The Micah Hudson era of Texas Tech football is over. After an inglorious run in Lubbock that saw the former five-star high school signee catch eight passes for 123 yards and no touchdowns, the sophomore-to-be has announced his intention to transfer to Texas A&M.
On the surface, that’s not great news for Texas Tech. While losing Hudson the player is no big deal, seeing the highest-ranked recruit in your program’s history walk out the door to join a hated in-state program is bad for perception. That’s because this transfer is only going to fuel the comments from uninformed fans and pundits that Texas Tech isn’t a desirable destination for blue-chip prospects.
The reality, though, is that Tech will be fine without Hudson. What’s more, his decision to leave Texas Tech for A&M is puzzling in that it makes little sense from a football perspective.
Sure, other factors certainly played a role in this decision. In the modern age of N.I.L. payments and revenue sharing, we can be assured that any player who makes a move to a new program will have done so in large part because of financial considerations.
However, Hudson might not like the reality of playing wide receiver at Texas A&M. That’s because that isn’t a program known in recent years for being a pass catcher’s paradise.
This year, Texas A&M’s primary quarterback, Marcel Reed, threw for only 1,572 yards and 12 touchdowns in 10 games. What’s more, in five games, he led the Aggies in passing despite throwing for less than 200 yards. Additionally, he had no 300-yard passing day this season.
On the other hand, Tech’s starting QB, Behren Morton, threw for 3,335 yards and 27 touchdowns in 12 games despite playing through a shoulder injury so severe that it required offseason surgery. Morton had four games of at least 300 yards and no games in which he threw for fewer than 200.
That was despite playing QB next to a 1,500-yard rusher in Tahj Brooks who carried the ball 286 times in 11 games played in the regular season. In other words, even when playing next to one of the nation’s best running backs, Morton was a far more productive passer than Reed.
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