to 2020 success

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 07: Wide receiver T.J. Vasher #9 of Texas Tech celebrates scoring a touchdown with quarterback Alan Bowman #10, and offensive linemen Travis Bruffy #79 Zach Adams #65 during the second half of the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners on September 07, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 07: Wide receiver T.J. Vasher #9 of Texas Tech celebrates scoring a touchdown with quarterback Alan Bowman #10, and offensive linemen Travis Bruffy #79 Zach Adams #65 during the second half of the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners on September 07, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 of Texas Tech instructs his teammates during the first half of the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners on September 07, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS – SEPTEMBER 07: Quarterback Alan Bowman #10 of Texas Tech instructs his teammates during the first half of the college football game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the UTEP Miners on September 07, 2019 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

QB Alan Bowman

The best way for Texas Tech to improve in 2020 is to get better QB play.  While Jett Duffey was better in 2019 than most expected, he was only good enough to keep Tech within striking distance.  Now, the Red Raiders need a QB that can actually lead them to wins in close games.

The prevailing hope is that redshirt sophomore Alan Bowman will be that player.  The problem is that injuries have prevented us from knowing if he is capable of being the type of QB that can be among the best in the Big 12.

In his college career, he’s played in just eleven games while missing 13, including the final nine in 2019.  In fact, he’s played only four games against Power 5 teams from start to finish.

What gives us hope that Bowman will finally be able to play a full year this fall is that his injury woes have been rather freakish.  Whereas some players struggle with chronic injuries to joints or repeated muscle strains that seem to be inevitable, both of Bowman’s major injuries have come as a result of brutal hits that could have been avoided.

In 2018, had his teammates done a better job of blocking against West Virginia and had his head coach not asked him to run a designed sweep near the goal line against OU, he could have avoided the two collapsed lung injuries that caused him to miss four full games and the second half of two more.  Likewise, the left shoulder injury that sidelined him for the last nine games of 2019 occurred when his line failed to pick up a blitzing Arizona LB who eventually drove Bowman into the turf.

Were Bowman’s injuries of the non-contact variety or to a joint like a knee or his throwing shoulder, we would have reason to be overly concerned about a reoccurrence.  But given that both were rather random and flukish in nature, we can hope that 2020 will be the year he is able to play a full season.

Now, it is fair to point out that every QB is going to absorb some punishment over the course of a 12-game schedule and Bowman will have to be able to withstand some inevitable hard shots.  But hopefully, he will be able to strengthen his body over the offseason in order to better deal with the demands of playing QB in the Big 12.  If he does, there’s reason to believe that Tech will finally have its starting QB for an entire season and given that he’s averaging 332.5 yards passing per game in his career, that would be a huge boost this fall.

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