Texas Tech football: Red Raiders with opportunities to shine in 2020
S Ja’Marcus Ingram
The most pressing concern on the Texas Tech defense entering the summer is the safety position. That’s because last year’s interception leader, Douglas Coleman, has graduated after a career-high eight picks as a senior. And mercifully, Tech has moved Adrian Frye back to corner after a disastrous attempt to convert the former All-Big 12 selection to safety.
Frankly, this is a spot at which I hope Tech adds some help through the transfer portal. But if that doesn’t happen, look for Ja’Marcus Ingram and Thomas Leggett to enter fall camp atop the depth chart. It’s the former that is the more intriguing of the two players.
You may remember that the Dallas native transferred to Tech after fall camp had already begun last year after two years at Utah State. Already familiar with Patterson’s system from their time together the previous season in Logan, Utah, Ingram saw action at safety in nine games making 22 tackles and picking off a pass.
He played both corner and safety at Utah State but now, he will most certainly stay at safety for his senior campaign. And if he doesn’t man that position well, Tech will be in trouble.
The only other option with any defensive back experience right now is sophomore Dadrion Taylor. At 5-foot-11, 180-pounds, he’s not built like a safety and what’s more, his experience as a defensive back is rather limited as he moved to that position after signing with Tech. Prior to that, he had spent his entire high school football career at running back.
Also, remember that his move to safety came this year at the start of spring. That was supposed to be a key time for Taylor to learn the nuances of his new position, which Frye taught us last fall can be a harrowing experience. Being as Tech completed just four of the scheduled 14 spring practice sessions, Taylor was unable to spend much time learning how to play safety and it is fair to wonder how ready to contribute he will be when September arrives.
Last year, the Red Raider secondary was torched worse than any in the Big 12 and Tech finished the year 128th out of 130 teams in the nation against the pass. Ingram has to step up to keep that from happening again in 2020.