Texas Tech football: Takeaways from the first official depth chart of 2020

 The Texas Tech Red Raiders mascot “Masked Rider” leads the Texas Tech Red Raiders onto the field before the game against the Texas Longhorns on November 5, 2016 at AT&T Jones Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. Texas defeated Texas Tech 45-37. (Photo by John Weast/Getty Images)

The Texas Tech football program has released its first depth chart of 2020 so let’s look at the interesting takeaways.

With the first game week of the season comes our first look at a depth chart.  So let’s dive into the two-deep to look at a few surprises and important takeaways.  You can see the full depth chart in the Tweet below from Eric Kelly of KMAC.

Burger and Carde win starting tackle jobs

The biggest question that was answered with the release of this depth chart is the starters at offensive tackle.  For week one, it will be a pair of transfers running with the first team.

Wofford grad transfer Josh Burger has claimed the right tackle job while JUCO transfer Ethan Carde has emerged as the left tackle.  That comes as a bit of a surprise, especially when it comes to Carde.

Both had significant learning curves to overcome during this unusual offseason when there was no spring practice, which is normally when newcomers learn the system.  What’s more, consider that both were playing in radically different schemes last year, especially Burger, who operated in a triple-option offense in 2019.

It’s a bit of a surprise that junior Casey Verhulst didn’t win one of these jobs after making three starts last year.  Now, it appears that the Plano native, who is listed as the second-team right guard, will be a swing-man for the line given his ability to play both guard and tackle spots. Also, senior Zach Admas entered camp as a potential favorite for one of the jobs but he’s now pegged as the backup left guard behind Weston Wright.

Another takeaway from the offensive line depth chart is the fact that true freshman Caleb Rodgers from Mansfield, Texas has already worked his way onto the two-deep.  The 6-foot-5, 290-pounder is listed as the No. 2 left tackle.

This will be a position group worth watching this Saturday against Houston Baptist.  Especially the tackles, where it was a true surprise that a pair of transfers won the starting jobs.