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Podcast: Red Raider Recon | Texas Tech Athletics Episode: Texas Tech Secondary | Best DB Units in the Big 12 | Smash Burgers | Red Raider Recon Transcript: Welcome into Red Raider Recon brought to you by Cantec's Roofing. I'm Clint Scott. He's Rob Bro. This week, it's the secondary preview for Texas Tech Football in 2026. We'll also finish with a fan question of the week and in between the top three big 12 secondaries and dream game key stats and a feature meme of the week to start. Okay. What about this one? No. You want a third? Who's making these? And how about this? A blank hand. No, you two can play at home. We're no. No, we're not doing that. This week, we move on to the secondary. Last season, this unit combined for eight interceptions and forced three fumbles, adding to the 32 total turnovers forced by the Red Raiders. In that group, they said goodbye to three key pieces. The Red Raiders also lost Chapman, Lewis, Mohorn, and Macho Stevenson to the transfer portal. Texas Tech does return several starters in this group. At corner, Bryce Polock has a claim as one of the top defenders throughout the Red Raiders loaded defense. He was an easy pick as an all-big 12 first-teamer last year after shutting down receivers all season while hauling in a conference leading five interceptions. The Red Raiders also bring back Brendan Jordan, who started opposite with Neske at safety, plus corner back Amir Boyd, who started the first half of the season. The corner back Amir Boyd, who started six games and appeared in 13 total. Atrio of Young Safeies will be up for a starting job in the fall, as Peyton Morgan, Malika Skira, and Oliver Miles are all exciting options. Texas Tech also has experienced depth at corner with Terri and Grant Nash in Hampton back, plus the Red Raiders added former UTSA corner, Dave and Martin, who comes to Lovek as a red shirt junior. The secondary brings back plenty of snaps production and turnovers, but is their value in 2026 being overlooked? What's your face stuck like that? Oh, I've just seen other people do it. So other people. One person. We had the defensive line. We had the line backers, both previewed. You can watch those on this YouTube channel. You can subscribe and see every episode we put out. We also ask level and talk in baseball, as well as show clips and interviews that we do throughout the week. This week, after you've liked and subscribed, you can comment what you're excited about the Texas Tech secondary. Guys coming back. A few additions through the portal, not as many as the front two sections of this defense, not as many as last year. Plus, I would say this is the first. Um. Group that we've talked about. I think there will be other groups. So this is the first group we've talked about. Where you are really relying on a new face that was in the program last year to really step up that hasn't stepped up already. Like defensive line, AJ Holmes, you want him to step up. He was doing it throughout last year. Uh, line backers, John Curry, you really need him to step up. He stepped up last year. Now you go to this year and it's Brendan Jordan, his price, pull. Okay, those guys are back. Uh, some other corners are back. Some other safeties are back, but. Who's the second safety? Mm hmm. Who's who's going to be behind these guys playing corner? So there's a lot of options here. In the secondary, but let's first talk about who Texas Tech will lose. So you're you're losing an interesting group of players from either eligibility or through the transfer portal. And you know, you can start. Co-wistnes, he's going to be the biggest name out of this group. He came in. And you know, he never got that interception, but you're looking at a guy that graded out so well. Uh, all big 12 honorable mention, but he was a surefire tackler. He was a tone setter. He was physical. Um, a third on the team and tackles and about halfway through the season. And we'll actually talk about this game. But halfway through the season, he really took off. And it's not that he was playing bad before then, but he just took it to another level and you're not the same team without him. And then you have Dante Balfour, who was here for a year as well, transferring in from Charlotte and ends up splitting starts with Amir Boyd, who is back. But I thought, you know, that is a cornerback that could have started on any of Joey McGuire's teams and really any of the teams that you've had in recent memory. And I thought gave you depending on if it was him as a starter, like the seven games that he did start, or when he was a depth piece, but was like the first one coming in and coverage. Uh, just a very usable guy and came in and did what he needed to. And maybe, you know, I don't know what the expectations for him were out of Charlotte, but he at least met them. And then you have AJ McCarty, who his career was so interesting. He's playing 28 games as a Reg Raider, right? More obviously to go back to his time at Baylor. And I would just label him solid player, solid contributor. And if he was, you know, maybe at your lower end of contributors and production, that speaks to how much depth you also had in the secondary last year. Yeah, he was a starter on a bad defense and a contributor on a good defense. Yeah. Great defense. So there's your eligibility, but then you go into the transfer portal. And you have Mohorn in there. That's a guy that speaking of starter on a bad defense and yeah, he didn't