Texas Tech football Q&A: Why doesn't Drae McCray get more touches?
Texas Tech football beat Tarleton State 41-3 on Saturday for its first victory of the season, and Tech coach Joey McGuire said afterward Tyler Shough is the Red Raiders' No. 1 quarterback and will start the Big 12 opener this week at West Virginia.
When Tech named Shough the starter in June, McGuire cited the way Shough played when the Red Raiders won their last four games last season, his better completion percentage and his knowing where to go with the ball. On Saturday, McGuire said Shough operates the offense better in terms of checking into and out of the right plays.
That doesn't sit well with many Tech fans who, if they were in charge, would have been starting third-year sophomore Behren Morton over the sixth-year senior since the beginning of last season.
The quarterback conversation has dominated the past couple of weeks of our question-and-answer sessions. It's dominated it to the point of squeezing out other topics, so we'll take a QB question — or statement — this time and move on. I'm working with a word-count limit, so I'm adding in some others that I didn't have space to answer last week.
Q: Morton has better accuracy especially on finesse throws than Shough. He’s the future and should get the playing time.
DW: For their careers, Shough has put up better numbers than Morton in completion percentage (63.5% to 56.8%), yards per attempt (8.3 to 6.4), yards per completion (13.1 to 11.3), touchdowns-to-interceptions (36-17 or 2.1-1 compared to 9-7 or 1.3-1) and passing efficiency rating (148.6 to 119.2).
Those are wide margins in every category. If Morton clearly is the better option, as so many assert, shouldn't the numbers be reversed?
That's not to mention the run-game aspect. Shough topped 100 yards rushing in two of Tech's past four games, against two quality power-conference teams.
More: Multiple Texas Tech football players go for career highs in rout of Tarleton State
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Q: Who is the backup for left tackle Monroe Mills, No. 71?
DW: Interesting development on that front Saturday night. Dating to last season, Matt Keeler has been the second-team left tackle, though the two starts he made last year were at right tackle. Keeler's been the second-team left tackle since spring, according to McGuire. But in the fourth quarter against Tarleton State, Tech put Ty Buchanan at left tackle and Keeler at right tackle.
I don't know if those two have switched or if coaches just wanted to look at the two on opposite sides.
Q: Why don't we get Drae McCray the ball at least eight touches a game?
DW: One, this is his first year in the Tech offense, so he's still picking up the nuances. Two, and not to be flippant here, every play McCray touches the ball is a play that Tahj Brooks, Jerand Bradley, Myles Price, Mason Tharp and Xavier White, among others, don't.
If you've noticed the first few weeks, there's been a lot of scrutiny as to how much Tharp, and then Brooks, are getting the football. There's only one to go around, and there's a competition for the thing.
After three games, McCray has been targeted 10 times, caught seven passes for 82 yards and returned three kickoffs. I expect his numbers will pick up, but every other skill-position player mentioned above had a head start on him in this system.
More: Dreaming on Drae: Red Raiders imagining ways to use new speed receiver
Q: Why do we not have a dedicated special teams coach — ours wears too many hats. We treat special teams as an afterthought. I believe our last opportunities going back to Wyoming, we are 3 for 7 on field goals.
DW: This question came in after the Tech-Oregon game. Gino Garcia has now made 5 of 9 field goals after going 2 for 2 against Tarleton State. His misses are from 49, 50 and 56 yards, and he's had one blocked. Making field goals from that distance is a bonus, and he's made seven in his career from 49 yards or longer.
Garcia has a tall order, succeeding Trey Wolff after Wolff's special season last year.
If Garcia is missing from inside 40 with any kind of frequency, that's the time to be worried, but he hasn't yet.
Most kickers at this level rely less on input from the special teams coach and a lot more on frequent interactions with off-site kicking specialists such as Kohl's Kicking and Chris Sailer Kicking.
Look at the special teams in totality. Austin McNamara has been outstanding. Jackson Knotts has killed two punts near the goal line and Cameron Watts one. Myles Price broke a big return against Oregon.
Coaches wanted someone to do better on kickoffs than Wolff's touchback rate of 51.3% last season, and newcomer Reese Burkhardt's touchback rate is 73.7%. The coverage teams haven't allowed any big return, and Wesley Smith, Chapman Lewis and Mike Dingle have kickoff-coverage tackles at the 20 or inside.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football Q&A: Drae McCray a candidate for more touches
