Texas Tech football: Players that must step up in 2021
Each season, we as fans like to look to new additions to the roster as reasons for optimism. And certainly, the Texas Tech football team will be relying on quite a few fresh faces in key roles for the 2021 season.
But often, a team’s greatest improvement comes in the form of returning players who take their games to a new level. And when we think about the four-win 2020 campaign, it becomes clear that there weren’t enough returnees who took a step forward.
Most notably, QB Alan Bowman was unable to prove capable of leading his team to a successful season after returning from a season-ending injury in 2019 that cost him all but three games of his second season as a Red Raider.
He completed just 64.7% of his passes, a career-low, and his yards per passing attempt was a meager 6.9, which was over a yard less than the 8.1 he averaged as a true freshman when he was at his best. What’s more, his 10:7 TD:INT ratio was the worst of his career.
But while Bowman’s struggles were the most highly visible of any Red Raider last year, he wasn’t the only one who failed to take a step forward. Remember when we all thought receiver KeSean Carter was going to blow up after moving from outside receiver into the slot? Well, that didn’t happen.
Shoulder issues would cost him the final four games of the year leaving Tech without its best inside receiver threat. He would finish the year with just 290 yards and 4 TDs, numbers far below what we thought he would put up after he ended 2019 by catching 11 passes for 150 yards and a TD against Texas in the regular-season finale, his first career start at inside receiver. Now, Carter has transferred to Houston meaning that Tech will get to see if he has improved when the Red Raiders square off with the Cougars in the season’s first game.
Another receiver who disappointed was T.J. Vasher. Making only two starts in seven games, the physically gifted outside receiver caught just 19 passes for 227 yards and two TDs. It was arguably the worst season of his career and a disappointing end to his Red Raider career as he never achieved what many thought he would given his physical gifts.
On defense, more was expected of Adam Beck than what he produced. After ending 2019 averaging 7 tackles per game over the final three contests of the year from his safety spot, he made just 22 tackles in 2020 as a junior including four games where he had no more than one stop. Now, he is no longer with the program as he entered the transfer portal this offseason.
There were others last season who failed to take their games to a new level. Inside receivers Dalton Rigdon and McLane Mannix were slowed by injuries allowing true freshman Myles Price to emerge as the team’s best weapon from the slot by the season’s end. Safety Thomas Leggett didn’t improve his ability to play pass coverage thus making him a continued liability at the back of the secondary. Meanwhile, defensive end Eli Howard (who was an awful fit in Keith Patterson’s 3-man defensive line scheme), saw his sack total cut in half from the previous year.
It happens every year. Players either improve or regress but rarely do they stay at the same level as the year prior. And whether the key members of a team are able to take steps forward on an individual level is just as important to a team’s success as are new additions to the roster. So with that said, let’s take a look at some players on the 2021 Texas Tech football team that need to take their games to a higher level this fall in order for this year to be a success.