The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman ($) has his athletic freaks list, which actually includes 3 Texas Tech players. I know that some of you may not have paid for a subscription and archive.today is something to know about. In any event, safety Tyler Owens, defensive end Myles Cole, and defensive tackle Jaylon Hutchings all make the list. Here’s the bit about Owens:
29. Tyler Owens, Texas Tech, defensive back
The former Texas Longhorn made some impact plays for the Red Raiders last year, forcing two fumbles and picking off a pass. He had an impressive showing in the TaxAct Texas Bowl, making a career-high six tackles to go along with his first career interception and a key forced fumble. Owens, 6-2, 205 pounds, is an eye-catching talent who vertical-jumped over 40 inches this offseason and also was running at more than 23 MPH in a game.
Athlon Sports’ Steve Lassen ranks the Big 12 quarterbacks and Tyler Shough checks in at No. 5 behind Kansas’ Jalon Daniels, Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Kansas State’s Will Howard:
Injuries are the only thing holding Shough back from a spot among the Big 12’s top quarterbacks in ’23. After playing in 11 games at Oregon from 2019-20, Shough transferred to Texas Tech prior to ’21. After a solid start through the first four games (872 yards and six touchdown passes), Shough suffered a season-ending collarbone injury versus Texas on Sept. 25. A year later, a shoulder injury against Murray State sidelined him for the next six contests. However, Shough was solid after knocking off the rust in his return late in the ’22 campaign. He torched Oklahoma for 436 through the air and posted 353 total yards in Texas Tech’s bowl win over Ole Miss.
Defensive tackle Jaylon Hutchings was named to the Lombardi Trophy Award watch list. Congrats!
I had other obligations last night and didn’t get a chance to watch any of these videos, but I’ve caught the touching moment when C.J. Ah You is asked about Bryce Ramirez and his battle back from a broken leg and how Ah You is nearly brought to tears when just talking about Ramirez is as genuine of a moment I can recall in a long time: