Texas Tech football: Players the Red Raiders need more from

Loic Fouonji and Jordan Brown gave Texas Tech no production against Oregon

It is safe to say that the two outside receivers playing the “X” position, Loic Fouonji and Jordan Brown, are yet to make the type of splash that many anticipated they would.  In fact, that duo was shut out against Oregon.

Fouonji dropped the only pass thrown his way while Brown was open on a few routes only to have Shough go elsewhere with the ball or fail to pull the trigger at all.  Tech needs more than that from the weapons playing opposite of Jerand Bradley to provide balance to the passing game.

Thus far, Fouonji is off to the slowest of starts with only one catch for 20 yards.  Brown hasn’t performed much better, though, as he has only two receptions for 45 yards.

Much of the offseason talk from the coaching staff centered on the great strides Brown had made.  In fact, McGuire himself repeatedly praised the former Kansas transfer for dominating both fall scrimmages.

Meanwhile, Fouonji was poised for a strong year after hauling in 34 catches for 451 yards and 3 TDs in 2022 despite playing much of the season injured.  That included 16 catches for 213 yards over the final four games of the year, a stretch that culminated in a 100-yard game in the Texas Bowl.

So far, Tech’s only consistent receiving threats have been Bradley and inside receiver Myles Price.  Of the 620 yards the offense has thrown for, 267 have gone to that duo.  That’s 43% of the passing offense going to just two players.

Like the rest of the players on this list, Brown and Fouonji will be looking to take advantage of Tarleton State this weekend and start to get right against a team that should not be able to match them physically.  So let’s keep an eye on all of these players this weekend to see if they can start to step up after getting off to slow starts.