Over the last 2 years, I’ve made comments/posts/asked questions about a potential "revolution" that’s about to occur for Texas Tech football. We’ve all seen this start to happen and trickle into the playbook. Although, there hasn’t been enough evidence that points to it being a stalwart to the offense…what am I talking about? The Wide Receiver/Running Back Hybrid.
What in the world am I talking about?
Ok, so do you remember in KK’s first year, we’d occasionally be spread in a 5 Wide formation, then the next play, you'd see Jakeem Grant line up at RB? We ran this "formation/idea" a few times and had varying degrees of success. The idea is that you’d have one of your best athletes run the ball, almost as effectively as he catches the ball. If you had a scenario where there were 6 DBs on the field, 1 LB, wouldn’t you love to run against that? KK gave it the old "college try" but Grant honestly wasn’t very big and he isn’t a running back. You saw it in the non-con games, but it was scrapped in conference because you’d see Jakeem get his head taken off. Simply put, he’s not DeAndre Washington and couldn’t see the running lanes.
What about Sadale Foster?
So this is where I really started to notice it….with Tubs, you have Sadale exclusively at RB. The guy actually pans out to be a really good player for you there. Although, KK comes in and says….let’s move Sadale to WR. In the JUCO ranks, Foster was a WR, but in high school he was a RB. Tubs liked him at RB, KK says…well this might be a better fit than what Jakeem was. You look at Foster’s stat line that season….18 receptions for 165 yards, 29 rushes for 191 yards. Although, you’d see situations where he would play all over the formation. I wouldn’t call this a "huge" success, but the idea was there. You then start wondering what could happen if we had a legit talent that could really do this, compared to throwing it together with what you had on the roster.
Could this be the year?
Ok, so KK has had about 3 recruiting classes now and it’s starting to materialize who these "hybrids" could actually be. So what are the potential candidates?
Justin Stockton
-Stockton is probably one of the fastest players on the team and is a big play waiting to happen. Although, as a freshman, he wasn’t very good at catching the ball, and couldn’t run between the tackles. We start hearing rumors this offseason though that he’s working in the slot as well though. During the spring game, we also noticed he was running MUCH better between the tackles. It’s very possible Stockton could the be first true "threat" in this position.
Ian Sadler
-Sadler was a jack of all trades in high school. He could catch, run, punt, kick, tackle, and make popcorn at halftime. As a Freshman, he saw limited time in the slot till the end of the season. From there, you started to see him take off. What you’d have here is a receiver who can run a little bit. Sadler is pretty thick and could probably take a hit better than Grant/Foster, so he might be a guy that can work here. I wouldn’t call him the "best" for this position, although, he could probably have a degree of success.
Corey Dauphine
-Ok, so this is probably the least likely candidate. Although, one thing Dauphine can do is haul ass in a straight line. Can you imagine sending him up the seam against a safety running a 4.8? First off, Dauphine is an animal and could absolutely out run anyone. Secondly, he’s big enough to take big hits in the secondary or from a LB. We haven’t seen evidence that he’s a solid pass catcher, although, I wouldn’t be surprised one bit to see him attempt to make this role work.
Conclusion
The pieces are starting to fall and you’re starting to see the players develop at multiple positions. KK has completely shut off practices and during the spring game you really didn’t see much variety in the offense. I know it’s a crazy theory….but i think this fall against Arkansas you’re going to see an offense that, if it works, could be potentially unstoppable. Imagine being able to literally play the odds perfectly and always be exploiting a mismatch every single possession. Also, Bryson Denley just committed to Texas Tech. A high school RB that we’re planning to move to the slot…..
If it works, Texas Tech will have reinvented the spread, again. People say Kliff is an offensive genius, maybe we’re finally about to see his theory in action.
Just sayin guys…I think it’s coming…let’s hope it works.
