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Texas Tech football: 2020 draft picks that could have saved Kliff Kingsbury’s job

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 10: Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads his team onto the field before the game against the Texas Longhorns on November 10, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas defeated Texas Tech 41-34. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TX - NOVEMBER 10: Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Texas Tech Red Raiders leads his team onto the field before the game against the Texas Longhorns on November 10, 2018 at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas defeated Texas Tech 41-34. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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Running back Eno Benjamin #3 of the Arizona State Sun Devils  (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Running back Eno Benjamin #3 of the Arizona State Sun Devils  (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

RB Eno Benjamin from Arizona State

In the 7th round of this year’s Draft, Kingsbury was able to snag a player that he targeted heavily in the 2017 class when the Arizona Cardinals drafted Eno Benjamin from Arizona State.  The Wylie, Texas native ran for a total of 2,867 yards and 27 TDs over the last three years for Arizona State including a pair of 1,000-yard seasons in each of the last two years.

That’s the type of productivity that Tech has been unable to get out of the RB spot since DeAndre Washington graduated after the 2015 season.  Like Benjamin, Washington ended his college career with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons and since then, the most any Red Raider has run for in a season was the 797 yards Justin Stockton put up in 2017.   What’s more, in 2016, Tech’s rushing leader (Da’Leon Ward) had just 428 yards while in 2018, backup QB Jett Duffey led the team in rushing with a mere 369 yards.

Think about how differently the last two years would have looked if Tech would have had the productive and durable (he missed only one game in the last two years) Benjamin to help shoulder the load on offense as QB injuries decimated the Red Raiders in 2018 and 2019.

When Kingsbury truly lost his grip on his job in November of 2018, Tech averaged just over 94 yards per game on the ground over the course of the season-ending four-game losing streak. That included a paltry 31 yards against Kansas State in a 21-6 loss.

With both McLane Carter and Jett Duffey hobbled by leg injuries at the end of the 2018 season, Kingsbury’s offense was rendered impotent in part because of the failings of the running game.  Benjamin would have been a godsend at that time because his elusive running style would have enabled Tech to move the ball on the ground despite the fact that the offensive line was not able to open up a ton of running lanes that season.

Coming out of high school, Benjamin was a stud.  He was rated a 4-star player and the No. 6 running back in the nation by 247Sports but Kingsbury had a shot at landing him.  He was in attendance for a junior day event in Lubbock in 2015 and Kingsbury and his staff made numerous trips to see him play and visit him in Wylie.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t bring him to the South Plains as he went to Arizona State.  If he had come to Lubbock, he would have played for Kingsbury in college but would almost certainly be playing for a different head coach in the NFL as Kliff would still be leading the way in Lubbock.

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