Influx of Texas Tech transfers makes it harder for Eastern Washington to prepare

These are desperate times at Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders have responded in kind.

Coming off a 5-7 season and fielding the worst defense in the nation last year, Tech brought in a boatload of new faces.

Red Raiders fans will see 44 newcomers since January, including 13 junior college transfers and five from Division I schools. All 18 are eligible immediately, and most will play defense.

Time will tell if the move pays off for embattled fifth-year coach Kliff Kingsbury, who is 13-23 in Big 12 play.

For Eastern Washington, the moves make it more difficult to prepare for Saturday’s season opener at Jones AT&T Stadium. The Eagles offense faces a new quarterback, while the Eastern defense must contend with a host of new talent in the Tech secondary.

None of them cares about last year’s stats (Tech gave up 554 yards and 43 points a game), and neither does Eastern coach Aaron Best.

“Numbers do lie, as in they can be deceiving in terms of really what they have,” Best said this week. “Their offense plays at a really fast tempo, so a lot of up-tempo teams tend to have those defenses that are on the field quite a bit – the offense isn’t on the field long because of the way they score points.”

Actually, that wasn’t true last year. Tech ranked in the top third nationally in time of possession (31 minutes), but the defense folded anyway.

The Red Raiders gave up 5.7 yards per rush, allowed opponents to convert 43.3 percent of their third-down opportunities and managed just 13 takeaways.

Small wonder, then, that Kingsbury and third-year defensive coordinator David Gibbs, went the transfer route. They focused on experienced defensive backs, four of them JC transfers and Washington graduate Trevor Walker.

A porous front seven (only two starters return) was bolstered by the addition of four more transfers. If they gel and stifle Eastern’s running game, that will put more pressure on EWU quarterback Gage Gubrud.

“We expect them to come after us and put pressure on us,” Best said.