The Texas Tech football team got good news on Wednesday when transfer defensive end Tyree Wilson was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility by the NCAA.
After what we saw Saturday against Houston Baptist, the Texas Tech football team needs all the reinforcements in can get on defense. That’s why Wednesday’s news that Texas A&M transfer DE Tyree Wilson has been granted a waiver by the NCAA is rather significant.
The sophomore from New London, Texas joined the Red Raider program in August and had been awaiting a waiver to play in 2020. Now, he’s cleared and ready to join a defensive line rotation that clearly needs help.
In week one, the Red Raiders managed just eight QB pressures against the Huskies, who threw for 587 yards. What’s more, the defensive line seemed to wear down as the game progressed as none of Tech’s three sacks on the evening came after the first HBU possession of the second half.
https://twitter.com/tyreewilson77/status/1306331948005163009?s=20
Now, Wilson can join the rotation upfront and give this team a much-needed talent boost. In 2019, he appeared in 12 games for the Aggies making 12 tackles (3.0 for loss) and 1.5 sacks.
Coming out of high school, he was a 4-star signee. Rated the No. 16 weakside defensive end in the nation and the No. 32 player in Texas by 247Sports, he had offers from the likes of Florida, Arkansas, Baylor, Washington State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, TCU, Texas, and many other programs.
Now 6-foot-6 and 280 pounds, Wilson has the size to play defensive end or defensive tackle depending on the situation. That could give defensive coordinator Keith Patterson more options along a defensive front that was a bit underwhelming when rushing the passer in week one.
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On a positive note, Tech did rack up three sacks with all three coming from defensive linemen. But that wasn’t good enough to slow down the HBU passing attack that used an up-tempo attack to wear down the Red Raider front seven.
Running out of gas over the course of games was also a problem in 2019 for the Red Raiders. Due in large part to a lack of depth along the line, Tech gave up 28 second-half points to Oklahoma State, 30 to Baylor, 24 to Kansas State, and 23 to Kansas.
That trend continued Saturday against HBU when the Huskies scored 23 of their 33 points after the break. That was due in large part to the Red Raider defense’s inability to affect HBU QB Bailey Zappe as the game wore one.
Tyree Wilson has yet to become a dominant pass rusher at the collegiate level but being as he’s just a sophomore, he has time to blossom into one in Lubbock. And thanks to a favorable ruling by the NCAA, that process can begin right away.