really contribute on the next one. Really all three of these guys, there were maybe slightly different projections, but they were all thought of to be like, Hey, future guys on the defense and maybe just because they had to play when they were younger on a bad defense. And that's not always a great sign, but you saw some positive things, but Mohorn, who goes to Oklahoma State, Macho Stevenson, who transfers to Tulane. And then Chapman Lewis, what was a tough one because obviously he has the injury at the end of the Liberty Bowl, or end of the season in the Liberty Bowl a couple of years ago, and then his red-shirted last year comes off the knee injury. He does appear in six games, but he's up there as one of those players in the category of I absolutely wish would have worked out for you. But good luck at the next spot. I was really interested to see where he'd end up going and Utah State was not where I was thinking when he put his name in the portal. So I thought he was going to be like one for one, just slot him in for rabbit. And then it just did not work out that way. Obviously coming back off the injury, Brendan Jordan's playing well. Cola Snesky's playing well, and then you have John Curry in the star, so you don't have to force Brendan Jordan back into that star role. And there just wasn't a spot for Chapman Lewis to get back on the field. And then you certainly thought, well, going in an extra, you will have another space for a safety. And it didn't seem like they were on the same page there, so he moves on to Utah State. And I wonder if this trio, because we are all like, for a little bit confused, you know, it's like, well, you're going to have as much opportunity as you've had in your very young career this year, right? And I really think that the trio that is fighting for that starting spot, which we'll get into here in a second, I think that's a telling sign of where they are and where they're projected to be as youngsters who we haven't really got to see very much, but there's a ton of talent between the three of them. So let's go who you're bringing back now. And, you know, I think it's important as much in the same breath as possible to say Brendan Jordan and Amir Boyd, who started the other six games splitting the time with Balfour. And it's important to have those starts back, especially with Brendan Jordan. But at the same time, how do you not separate Bryce Polock? He might be pound for pound your best defensive player at his position. Yeah, I think the two linebackers are on a lot of national lists. I think you have high expectations for the two Ed Drushers. Yeah. I think AJ Holmes is in the conversation of the best player. And then you also have Mattina Birba nationally highly thought of. And of the secondary members, if there's going to be a guy on national lists of best returners, it's Bryce Polock, he might. Be the best corner in the Big 12. He's certainly in that conversation. And I think he'd probably be in the conversation for Top 10 returners at corner in the country. I don't know how he wouldn't be because, I mean, if you're just doing it off of production, well, he was fourth in the nation last year in interceptions. If you're doing it off of NFL projections or just talent, or there's a reason why it was a little bit of a decision. We kind of had to do it. And I think he's going to be in the same position. I don't know if he was going on to the next level or not. I don't know what round he would have had he gone to this year's draft. I do think it was a good move to come back. But he's getting NFL grades for a reason. So either way, I don't know how he wouldn't be at least mentioned on those lists. I don't know if it would be, I don't think it would be the same as when we're talking about the linebackers and you're seeing absolutely Ben Roberts, Austin Romaine, should be on those Top 10 lists or absolutely AJ Holmes or a beard bus should be on the interior defensive line list. But he should at least be hanging out. And I think that's a good thing around those discussions. If not in those Top 10 talks. And I mean, with with Bryce Polock, it was so interesting and so impressive last year. The only time we talked about him is when he was making plays, like game changing plays. And what does that mean? It means we weren't talking about him because either quarterbacks were afraid to go over there or he was just being a blanket and we don't really talk about incompletions that much. And then the whole lot just stepped in and just said, I will hold down and be your best cover corner like no questions. I can take out any receiver you throw my way and I'll be just fine. Not a lot of blown coverages for Bryce Polock. I love some depth pieces at corner like Ashton Hampton and Terry Grant, which I think it's important to remember him and his name. Just for, he's a guy that still absolutely saw some time last year. But I mean, that's your five star talent that transfers in from Purdue. Turns into a main backup for you. Ashton Hampton a little bit of the same way. He also saw him playing in special teams. You know, those are our building block kind of guys that have a couple of years, but there's nothing stopping from Grant for battling Boyd or David Martin who will get into here just a little bit for that other starting corner spot. Or in, you know, when you need a, you know, when you're doing multiple DB's on the field. A set like that. There's nothing from stopping him from being that go to guy there. So then you get into