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Monday Matador Mailbag 5.2.16

Answering all of your burning Texas Tech questions

By Hunter Cooke
Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

SERIOUS QUESTIONS

I think so. Shimonek is definitely a serviceable QB, and Duffey has done nothing but impress in everything he's done. Mahomes is on record saying that Duffey picked up the offense extremely fast, and Shimonek has been playing for a while.

While I definitely don't want to experience that happening, I think we're deeper at QB than other positions. At this point I don't think we can afford to lose anyone at linebacker or defensive tackle. Losing Mahomes would be a colossal blow, but I'm confident in Shimonek and Duffey.

Kannon Brown out of Aledo looks pretty solid. D1 Baseball.com has him as an upper 80's pitcher in terms of speed, and he has the frame to be pretty solid. We also got a pretty good catcher out of Mississippi committed for the 2017 season. I'm no recruiting expert, but I'd say it's going ok.

This answer needs to be prefaced with a fact. This is Kliff Kingsbury's 4th season at the helm. The standout players are all his recruits now. There are very, very few players hanging over from the Tommy Tuberville era. We're beginning to see what life will really be like under Kliff Kingsbury.

Because of this, the expectations bump up a little. Our honest expectations last year were "just get to a bowl game". I don't think that's enough for Kliff. He has arguably the best scrambling QB in the nation in Patrick Mahomes, a great RB in Justin Stockton, and a bevy of talent at receiver. On defense, we have several young guys that are playing pretty well. Jah'Shawn Johnson and Dakota Allen come to mind.

A successful football season is 8-4, no less. Many teams are losing some of their mainstays. Emmanuel Ogbah is gone at OSU. Boykin, Doctson, and Listenbee are gone at TCU. Corey Coleman, Billings, and Oakman are gone at Baylor. There is a pretty big opportunity for Tech to make some waves in the conference specifically based on the players that some of these teams are losing.

We're going to see exactly what Kliff Kingsbury can do this fall, because we'll have all of his players, and the rest of the teams are relatively weak, or at least weaker than last year. An 8-4 regular season is successful. A 7-5 repeat is not.

They might, but Kliff has recruited OL well, so I'm not expecting major setbacks. Losing Kaster and Clark to graduation/NFL Draft will be rough, but I think that with a little time they'll gel together. Besides, we have one of the best scrambling QBs in the nation. We'd like to give him perfect protection every single time, but ultimately, I don't think we have to.

Scramble Routes are heavily used in Texas Tech's offense, and some of our youngest receivers are the best at them. If you don't believe me, watch the Iowa State game again. That game was one of the better uses of scramble routes that I've ever seen. We converted a 3rd and 30 on the run, and 3 30+ yard touchdowns as well if I'm not mistaken. Mahomes has the ability to do things when he doesn't have the time, and we have the tools built into our offense to score at any point in the play. It's a beautiful thing.

But to answer your question, yes I believe there will be setbacks, but I don't think they'll be major.

NOT SERIOUS QUESTIONS

GO TO CLASS

Just another politician politicizing and people claiming Texas Tech did bad things and other people lapping it up. If it happened, I'm sure it wasn't malicious. Texas Tech shenanigans are cheeky and fun. Those shenanigans are sad and cruel.

By #DewSpirit, I'm going to take it that you mean running around like a puppy in a park for the first time, so I'm going to go with Jah'Shawn Johnson. The kid is all over the field 24/7, and play opportunistically, exactly like how I'd expect someone with #DewSpirit to play.

Loving Mountain Dew though? That's a whole other Pandora's Box that I'd rather not open.

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