Quarterback Options for the 2018 Class

Texas Tech has been quiet on the quarterback front for the 2018 class. Texas Tech has offered a few quarterbacks and have committed elsewhere or have not committed and Texas Tech is in somewhat of a waiting pattern for at least one player, Tanner Mordecai (6-2/215) from Midway in Waco. the problem with Mordecai is that he’s up to 17 offers, some of them include hometown Baylor, Oklahoma after the Sooners lost their quarterback commit to Texas, Georgia, and a slew of other teams. The competition is steep.

Texas Tech replenished the quarterback ranks by receiving commits from Xavier Martin and McLane Carter in the 2017 class, a true freshman and a sophomore. Those guys somewhat fill some of the gaps left by players graduating to the NFL or transfer. If I had to guess, I think that Texas Tech is waiting on Mordecai, but they probably have other irons in the fire and are waiting to hand out other offers when Mordecai makes a decision. One last item, which is that I’m not an “insider” and I don’t have any specific knowledge about any one of these players. If some of you do subscribe to sites, then you’re probably laughing at this post because I’m just taking a few shots in the dark.

There are some other options and after a bit of digging, thanks to Scout and Rivals for the info.

QB John Holcombe (6-4/230) Summer Creek (Houston, TX): Holcomb’s stat’s aren’t great, only completing 97 of 191 passes for 1,181 yards, 8 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He’s a big kid obviously and the one interesting thing is that Holcomb has been offered by Mike Jinks, former Texas Tech running back coach now at Bowling Green. He’s got an inconsistent and somewhat of a sidearm delivery. I’m guessing that he needs to work on consistency because he should have bigger numbers considering all of his other physical talents. He’s got decent wheels as well.

QB Alan Bowman (6-3/206) Grapevine (Grapevine, TX): Bowman has some interesting offers, places like Arkansas State, Dartmouth, Georgia State, Illinois, Southern Miss, etc. Illinois is the only Power Five offer thus far. Bowman has some impressive stats and has been a starting quarterback since he was a freshman. As a junior, he completed 70% of his passes, threw for 3,329 yards, 42 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Bowman also ran for 204 yards on 54 carries. I really like that Bowman has played quarterback so long, he’s made a living off of playing that spread offense and with a 70% completion rate, that’s pretty impressive, especially if you include the fact that he’s averaging 9.4 yards per attempt.

QB Jordan Cooper (6-0/199) New Caney (New Caney, TX): Is Cooper a running back or a quarterback? Its’ difficult to tell, but he’s an exciting player for sure. Cooper passed for 2,127 yards, completing 57% of his passes, for 22 touchdowns and 9 interceptions while running for 1,063 yards and 10 touchdowns (which is about 5.3 yards per attempt). I love Cooper’s speed and his ability to miss is pretty crazy. Much like Jaylon Robinson, he just has that ability to make people miss and he’s got an extra gear too. He’s probably more of a running back than a quarterback, but he’s a heck of an athlete for sure.

QB Aaron Allen (6-0/175) Ridge Point (Missouri City, TX): Allen is a Xavier Martin sort of quarterback. Not exactly a big quarterback but he’s got a bigger arm in my opinion than Martin and is already pretty polished. I really like his touch on those deep passes. Allen passed for 2,392 yards last year, with a 62% completion percentage, with 26 touchdowns and 4 picks, plus 46 rushing attempts for 222 yards and 4 touchdowns. Allen has been offered by some mid-major programs, LA-Monroe, La. Tech, North Texas, New Mexico, UNLV, etc.

QB DJ Smith-Rhodes (6-3/195) Lincoln (Dallas, TX): This is a big-time longshot, simply from the standpoint that I think that Smith-Rhodes hasn’t even played varsity football just yet. You can see his highlights that he’s incredibly raw and he’s a really good athlete. I’d guess that the only reason he’s on Texas Tech’s radar is because of Emmett Jones. No one mines the Dallas area better than Jones. More than anything else, I think Smith-Rhodes is someone to watch this fall with the idea that it would be a very longshot for him to pick up an offer.

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