the safeties and it's, you know, with Brendan Jordan. There's some flexibility with him, which was really impressive that he, I mean, there's those questions you were talking about with Chapman Lewis like, Hey, when he's healthy, remember how many texts we were getting of like, is he just going to step in and he's going to be the starter and it's just like Brendan Jordan until Chapman Lewis is good to go and Brendan Jordan played so well, didn't really allow that. And I think at times I think he was one of your more overlooked pieces on the entire team, not just the defense because it wasn't David Bailey. He wasn't Jacob Rodriguez. He wasn't called with Snescue or Bryce Polof, but he just played solidly, played his tail off. And I thought got better as this as the season went along. And part of that, that is good with his flexibility is it seems like the staff is really confident that either he can play field or boundary. And so, Peyton Morton, Peyton Morgan, Malik Iscara, and Oliver Miles is your trio of youngsters. If it's, Peyton Morgan seems like he's the leader in the club house, especially from the spring game. He had a great spring game sounded like he had a great spring overall. If it's him, he would move Brendan Jordan over to where Cole was Neski was last year. Oliver Miles would do that as well. More cover styles, cover style safety. And then Malik Iscara, big physical tough. If it were him, well Jordan would stay in the same spot. And Malik Iscara would seemingly play in the Wissneski position there. So, it's an interesting decision. I think they really do feel good about all three of them. Peyton Morgan has had the most said about him. Rob Green said, your co-DC there said in the spring that he thinks that that's the best ball skills that he's been around. I mean, I mean, if we're just taking context clues, I think it'll be Peyton Morgan, but we have to wait for the season to find out. I think there's another context food that he was awarded rewarded with the number three jersey, which means a lot of Texas Tech. That's the hard worker, you know, Luke Hope for Mines number three. Boy, it can zoom where it offensively brice from eras where defensively and now it's Peyton Morgan. So I mean, it can't be ignored. Sure. So it doesn't mean that you're a starter. It just means you're working really hard and a leader. And I think those are important traits for a safety. So some other names you're bringing back. And if you're like tearing them, I think I would put, see what you think. I would put these two guys in a tier of their own because it's Marcus Ramon Edwards and Mike Dingle and both extremely talented. It looked like Dingle was, you know, set obviously to be in a starting spot last year with the star. Unfortunately, injuries, derail that. Thankfully, John Curry just kind of said, this is my position for as long as I'm here. But Marcus Ramon Edwards and Mike Dingle, both extremely athletic guys, both big physical guys. I would think either could be in the mix for John Curry's backup or, you know, either Jordan's or Malika's, or Malika's, depending on who it is, a backup with that. Because both guys, you would have to think can can can feel well in the box and can play up and can be physical on guys that need to be like Titans or whatever. But obviously there has still been some growing up that is needed and just natural progression as they've turned into now older players. We've been excited for Dingle for what, three years now. I'd like to see him get his opportunity. And then Marcus Ramon Edwards, obviously from Lubbock. You just like to see the Lubbock kids go be successful. I think both of those guys can be a piece. What is that piece? How big of a piece? Are you the final piece to a puzzle like John Curry last year? Or are you more of a, you know, one of those pieces in the middle that's all blue? And you're just like, oh, yeah, that's nice to find. Yeah, that's right. There. It's a part of the, it's part of the sun. Yeah. Yeah. Look at that. You also have Michael Harrison Pilot, who's a key special teams guy. There's nothing wrong with this. I don't think that he'll be, you know, talked about more than that. But at the same time, like that's the sort of guy that Kenny Perry has to love. And he's on the roster for a reason. And then you have a couple other names like Braylon McDonald who, Richard Freshman this season is a safety. And then you also have a Walk on Jamar Grant. I always put in the video game. I always put pilot, Harris Pilot as a receiver running back. Oh, see so fast. Yeah. All right. So let's take a look at who you're looking in or who you're bringing in. Let's take a bring who you're looking in. David Martin from UTSA is the most experienced piece and eight starts last year with UTSA. If you're looking at like how he was rated as a transfer prospect, four star, three star out of high school, 26 tackles last year with the road runners, 22 solo at a TFL had an I&T two pass breakups. This is a guy that feels like a mere boy. It was last year because you knew Balfour was coming in with a single year of eligibility boy had had a couple of years and also kind of coming up from that lower level. What can he do here? Where can he compete? I think David Martin is a pretty good kind of reflection of that this year for the Red Raiders. You know, corners don't have to be elite. If you are getting to the passer within two and a half seconds. Yeah. I mean, it's a lot of it's a lot of underneath and attacking seams and tight ends. If a quarterback has six seconds, you really have to be an elite corner to stay with a wide receiver. I think you have a really good corner of Bryce Polock. But a mere boy coming into last year, you're like, what is he from UTEP? He didn't start at UTEP all the games. How is he going to come in and be a great piece to this defense? Well, it's amazing how much better a guy looks when he has the linebackers and safety open coverage and your defensive line is getting to the quarterback in two and a half seconds. So I think David Martin can be another guy come in and really excel because of the guys around him here at Texas Tech. Well, because like to me, it's easy to say, hey, it's going to be Polock on one side and it's going to be a mere boy because he had starts last year. But I don't think there's anything stopping. He said, Terry and Grant, and this as well, David Martin, and this is what you want. This is the type of guy you want to bring in and say, well, that's a great shot that I get that spot. I got the feeling in the spring that David Martin was the starter. Yeah. Opposite of Polock. But who knows what happens in the man's. This is really an insult, I'm sure. I think the safety discussion has taken away from the cornerback spot a little bit. I have a thought on that here in the. Let's go to the freshman. This is one of the, if you just do the secondary as a whole, and you don't just break it down to safeties and quarterbacks, which is still very interesting, your secondary that you're bringing in with incoming freshmen, I'm not sure if we're talking about it. And then flux of talent. Yeah, so you've got six guys. You've got three corners and three safeties. So we'll go Luke Hamilton, consensus three star, played wide receiver and corner back at New Brownfels. Noah Lewis, three star corner back out of Terrell, Aaron Bradshaw, three star safety at North Crawley, Maddox Quiller, three star safety out of Flugerville. And then you get into the couple of four stars that you're bringing in. You have like Savarian Martin, set up Palestine, big corner back, big frame, 24-7 had him listed as a future day three pick in the NFL draft. And then you're already seeing that discussion around him. And then Donovan Webb, four star safety from Frisco, just go down the list of all of the offers he had in the teams that you beat out for him. There's a reason when he committed, that was one of the more like celebrated commits that you had. I mean, in the office, we had literal woo-hoo's when you're beating a Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State. Those guys are future, future guys. Maybe you see him in special teams this year, who knows? But especially Martin and Webb have the makings of being like great pieces on an elite defense in the future. And maybe early. Yeah, you just look at corner and safety. Maybe they do push for time immediately. I don't, I think in today's college football, especially with you recruiting at a higher level, if you're going to be going to get in five stars and four stars that are ready to play, especially if you're going to be paying them, they're going to play. It's not, you know, you're not just expecting a bunch of red shirts to come in. If they can help you win today, they're going to. And I think several of those freshmen can defensively. All right, so that's your list of who's coming in, who's leaving, who's coming back. Just before we get into to anything further. What are your thoughts just on the secondary as a whole? I think you're going to be pretty good at corner. I think Brendan Jordan is really good at what he does. I think at times we've seen him struggle and coverage. But you look at the two plays against Arizona State that stand out and then maybe one in another game where it's like, oh man, either have him there. Well, that's a quarterback falling backwards, falling down, chunking a ball, and he makes the tackle after the catch. Like, yes, it's a big play. You didn't give up many of them. You can't possibly say you're going to give up zero big plays in a college football season. But you also have Brendan Jordan, I think, pretty much out of position the year before and a lot of guys are out of position. That's why he made a change in defense of coordinator. But I do think he really fits and has grown and has gotten better. So I'm excited for him in a third new role here on this defense. I mean, this is basically a day one starter for you going back to this freshman season. I do think if you're just looking at the three defensive previews, this is the thinnest Texas Tech position. But I also think this could be a better secondary than last year. And, you know, I think if before you got into the quarterback discussion, anyways, you know, when you were going through and we had this talk a month ago in Red Red or Recon and on our on air shows, we've pretty much gone through it. After you learned what the roster was, said, Hey, what? Maybe not concern, but like what position group do you have the most questions about? Most of the answers were around the secondary, specifically the safeties. Only because and this is something that I think is important to remember. It's only because, you know, you're looking around and we'll start with you knew you were trying to go after an older player, right? And missing on Coi Parish Stone. Yeah, because you lost a battle. It wasn't so much that you don't have him on the roster. You lost a recruiting battle and you also lost it with Cam Coleman