Texas Tech football: Players with huge opportunities in spring practice
As spring football continues for the Texas Tech football program, let’s look at a few players who have significant opportunities to earn important roles come this fall.
Now that basketball season is over on the South Plains, we can turn our attention to the Texas Tech football program’s spring session. And though spring ball is just a series of practices, this year’s workouts could be the most important in quite some time for this program.
That’s because this is a make or break season for the Matt Wells era. And unfortunately for the embattled head coach, there are a number of holes that need to be filled.
But on the other hand, there are some solid contributors returning to the program this season. For instance, Tech will bring back all five of last year’s top rushers (a group that includes QB Henry Colombi). Leading that group will be SaRodorick Thompson who ranked second in the Big 12 in yards per rush at 5.6. After putting up 609 yards and 8 TDs in ten games last fall, he’s cemented his status as the program’s top running back and he will be one of the foundational pieces of the 2021 offense.
While the running back position will return every key contributor from 2020, the same can’t be said for the wide receivers, who saw three of last year’s top five pass-catchers depart the program. However, the top two receivers from a year ago in terms of yards, Erik Ezukanma and Myles Price, will be back. That duo combined for 1,048 yards and seven TDs in 2020.
On defense, the Red Raiders are going to return eight of last season’s top 10 tacklers. That includes three linebackers that finished in the top four of the team’s tackle total, Krishon Merriweather, Collin Schooler, and Riko Jeffers.
Still, spring practice is an opportunity for new contributors to emerge. It’s a time when position battles are staged and the two-deep begins to take shape in earnest. And don’t forget, last season, the spring practice sessions were cut short after just four practices due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That was less than ideal for a program looking to bring back a QB in Alan Bowman who was coming off of a season in which he missed the last nine games due to injury. What’s more, Tech welcomed nine transfers into the program, most of whom were on campus in the spring and who could have benefitted from those 15 practices.
This year, it appears that a full spring football session is in store for the Red Raiders and that means there will be some serious competition for open spots. And the following players will have plenty of opportunities to snag one of those jobs.