Texas Tech football: The most underrated players of the Mike Leach era

LB Brian Duncan

Linebacker Brian Duncan isn’t going to be top of mind for most Red Raider fans but during his career, he was arguably Tech’s best linebacker, a position where Leach’s teams often struggled to put top-end Big 12 talent on the field.

The Baton Rouge, LA native wound up with an impressive 315 career tackles from 2007-10.  That included 7.5 sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles.  A solid pass rusher and versatile athlete, he would have been a natural fit in the defense of current Texas Tech football defensive coordinator Keith Patterson.

Never amassing fewer than the 63 tackles he had as a senior, Duncan was another player form this list who was remarkably consistent from the moment he arrived.  As a true freshman, he registered 69 tackles, including four behind the line of scrimmage.

As is so often the case with players of the latter half of the Leach era, Duncan had a career year in 2008.  As a sophomore, he had a career-high 95 tackles while coming up with a pair of sacks.

That season, Duncan was credited with four double-digit tackle performances including 11 against No. 8 Oklahoma State one week after Tech defeated No. 1 Texas.  He had a season-high 12 tackles against Kansas State and never had fewer than five stops in a game to help his team give us the best season in Red Raider history.

A two-time honorable-mention All-Big 12 honoree (2010 and 2008) Duncan was the type of player that didn’t get too many headlines but he was a key figure on some of the best Texas Tech football teams ever.