Texas Tech football: Red Raiders with opportunities to shine in 2020
DL Tony Bradford Jr.
Asking a defensive lineman to go right from high school to handling a serious role at the Big 12 level is daunting but that’s what Tony Bradford Jr. did last season as a true freshman. Now with a year under his belt and having already arrived on campus as a full-grown man, even by college football standards, the Houston native could be in store for a significant jump in productivity in 2020.
The 6-foot-1, 270-pounder could be asked to fill the role of strongside DE left vacant by the graduation of Broderick Washington, who had 30 pounds on Bradford. But Bradford might prove to be a better pass rusher in the long run than Washington and that’s something Tech desperately needs.
In nine games last fall, Bradford had a modest 14 tackles including 1.5 sacks. But that doesn’t tell the story of his season.
Never looking physically overmatched despite being a true freshman, Bradford held his own during a time in his career when most defensive lineman would rather be redshirting to develop physically.
He didn’t have that luxury and while it led to some growing pains, Tech could reap the rewards as soon as 2020. Bradford will likely be in a rotation with junior Nelson Mbanasor and JUCO transfer Devin Drew at that defensive end spot with Drew possibly also spelling senior Eli Howard at rush end.
That group should give Tech more depth at end than the 2019 team had the luxury of. Thus, the hope is that the second-half defensive collapses that we saw in Wells’ first year will not be as problematic.
Last season, Tech allowed Arizona to score 15 points in the fourth quarter after holding the Wildcats to 13 for the first three. In Waco, Baylor scored 30 points after halftime, which seemed improbable given that the Bears had mustered just three first-half points.
The mighty Kansas Jayhawks ran up 23 second-half points against Tech including 17 in the fourth quarter. Similarly, Kansas State piled up 24 points after the intermission following a first half that saw the boys from Manhattan muster just two field goals.
Most of those woes came as a result of a worn-out defensive line, one which asked the starters to play far too many snaps. Hopefully, Bradford can emerge as a much more impactful force along the line this year and help be a solution to that problem in 2020.