After a nice redshirt freshman season, sophomore receiver Erik Ezukanma is primed for a breakout 2020 season for the Texas Tech football program.
It is not easy for freshmen receivers to make an immediate impact at the Big 12 level. The nuances of playing the position seem to take longer to master and the increase in the quality of defensive backs often usually makes it tough for first-year receivers to break into the two-deep, much less become starters.
But that’s exactly what Erik Ezukanma did in 2019. Now, the sophomore is ready for what could be a true breakout season in 2020.
A year ago, the Forth Worth native came on strong to end the year and finished with a team-high 664 yards receiving. He was also second on the team in receptions with 42. Becoming the first Red Raider since Michael Crabtree in 2007 to lead the team in receiving, the 6-foot-4 wideout also led the team with 13 plays of 25 or more yards.
But it wasn’t a quick start to his first full Red Raider career. In the first four games of last fall, he managed just eight total receptions for 75 yards leading many to believe he was not ready for a significant role in the offense.
Fortunately, he came alive in week four to help his team secure its best win of the season. In a 45-35 upset of No. 21 Oklahoma State in Lubbock, Ezukanma hauled in three scores for 92 yards. What’s more, he came up with a 56-yard fourth-quarter TD to help fend off a Cowboy rally.
That began a stretch of three games in which he had no fewer than three catches or 62 yards. But it was after a one-catch, seven-yard showing against Kansas that he really took off.
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In the season’s final four contests, he averaged 91.2 yards per game. What’s more, he found the endzone in each of the final three games of 2019.
Closing out the season against Texas, Ezukanma put a fantastic ribbon on his first full season as a Red Raider. With seven grabs for 135 yards and a TD, Ezukanman fully looked the part of a lead wide receiver.
While no one outside of Lubbock really noticed how well Ezukanma closed the season and few are talking about him as a potential all-conference receiver headed into 2020, take a moment to consider how impressive 664 yards are from a freshman (redshirt or otherwise).
In his redshirt freshman season as a Red Raider, Ezukanma’s current wide receivers coach, Joel Filani (who is 10th in program history in receiving yards), put up just 1 catch for nine yards.
How about the program’s all-time leading receiver, Jakeem Grant? As a redshirt freshman in 2012, he had a respectable 32 catches for 384 yards and 3 TDs but those numbers pale in comparison to Ezukanman’s 2019.
Those numbers are similar to what Wes Welker put up as a redshirt freshman in 2000. The future NFL great was able to come up with 26 passes for 334 yards but he didn’t find the endzone through the air.
One of the most consistent receivers in program history, Eric Ward caught a mere six balls for 63 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2010. In the following three years, he would become one of only two Red Raider receivers to ever have three 800-yard seasons.
The point is that almost no redshirt freshman in Texas Tech football history not named Michael Crabtree was able to make a greater impact as a redshirt freshman than Ezukanma did. However, one of his current teammates can provide us with proof that progress is not guaranteed to be linear.
In 2017, T.J. Vasher had one of the best redshirt freshman campaigns in Tech history with 545 yards and six TDs on 29 catches. But since then, he has not had the type of breakout season that we’ve been waiting for as he’s never gone over 687 yards or 54 catches in a season. What’s more, he had fewer yards as a junior in 2019 than he did in 2017 as a redshirt freshman.
Thus, we can’t just assume that Ezukanma is on his way to being a 1,000-yard receiver. Now that he’s certain to have the attention of Big 12 coaches, he will likely see more attention from opposing defensive coordinators and whether or not he can continue to be a reliable weapon on the outside is going to be one of the major keys for the 2020 offense.
Texas Tech fans though are betting on Ezukanma. He’s already proven to be capable of making huge plays in the Big 12 and now it seems as if he’s on the verge of taking the conference by storm as a sophomore.