Texas Tech football: McLane Mannix looks to rebound after disappointing 2019

The Texas Tech football program is hoping that inside receiver McLane Mannix is able to rebound from a disappointing showing in 2019.

It’s amazing how much difference a year can make in terms of perception. Take for example the case of McLane Mannix.

A year ago, the Midland native arrived in Lubbock as a transfer from Nevada amid considerable hype. The inside receiver had been named a 2017 freshman All-American and had posted 875 yards and 7 TDs in 2018. Thus, it was believed that he was primed to be the next in the long line of standout slot receivers at Texas Tech.

But now, after a disappointing Red Raider debut, he is in a three-way fight for playing time and many might consider him the underdog. After all, his 26-catch, 248-yard, 3-TD 2019 didn’t do much to impress Red Raider fans.

Mannix entered fall camp last year as the presumed starter but he was quickly reeled in by a former walk-on in Dalton Rigdon and a JUCO transfer in Xavier White who was a walk-on himself at the time. Now, he has to battle Rigdon as well as junior Kesean Carter for reps at IR (Martin was moved to running back in spring practice and may stay there given the lack of long-term depth at that position).

The good news for Mannix is that he was the only one of the three slot receivers Tech deployed last year to remain healthy for all 12 games. As a result, he was the starter in the final two games of the year.

But in those two games, he totaled just six receptions for a mere 42 yards. Meanwhile, in the season finale, Carter had a career day with 11 catches for 150 yards and TD in his first-ever action as an inside receiver.

That was far and away the best day Tech got from one of its slots in the first year of the Matt Wells era. As for Mannix, the best game he managed to have was in the season’s third game when he caught four passes for 78 yards and a score against Arizona.

Making matters worse was the fact that his most memorable play was one that cost his team a potential victory. With Tech trailing TCU 33-31 in the final two minutes of the game, Mannix fumbled allowing the Fogs to recover and seal the victory in Lubbock.

Working against Mannix (and the other inside receivers or the roster) is the fact that Tech now uses only one slot in the scheme of OC David Yost instead of the standard two slot-scheme that we have seen for almost the entirety of the spread offense era of Texas Tech football.

But there are some indications that we might see more two-slot sets this year. Though Yost prefers to have a tight end on the field at all times, he may not be able to have that luxury this season.

The idea behind that philosophy is that staying in the same personnel group for virtually every play of the game makes it much tougher for opposing defensive coordinators to predict what Yost might be dialing up from play to play. Also, Yost values running the ball more than his predecessors in Lubbock and he loves to have a TE on the field to be the sixth blocker.

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The problem in 2020 is that Tech has just one tight end, Travis Koontz, who has ever taken a snap for the Red Raiders. Behind him is a group of unknown commodities including redshirt freshman Simon Gonzalez (who was suspended from the team in March), true freshman John Holcomb (who played 2-A football last year and may not be ready for a role this fall), and JUCO signee Jason Lloyd (who had rather meager stats in 2019).

In other words, the distribution of talent across his positions groups might make Yost turn to a two-slot set more often than he would prefer. That’s a possibility he discussed earlier this summer with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams.

"“Those guys, they’re competing,” Yost said, “because they understand they only get so many reps at the H position (the slot receiver). Our goal would be to play in 11 personnel (one tight end, one running back). Now, maybe the H was making us change that, makes you play in 10 (one running back, no tight end, four wide receivers) some, because they’re making so many plays, you want them on the field.”"

In such a scenario, Mannix would figure to be the greatest beneficiary. It would open up more reps for the player who began 2019 on the Biletnikoff Award (nation’s best receiver) watchlist but who likely enters this fall’s camp third on the depth chart.

But regardless of how much he is on the field in 2020, Mannix needs to be more of an impact player than he was a year ago. While he doesn’t seem destined to be the type of factor that he was at Nevada, now as a senior he must be more of a positive for the Red Raiders than he was in what was a disappointing junior campaign. If he isn’t, there are plenty of other options Wells and Yost can turn to.