Texas Tech football: Ranking our confidence in each offensive position group

The outside receivers have never had the type of season this program expects

Crabtree, Filani, Hicks, Wesley, Ward, Parks, Hill…the names that have played outside receiver for Texas Tech have been some of the best to ever play in the NCAA.  But this year, there are no such stars set to man this position for the Red Raiders.  But because there are two returning starters, both of whom have all the physical tools to be eventual stars, I give the outside receivers a 5.5 out of 10 on my confidence scale.

If you are waiting for T.J. Vasher to realize his immense potential at the collegiate level, you have been right there with me in your disappointment and frustration.  After he put up 545 yards and 9 TDs as a redshirt freshman, he was thought to be on his way to stardom but since then, he’s yet to take the next step as he’s never had more than 687 yards and 7 TDs in a season.

But as he heads into his senior year, there’s some reason to hope that he will be able to finally put together the type of season we’ve long expected him to have.  At the start of spring practices, Wells spoke glowingly about Vasher’s physical and mental development over the offseason and the latter of those is what has always held the Wichita Falls native from becoming a star.

Across the formation, redshirt sophomore Erik Ezukanma returns for his second year as a starter after putting up even better numbers than Vasher did as a redshirt freshman.  But now, can he build on his 664-yard (a team-high in 2019), 4 TD season from last fall and become a lead receiver in the mold of the other greats to have done it in Lubbock?  Until we see that, we can’t just assume he will the way we did of Vasher three offseasons ago.

Also limiting my confidence in this group is what is behind the two starters.   That’s because the likely backups are going to be true freshmen Loic Fouonji and Ja’Lynn Polk.  The rest of the outside receiving corp has done virtually nothing at the collegiate level meaning those two 2020 signees will likely need to be ready to go as soon as they step on campus.

The outside receivers are a group that will make or break this season for Tech and because they are relying on two players yet to prove capable of being all-conference performers, we just can’t have overbrimming confidence in them.  However, it isn’t hard to envision them both reaching that level over the course of the season if everything goes the way we hope.