The 5 most important Red Raiders in 2022

October 16, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; A general view of the Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. the Kansas Jayhawks during the first half at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA Today Sports

three weeks. That’s all we have to endure until Texas Tech football returns. We can do this. And to help prepare for what could be a spectacular fall, let’s take a look at the five most important members of this year’s squad.

When you talk about players a team can’t live without, you normally start with the starting quarterback. And of course, over the past four years, we’ve had to learn firsthand what life is like when your QB1 is gone for significant periods of time.

In the year In 2018, Allen Bowman suffered two bouts of pneumonia that caused him to miss four full games and half of two others. Then, in the third game of the year in 2019, Bowman suffered a broken collarbone before Big 12 play even started.

In the year 2020 was QB injury free but saw Bowman benched for a few games in favor of Henry Columbine. Then, last season, the Red Raiders lost QB Tyler Shough to his own collarbone injury midway through the fourth game. Unfortunately, in each of these instances, Tech was ill-prepared to deal with the loss of the most important player on the roster.

But that concern should be mitigated in 2022 because of this program’s impressive depth at that position. In Tyler Shaw and Donovan Smith, Tech has two QBs who have proven they can play well and win games in the sport’s Power 5 rankings. What’s more, former 4-star signee Behren Morton is waiting in the wings for a shot at the job. All of this adds up to the deepest QB unit this program has had since the Leach years.

Likewise, Tech has tremendous depth at the running back position. With SaRodorick Thompson and Tahj Brooks both running backs, Joey McGuire’s team has a pair of runners who topped the 500-yard mark last season. So, an injury to either wouldn’t be the end of the world for this team, especially considering former 4-star recruit Kamron Valdez is set to redshirt his freshman year.

Another area where the Red Raiders seem to have enough depth to absorb damage is in the secondary. With the return of safeties Marquis Waters, Darrion Taylor-Demerson and Reggie McPearson, Tech has as much talent at that position as it has in recent memory. Moreover, veterans such as Rayshad Williams, Adrian Frye, Keon Blankenbacher (a transfer from Wyoming) and Malik Dunlap give Tech a solid and experienced pass defender, many of whom can play multiple roles under new defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter. System.

But the depth on the roster isn’t encouraging, meaning that one injury could do a lot of damage to the Red Raiders’ hopes of reaching a bowl game. So let’s take a look at five players Tech can’t afford to lose this season.