Texas Tech football: Three pass catchers that could break out in 2022
No position group is more synonymous with Texas Tech football than receiver. But in 2022, the Red Raiders are going through spring football looking for answers at nearly all of the pass-catching positions.
The loss of Erik Ezukanma to the NFL Draft and Kaylon Geier and Travis Koontz to graduation means that the Red Raiders are looking to replace 112 receptions, 1,544 yards, and nine touchdowns from last year’s primary group of receivers. What’s more, there is no player on the roster who has proven that he can be “the man” in the passing game.
The closest Tech has to a proven commodity at any receiver position is Myles Price. Last year, as a sophomore, the slot receiver was third on the team in receptions (38) and receiving yards (523) while finding the endzone twice through the air. But after Price, no returning player on the roster had more than 198 yards receiving a year ago.
But there is reason for Red Raider fans to be optimistic about this year’s passing game and that optimism comes in the form of new offensive coordinator Zach Kittley. After all, over the past few seasons, practically no coordinator in the nation has done what Kittley has through the air.
Last season at Western Kentucky, Kittley’s offense led the nation in passing yards per game at 433.7. The next closest team to that mark, Virginia, was 40 yards shy of that total.
What’s more, at Houston Baptist (an FCS program) for the three years prior, Kittley’s offense averaged 354.5 yards per game through the air. That included the 2020 season when HBU threw for an absurd 459.5 yards per game.
Along the way, Kittley made stars out of a pair of receivers who were afterthoughts to most of the nation before exploding onto the scene in Kittley’s offense.
Just a two-star recruit coming out of Waxahachie High School, Jerreth Sterns developed into one of the nation’s most prolific receivers under Kittley’s guidance. The speedster caught 150 passes for 1,902 yards and 17 TDs in 2021 and ended his college career (which was played entirely for Kittley) with 370 career grabs for 3,873 yards.
Meanwhile, Mitchell Tinsley also had quite the season in 2021 at Western Kentucky. Catching 87 passes for 1,402 yards and 14 TDs, he put up numbers that would have garnered far more attention had it not been for the ridiculous season Sterns amassed. That’s not a bad season for someone with no Power 5 offers out of high school. But what’s most interesting is that the year prior, when he was not playing for Kittley, he caught just 43 balls for 377 yards and 4 TDs.
In other words, it appears that Kittley knows how to develop receivers. That’s reassuring for Texas Tech fans given the state of the pass-catching corps on the 2022 roster.
So if Kittley can work his magic on the Red Raiders this year, then some new stars are going to break out on the South Plains. Therefore, let’s take a look at three candidates to be the next star pass catchers for Texas Tech.