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| | Thursday, August 31 Air Raid: New passing offense to light up Big 12 | |||||
| By Todd Cooper Special to ESPN.com Texas Tech Red Raiders 1999 record: 6-5 (5-3 Big 12) Coach: Mike Leach. Returning Starters: 12 (6 offense, 4 defense, 2 kicker). Outlook A.D. (After Dykes). That's the era that Tech fans must prepare for, following the departure of one of the most colorful names and people in the game -- Spike Dykes. Coach Mike Leach, who spent one explosive year as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma and two at Kentucky, has installed the Air Raid system at Tech. But he didn't entirely do away with the Dykes name, hiring Spike's son, Sonny, to coach the wide receivers. Much like he did at Oklahoma, Leach will depend on a relative newcomer to lead his offense. In the last game of the season, Kliff Kingsbury made his collegiate debut by throwing three touchdowns in four minutes to beat Oklahoma and Leach. With a small offensive line, Kingsbury won't have much time to pass. But he shouldn't need it. Leach loves quick slants and quick reads. Kingsbury will have some help in the quickness department with the return of Ricky Williams. Williams, a 5-9, 190-pound junior, injured his knee early last year and missed his chance for a follow-up to his breakthrough 1998 season. Williams hopes to exceed his yard production from 1998 -- when he finished fourth in the nation with 1,582 yards on the ground. But this year, his coach wants him to do it in both rushing and receiving. "If you have a 1,000-yard rusher like Ricky it opens up everything," Leach said. "I wouldn't count him out for 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving this year." Defensively, Tech must find a way to stop the run. All-Big 12 candidate Kris Kocurek returns to anchor the middle of a defensive line that didn't fare well against the run last year, finishing in the lower half of the Big 12. The linebackers are inexperienced, although they're agile and quick. Junior free safety Kevin Curtis is the star of the secondary after netting an astonishing 153 tackles last year, 93 of them solo. But the fact that he had to make that many tackles speaks volumes about the lack of stoppers up front. Keep an eye on ... The other Williams. Shaud Williams, who replaced Ricky at tailback last year, isn't shoddy himself. The 5-8, 175-pound sophomore averaged about 6 yards a carry. It's a good season if ... Leach generates the kind of passing success he had at Oklahoma and leads Tech to its eighth consecutive bowl game. Todd Cooper is a staff writer for the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald |
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