1. Full Complement of Receivers. I’ve been a bit disappointed in the receiver room over the past year or two. Maybe the idea here is that it’s not the receivers, but what they’ve done. I’ve loved watching KeSean Carter, I thought he played his tail off, but I wanted to be dazzled and there were many times that I simply wasn’t. Maybe that’s the routes they were running, or the quarterback, or the offense, but I wanted to be wowed and I didn’t think that I was. I sincerely hope that Sonny Cumbie and the rest of the offensive staff take a look at the wealth of talent in the receiver room. You have a bit of everything, not just tall receivers outside and small guys inside. There’s real size in J.J. Sparkman, Trey Cleveland, Jerand Bradley, and Loic Fouonji, all over 6’4″. There is strength in Erick Ezukanma, Fouonji, Sparkman and Bradley all over 220. There’s experience in Kaylon Geiger, Ezukanma, Price, and Dalton Rigdon. There’s more than a two-deep at inside receiver with McLane Mannix, Price, Sterling Galban, Rigdon, and Nehemiah Martinez. Just a full compliment of weapons and I hope we see these guys in space and I hope that we see them utilized to the best of their abilities.

2. Running Back Boom. The running back room may be the best we’ve seen since maybe the 2012 season when Texas Tech had Kenny Williams, Eric Stephens and SaDale Foster and ran for over 1,819 yards, or maybe 2015 when DeAndre Washington, Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Stockton led a rushing offense of nearly 2,500 yards. Again, this year, there’s really an abundance of riches with the return of SaRodorick Thompson, Xavier White, Tahj Brooks, and Chadarius Townsend. I don’t know that there’s a guy that’s going to absolutely break you, but I do think I’d like to see more of Townsend, but up the middle of the defense would be ideal. Oh, and I didn’t even mention Cam’Ron Valdez, but if he get snaps, then that’s even better.

3. Cumbie’s Chance for Redemption. It’s no secret that the TCU offense wasn’t great the past few years. TCU fans seem all too happy to be rid of Cumbie and it’s my guess that they blame quite a bit of the Horned Frogs on Cumbie. I’d add that TCU fans, I think, believe that the lack of creativity, the lack of downfield passing game, and anything else wrong with the offense was the problem of Cumbie. The truth is that the TCU offense was middle of the road for most part, at least until the last two years, the Horned Frogs ran significantly better, and the ability to pass at an effective rate has decreased since Cumbie was hired in 2014. A slow and steady decline.

Want a redemption tour? Go to another school in the Big 12 (and I think that Cumbie’s contract was simply not renewed) and look to kickstart an offense that was not exceeding itself.

And this is really a terrific opportunity for Cumbie to get back to what he knows what to do. Be wide-open, run the dang ball when opportunity strikes, and get the ball down the field. It’s not that difficult, I don’t think that it is, but getting Cumbie has the pieces available on offense to be terrific.

4. Players to Scheme. There are only so many players on a team like Texas Tech where you have to physically scheme around them as a defensive coordinator. Thinking back the last few years, I can’t think of any one player that I thought that opposing defensive coordinators needed to scheme around because of their talent. Antoine Wesley is probably the closest player that was so good that he needed a plan and Keke Coutee before him. Ezukanma represents that return to a guy that’s going to need a double-team, or maybe some coverage help over the top. It would be nice if there were two guys who were like that, whether it be Price or Mannix or Fouonji or really anyone.

And part of the problem with having receivers be the feature of your offense is that you have to have a dynamic quarterback get the ball to him and that hasn’t happened since Wesley and Coutee, but if Tyler Shough is as good as I think he’s going to be, then this could be a special year for Ezukanma.

5. Three Captains. I hope like heck the offensive line stays healthy because I think there’s a better than zero chance that the line will be better. I was thinking back about how the offensive line was the only position that had 3 players from the list of captains: Dawson Deaton, Josh Burger, and Caleb Rogers. No other position group can say that and maybe that speaks to the type of players that these guys are, but maybe it is about their work ethic, improvement on and off the field, ability. The one I’m most intrigued by is Rogers, who struggled a bit as a true freshman, but he was being asked to play left tackle as a true freshman and any starting point for wondering why the offense did or did not click last year is contingent on not having at left tackle that was experienced in any way. And with these three, I keep thinking that the projected best player, T.J. Storment, isn’t one of the captains (not a bad thing).