Texas Tech football: The best one-hit-wonders in Red Raider history

These former Texas Tech football players made quite the impression despite having only one year of excellence in Lubbock.

We all love one-hit wonders in the world of music.  But the Texas Tech football program has also had its share of players that we aren’t soon to forget despite just one season of excellence.

It’s rather fascinating that we remember so fondly all of the one-hit wonders in our world.  In fact, artists that have just one hit song are some of the most famous acts in history.

Perhaps the most obvious example is a man who performed at halftime of this year’s home basketball game against Iowa State, Vanilla Ice.  The Dallas native released the 1990 hit single “Ice Ice Baby”, which took the world by storm, but he never produced another hit outside of a couple of covers.

Rock fans certainly remember the song “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, the 1995 hit by the band Deep Blue Something.  That proved to be their only top-100 single on the American charts.

In 2006, Gnarls Barkley had their only hit, “Crazy”.  At least that gave them one more hit than former NBA star Charles Barkley had championships.

The list of one-hit wonders in music is vast but what is most surprising is how fondly we remember those artists despite the fact that they have not proven to have any staying power.  Part of that is because hit songs have a way of nesting in our brains and taking root so deeply that we can’t forget their melody despite the fact that we wish we could.

In sports, we don’t seem to look as favorably on players that have just one season of excellence, especially in the professional ranks.  In fact, if we are honest, we often grow angry at players who show a flash of greatness only to never come close to that level again.

Remember Ickey Woods?  In1988, as a rookie he ran for 1,066 yards with 15 touchdowns to help the Cincinnati Bengals reach the Super Bowl and he became famous for his “Ickey Shuffle” dance.  But knee injuries would end his career just three seasons and 500 yards later.

In 1995, Dallas Cowboys’ corner Larry Brown broke out with six interceptions.  The ould cap that year by picking off two passes in Super Bowl XXX to earn MVP honors.  But after signing a five-year, $12.5 million deal with the Oakland Raiders (a large contract for that era), he saw action in just eight games for the Raiders in ’96 and was benched and suspended by the team in 1997 before being waived.

Of course, former Baylor QB Robert Griffin III was a one-hit-wonder with the Washington Redskins.  After winning the 2011 Heisman Trophy, he passed for 3,200 yards with 20 touchdowns and five interceptions while rushing for 815 as he led his team to the playoffs as a rookie in 2012.  It looked at the time like he was set to dominate the NFL as a dual-threat QB but injuries prevented him from maxing out his potential and he’s been a journeyman backup.

Just like in music, in football, there have been tons of one-hit-wonders.  But because we are more invested in sports, because there is more on the line from an emotional standpoint given the paradox of victory and defeat that defines every game, we seem to be less forgiving of one-hit-wonders in that avenue of society.

Tech football has had its share of players that had just one season of stardom but because we love Red Raider sports so much, we tend to be more forgiving of them than we are of professionals who are paid millions annually.

The situation in college is also different because players may take time to develop physically and by the time they are ready to contribute, they have just one year of eligibility remaining.  Others are buried on the depth chart until their final season when they finally get a shot to start.  When those players leave, we often feel cheated because we had to say goodbye just when they started to make an impact.

So let’s take a look back at some of the best one-hit-wonders in Texas Tech football history and remember the good times they brought us.  Because just like the songs that we can’t get out of our head, it will be impossible to forget the contributions of these Red Raiders.