Texas Tech football: Colin Schooler to return to Red Raiders in 2021

The Texas Tech football program received some great news on Friday when senior linebacker Colin Schooler announced his intention to return for the 2021 season.

The NCAA’s decision not to count the 2020 season against any player’s eligibility status has given the offseason a new twist as now, we wait to find out if players who were seniors this fall will return for another year. On Friday, one such player, linebacker Colin Schooler, officially announced on Twitter that he will indeed return for the 2021 campaign. That’s excellent news for the Texas Tech football program.

"“My time at Texas Tech has been awesome for the short period I’ve been in Lubbock,” he writes. “I can’t thank Coach Wells and the staff enough for accepting me and giving me an opportunity to play. With that said, I can’t wait to spend one more year in The Jones! Let’s run it back, Lubbock! Wreck ‘Em!”"

https://twitter.com/SchoolerColin/status/1337517157962240000?s=20

Schooler was a bit of a surprise addition to the Red Raider program in August. After all, he only decided to transfer after the PAC 12’s initial decision not to hold a fall 2020 football season, a decision that the conference would eventually reverse.

Landing a player of Schooler’s ilk was a major coup for the Red Raiders. He arrived with a whopping 313 tackles, 46 of which came behind the line of scrimmage. That latter total was tops in the nation prior to the start of the 2020 season.

But it took a while for Schooler to make his presence known in the Big 12. In fact, he would miss the first game of the season.

He wouldn’t record his first tackle for loss until his third appearance in scarlet and black. But, as he grew more comfortable in his new defensive system, he began to resemble the player that we had seen at Arizona as he racked up 4.5 tackles for loss in the season’s final five games.

Tackles for loss aside, he was a steady presence on the defense throughout the year. In his debut for the program, he had seven tackles against the Texas Longhorns. And for the year, he would never have fewer than four in a game.

More from Wreck'Em Red

His best and most memorable game came against Baylor. That night, he had a season-high 11 tackles including the bone-jarring stop of BU quarterback Charlie Brewer at the goal line that saved Tech four points and which was a huge moment in that it gave the Red Raiders an opportunity to come back and beat the Bears on a last-second field goal.

Schooler also made an impact against West Virginia with nine tackles, six of which were of the solo variety. In that game, he was facing off with his former teammate and fellow linebacker at Arizona, Tony Fields II but Fields made little impact as he was ejected from that game in the first half because of a targeting infraction.

Against both TCU and Kansas, Schooler had eight tackles. Meanwhile, he had six against both Oklahoma State and Iowa State. It was in the game against the Cowboys that he also had a pair of forced fumbles as he was a disruptive force in that contest.

With Schooler returning, we now wait to find out if fellow senior linebacker Riko Jeffers will do the same. Should the Garland, Texas native follow in Schooler’s footsteps, it would mean that Tech would bring back its top three linebackers which were three of the team’s top four tacklers. (Junior LB Krishon Merriweather is expected to return after leading the team with 75 stops this fall.)

Though all of the focus from Texas Tech football fans is on whether or not head coach Matt Wells will return in 2021 (and rightfully so), we will also be watching to see which seniors return for another year. Fortunately, that process has gotten off to a nice start as one of Tech’s most impactful defenders, Colin Schooler, has said that he wants one more year as a Red Raider.

Related Story. The 2010's all-decade linebackers. light

Home/Texas Tech Football