in relatively the same amount of period. And so it wasn't like, Oh, well, we don't have any talent. It's just, I think it was more of the pain of losing out on a guy that you were going after because we're not really used to that. And you still won way more than you lost in this cycle. So it puts you in a rare position, at least for the past couple of years, when you're looking around at a guy that's unproven, even though you just went through this with John Curry. And I think that if you are going to get to where you want to be as a whole with the program, at a certain point, yes, you're always going to get older players. You're always going to use the transfer portal for your benefit and you're going to make yourself better where you need to. But it's these young guys like this hitting the field and producing for you and developing and playing roles. That's what's going to decide if you can hang around at the top of college football or not, because otherwise you're just bringing in these recruits that you like and you're just showing them off and bragging about it. None of these guys are to the level of like a Lidamian Daiton, at least on paper or like Felix Ojo or some of the guys you might be bringing in the future that are committed and just aren't here yet in future classes. But still, there's a reason why they like the talent out of those three young guys. And someone's going to have to hold down that spot. I mean, if it's Peyton Morgan, we'll be sitting here like, you know, we'll be grading the secondary a lot over their performance, like their individual outings. I said, Finest, that's the wrong word, least established. Yeah, because even these other guys, you replaced a bunch in the defensive line and you faced the linebacker. But they have a lot of production at their last spots, a bunch of starts and a bunch of sacks and a beer, you're going to be relying on guys who've not done it yet in the secondary. Yeah, they've they've done it at a level on the defensive line. You've done it here and otherwise at the linebacker level. You're going to be focused on now corner. I think you're said it. I think Polock and Martin and Boyd all have production. But if you do move Brendan Jordan again, that's another new spot for him. He's not done it there. And then a new safety. And then obviously whoever's backing up John Curry or whoever else if you're running more nickel, whatever it is. And I do think you're going to face some better passing attacks this season. Yeah, I think it's a really good point. The offense is going to you're going to run into some different ones than you did last season. We don't call this day is night and day from last year to this, at least the expectation is that I mean you've got Arizona on the schedule and order back that, you know, an offense that maybe isn't just like all the way to what we expect out of Oklahoma State, but is going to air it out more than a lot of other teams that you saw last year. Yeah. So and when you face Texas in week one, they have a great quarterback as well. I just think that between those three. It's not a it's not a position battle of when I'm looking, you know, through my fingers. It's like whoever wins it. You don't really feel good about or like can they hold it down. I think this is three players, but that staff really believes in and it's going to be really impressive who ends up winning it. Because I don't think it's going to be an easy even though it looks like Morgan right now again to me. I don't think it'll just be easily one or hasn't been at this point and it won't be in the fall at this point through a year and at his previous hitters, you also have a lot of faith in Rob Green as a secondary coach. And Darcelyn McBath, who's stepped up into that quarterback's role and then obviously she would coaching safeties and linebackers in his career. You have a lot of faith that they're going to figure that out. It's George Michael on that staff as well. And you got to have faith. No. All right. Let's go to this week's dream game. Put the game up. Oh, sorry. That's right. It is. Kansas State. I'm feeling when you beat the Kansas State Wildcats. I forgot how you did the face. You know, Avery, we don't need to do the face. Avery Johnson in this game had some success running the ball. Mm hmm. But for a large part of the game, it was just solid in the secondary. Right. Is that how you would put it? I mean, I started looking at dream games for Texas Tech secondary. I don't you're deep at the line. Backers were so good last year. I don't think I could go find a game where it was the secondary that had, you know, six interceptions. Sure. All the force fumbles. It was just so much of the playmakers were on the front of the defense. The back end just kind of. As you said earlier, didn't make mistakes. I thought they were a perfect compliment to what you had up front and with your linebackers. I just thought you were really asking them to be playing. They just did their job. And again, it's when it's quiet, it's because they're performing well. And that's what you really saw across the board. Now, Colos Neski was your, just kind of like, I'm laying down the law kind of guy. Yeah. I thought this was the game that he became that. And maybe this is where, you know, you're cheating a little bit because you're cheating. And I think just typically, oh, well, tell me what they did in coverage. What were their interception numbers? What were, you know, opposing, passing yards, stuff like that? But you ask your defense just like you. I mean, you ask your secondary, just like you ask your entire defense if you're with Joey Maguire to be good tacklers, to be able to make one-on-one plays and not have to rely on somebody else. And this was a great example of that. Bryce Polock, yes, he gets an interception in this game. Also in the TFL department on Big 4th Downs in that game, and it was still close. And what I thought was interesting and impressive with this one, it winds up 43 to 20. But if you go back to that game, your offense, we were joking about this for like future dream games. This would not show up on any of the, and will not on any of the offensive group. So you really didn't help you finish strong. It wasn't sure. It wasn't all the way to the Arizona state level, but it was taken Baron Morton a little bit to get into rhythm. You know, you, you had a good numbers in the end on the ground. You had a couple of really big plays, but you just didn't just dominate Kansas State defense. And this was a great example of just asking your defense to win you the game. And eventually you were going to break through. And when it unraveled for Kansas State, it unraveled quick. But it doesn't happen if it's not for your secondary, because the other thing too, if you remember last year, Avery Johnson was at least trying definitively trying to not be labeled as a runner. So he was holding on to the ball. He was testing secondaries. He was trying to throw it down field and you made life really, really hard for him. So if you're doing that for other against other quarterbacks this year, you're going to win a lot of games and you know, it's also a mobile quarterback. And so even though he's not using his legs to run, he was doing a decent job at least of keeping plays alive. And that's something he did do well last year of keeping plays alive to look downfield. And you know, there's a reason why you only end up with a couple of sacks in this game. And that's because he is trying to push the ball downfield and you just took things away. And then you also, again, looked at the secondary that just came up and played well at the line of scrimmage. I think all in all, this would be a great game for your secondary to replicate. Six yards per attempt for Avery Johnson. No, the average yard for attempt was 3.91 in the air, pass rating of 97. Two picks. He did throw a touchdown in the back of the end zone. 48, which was a tremendous catch, by the way. Yes. Garrett Oakley was a monster. And then I do think you tackled well. And it was at halftime where Joey McGuire told us after games. I told Cole was, says he's not running through tackles. He's not expressing himself all the way through the hit. He did it to do that. And he really did it the second half. And he was popping people in the second half. And you add into it like, you know, with Neski recovers a fumble. You should have, I think it was, if I'm remembering correctly, it should have been a mere boy who got a forced fumble. And you had that replay that was just with a. Yeah, I read a couple of those. Anyways, I'm a Jase Brown. Yeah, I don't need to die on that hill. But if asked, you will, I would and I will. All right, let's go to key stats as always. Unless you tiger. Jase Brown. Over under match. We've been doing week by week. I've got six for you. Six for you this week. Okay, I was really bad that I almost had to hold. Let's go Bryce Polock. Five interceptions start there individual. You know, I'm going to take the under because I think they're going to respect him and not throw him the ball enough for him to get five interceptions. Yeah, I'm going to take a slight under here as well. Let's go total interceptions. Now, cheating a little bit here because you're putting in your linebackers and stuff too, but total team interception 17. Over under match. You have the number last year. 17. Over. I thought you dropped several last year you should have. You dropped a couple and also I think this goes back into I really think you're going to see more downfield attacks and just you're going to see the ball through the air opposition wise and I think you've got ball Hawks. And a patent Morgan. Five interceptions. What do you this is an official one? What do you think his number? Well, if he is the starter and we're talking about his ball Hawks skills talking about the ability to pick it off from a deep coverage point of view. What's like a. What's a number that you would expect and then what's a number that you were like? I think that that's his ceiling, but it would be like incredible to reach. I've probably put it around five as the ceiling. That'd be awesome. I would expect a couple too. And then you know if you had three or four be really excited and. Any I'd be happy. Right. I mean a lot of what you did last year was lurking underneath the linebackers and. Even the corner is jumping around so I'd like to see it. Because when I think of drop interceptions I go to the safety and pick six. Yeah. Right. Yes. That's why I asked that. Yeah. And that's not a shot. This is an official one starting safeties. That's great. That's eight. Eight is the number we're looking for. Safety specifically. Oh, PB use. I'll say match there. I'm going to say match as well. About safeties again, circle back to Kansas state and also just to. I just what you asked your safeties to do last year as a whole. This is again, this is just the safeties. If I go tackles for loss, plain about the line of scrimmage. Eight, which