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Texas Tech football: The top Red Raider from each season of the Big 12 era

By Matthew Conner

ARLINGTON, TX - NOVEMBER 25: Patrick Mahomes II #5 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders warming up before the game against the Baylor Bears on November 25, 2016 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Baylor 54-35. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - NOVEMBER 25: Patrick Mahomes II #5 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders warming up before the game against the Baylor Bears on November 25, 2016 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Texas Tech defeated Baylor 54-35. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images) /
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2015: Washington

Yes, Pat Mahomes is the best football player on the planet these days.  Yes, he was a first-time starter for the Red Raiders in 2015.  But that season, his backfield partner was the best Red Raider on the team.

Putting up 1,877 total yards and 16 TDs, senior De’Andre Washington had the best season of any Red Raider RB since Taurean Henderson a decade earlier.  1,492 of those yards came on the ground as he became the first Red Raider of the “Air Raid” era to run for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons.

Earning first-team All-Big 12 honors, he was the first Tech RB to do so since Henderson in 2005 and only the second since Ricky Williams in 2001.  What’s more, he’s only of only four Tech RBs to ever earn that distinction.

Washington went out in style at Jones Stadium.  In his final home game, he gashed Kansas State for 248 yards and three TDs to help Tech get to its seventh win of the year.  He also had 100-yard games against TCU, Texas, Kansas, UTEP, and West Virginia.

If Washington isn’t the best Red Raider RB since Byron Hanspard, he is second to Taurean Henderson.  And in 2015, he gave us what was the best season on the ground since Hanspard went for 2,000 yards in the first season of the Big 12.

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