Former Texas Tech legend Michael Crabtree makes the ballot for the 2022 College Football Hall of Fame

There have been plenty of players to come through the Texas Tech Football program that we will remember for many years to come. Names like Patrick Mahomes, Zach Thomas, Wes Welker and Danny Amendola all ring a bell when you think of great players that came through Lubbock.

I would argue that no name will bring back as many good memories as a guy by the name of Michael Crabtree. Although he only played two years for Tech, the impact that he had on the football team and on the landscape of college football is undeniable. This selection is just an acknowledgement of how truly special those few years were.

This years list seems to be pretty stacked with names like Reggie Bush, Kellen Moore, Andrew Luck and his former quarterback Graham Harrell making the ballot for the first time this year as well. There is plenty of talent on this list that is very well deserving of being added to such a prestigious group of names, but Michael Crabtree should stand out with very few as obvious choices to be added.

Coming from a school with plenty of recognizable talent at the receiver position, none of those names come close to how great Crabtree was in college.

College Football is about moments that we will last a lifetime, and what better moment do we have to remember as Texas Tech Football fans than the catch against Texas. Crabtree’s ability to catch the ball, break a tackle right on the sideline and still manage to find his way into the end zone to win the game is one of the greatest plays in College Football history. That knocked Texas out of the national title game, and even saw Tech stay at number 2 in the AP rankings for three straight weeks.

Crabtree was also the first player to ever win the Biletnikoff Award as the nations best wide receiver twice in a career. His only two years of college football saw him dominate at a level that we have not seen very often, with him also being a unanimous All-American receiver both of those years as well. That 2008 season also saw him finish 5th in Heisman voting.

His 134 catches during his outstanding freshman season is still tied for 8th all-time in a single season. No matter how hard teams tried they simply couldn’t contain Crabtree even when they knew he was getting the ball. Had he stayed more than just two seasons, he would’ve set plenty of records and been an absolute no brainer for this list.

Crabtree should certainly be voted to this years class in the College Football Hall of Fame. Recognizing him now for how dominant he was would secure his place as one of the greatest to ever play the wide receiver position at the collegiate level.