is what you had last year. And it's just the two. Not John Curry as well. Correct. Eight as Brendan Jordan. You know, and I think getting Brendan Jordan back. Back. Back closer to the line of scrimmage. I think he's really good at that. You had eight with Wissneski and Jordan. I would say under. Because I think both of those guys are really good at it. And I'm not sure your second safety if he's going to be as good. So I'll say under, but I think eight would be an awesome number to have. I'm going to say under part of this is also a nod to the defensive line. Again, the type of year I think that they're about to have. But it's just going to call Wissneski really caring that. And he was borderline elite at knowing when to be aggressive and when to shoot a gap. And also just what it takes to read on a play like that. And so it's not that I don't think you'll you won't get close, but I'm going to take the under on that one. They called him the white camp chancellor. Wham. I is total of receiving yards and opposing receiver will have. There were only two receivers that broke 100 yards. They both were in the Arizona state game. 105 was the highest number. It did wind up. As Jordan Tyson. Over under match. A single receiver will have 105 receiving yards in a game against you this year. I'm trying to think through. You said as a really good receiver Johnson. It's his name. Obviously Oklahoma State has a. Mess to maker and his favorite target from our Texas are now. They're. Over I somebody will get a couple of big plays on you. Somebody and I would I would put that one is it over also going to have breast full traveling. Right. Is he going to go with the best guy? Are you are you just going to have their best receiver opposite of Pollock? Those are all things we just don't know exactly their plan yet. You know, if pull up does travel, I would go back up on the interceptions. I had I didn't think about that. Yeah. I'll take the over. I'll take the over. I think there's some good offenses and I think there's some. I think you're going to be in the lead and I think some guys will need to catch the ball and somebody will have a big play. I'm going to take the over but it's not going to be by much. Yeah. Passing defense and by the way, it's a separate discussion of like, well, how many games will that happen? Because again, this happened in one. I would not put that number very high. Yeah, one and a half. I was I was literally thinking I would if I was having to take a guess of the different games I would go to. Pass. In defense, 190.1 yards per game given up over under match. Again, I think your David's line is going to be good, but I don't think they're going to be as good as last year. And the secondary got so much help from Ramello height and David Bailey half the time being in the backfield in less than a second. So I do think you're going to have a little more success passing against Texas Tech this season. So I'll say over 190. That's a. A really good number. I also think just the styles of offense, offenses you're playing this year. Do they try to establish the run less because you did play Utah and BYU and some of these teams that are run forward? Kansas State. You don't have any of those three this season. So 190. Seems like a low number. If it was like 205. I think I'd be a little bit more. Closer to say an under, but I'll just have my whole life of being a Texas Tech fan. Snug over. I am excited about the secondary, but I don't feel like I've been. That's positive in the last 30 seconds here. I'll take over on 190. I think that's a massive number. Like massive is in. Wow, that would be awesome. I am also going to take the over. But you know, when we're talking about. Offences that you're going to see this year. I mean, especially with Jane Craig, if it's the same, but if TC use just saying we don't even have running backs. We've never. What is the running back position? That's going to change those numbers. I think Oklahoma State will affect those numbers. I think Arizona will affect those numbers. Colorado will probably affect those numbers. If it's what they have been recently. It is almost a complete flip of running into sort of balanced offenses, heavy run offenses to heavy pass offenses. You're leading away the other other direction. So that's just going to affect the numbers, even if you're having a really good year. Like you could you could have a game against TCU. Where you allow 280 passing yards, but it's under 300. Yeah, you know, for the whole game. So I do think that that will affect and the other thing too is what are you getting out of your offense? That's going to play like how many reps are these teams getting? Yeah. Are you are you able to have long sustained drives? I mean, if you're scoring fast, whatever, if you're just big play after big play, right? And you're scoring quick. No one's going to complain. But you know, it was still with the quarterback conversation, especially the first half of the season, if it's taken a little bit to get your offense going, and you're really leaning on the defense. Could be running into extra possessions. So I just, it's hard for me to imagine that that number is going to be exactly the same. But again, I feel like I'm being super repetitive here, but I'm just not going to be like, well, it's going from 190 to 250 again in the year. Right. Right. All right, time for the big 12. Quick around, which three other best secondaries in the big 12. Is that going to go first? Yeah, I would like for you to give all three because I think I'm just going to say you said it all coach because I again, I do think there's some, I think there's some great even the lines in the big 12. I think there's some great linebacker quarters in the big 12. I think there's some solid secondaries in the big 12. But I think defensively, that's probably the weakest position across the board. It was eye opening to go through the big 12. Well, you just don't know like, what is Arizona in the secondary? They just had four guys drafted. Last year they were fantastic. Arizona State too. How do you replace all of that? And is good going to the Sun Devils as good as I feel about their front and their linebackers on in there too. I think the safeties could be really good over there. I have a lot of questions about the cornerbacks. And so it was eye opening to go through the big 12. And if you're sitting here going, certainly for the defense for you, you know, the things we're most curious about involve your secondary. And in a positive way, because you like the talent that's in there, or just about everybody else outside of one school that I'm going to start with. It's questions in a negative way. Yeah. Every team has it. Even if it's teams that have returners, some of them are just like, Oh, good luck with that guy. Let's start with BYU. This is the easy pick. And again, the sound repetitive. Last week, I warned you, you're going to say BYU because of the returners. But this might be the best example. I mean, I get ready for running back offensive line. Yeah. I have no idea how Evan Johnson only got big 12 honorable mention last year. But oh well, they also bring back a ton of talent again, including safety, volatile, Sarawalath, who was the all big 12 second team, I believe. And we had him as a player of the week of the year, a bunch last year. Yeah. They bring back 20 passes defended and 10 interceptions. That's pretty good. That's about as good as you will find across college football. Yeah. Just start there. And it doesn't really matter who else they have. All right. Now, if I was like doing, usually when you tear things out, it's like you have a two or three in each group. I'm tearing my face. I guess I could say definitive order of one, two, three of high field because the second one I put in there is Houston. Tintro web, Will James, really good in this unit. Jamie on white was a good pickup from Tulane. Has to step up though and you know, do big 12 things now. But I do have questions about cornerback at least opposite of James. But should be a salty group, but I would not put them on the level of BYU. And then you get into the spot that you could have switched out for me for three teams. And I just in and I don't know why everything against told me to not do this. Maybe because I don't like them. But I'm going to see you here. And Jamel Johnson is a stud. There is an all big 12 guy, right? They lose Bud Clark. But I like a couple of pieces that they brought in like Jacob Fields. They passed defense last year. This statistically was not awesome. But if you want to go back into inflated numbers when you're talking, usually about teams that were worse than they looked, this is the opposite. I don't think that secondary was as bad as the numbers would say because the offense did. No favors. Zero favors to that defense. Will that be any different? You know, that's not Josh Hoover. We'll see. But I think the talent in that room, at least on paper, is good enough. Like Colorado was just on the outside looking in. I almost did what you did with the defensive line. It's just so much new. It just makes me nervous. It's so new. It makes me nervous on a defensive. But they're productive. It really makes me nervous in a secondary though. They're productive at the other spots. It's not like you're bringing in a bunch of guys like previously like power four bouncebacks. There's some of that from Colorado this year. But it really is just a bunch of productive guys coming. I think Colorado could. I would not be surprised if they're I would not be surprised if whenever we're kind of doing a season in big 12 recap, if we don't talk about the secondary. Oh, I like the color of the polling. In more of a positive light. I don't believe in the offense. I think it's going to hold it back. Are they called bowling? No. And then the other one is Utah. Again, a lot of improvement in the secondary. They're just almost always going to be good. Defensively as a whole. I just there's a reason why I lean TCU over Utah. But I'm not again, I'm not going to be surprised if they're on this list at the end of the season either. Well, they also lost one of their big pieces or two of their big pieces. I'm happy those guys are also going to play wide receiver for them. Another thing to consider. All right. So any. Any. Where's the guy? Don't know what he's about Utah. Any any issues with my three? No, I think those are the three. And I think you all Johnson might be the best safety in the big 12. Yeah. All right. Time for a fan. Question of the week is always what up to this. That was that was too firm. He's the top three safety. He's one of the best. Yeah, I just said the best. I didn't. I don't want. He's good. HR, R, one. I don't think it's much of an argument that Texas Tech has the best line back unit in the big 12. I think there is some argument in the defensive line room. I don't think they're the best secondary in the big 12. I think BYU. I think BYU would be my pick. I think BYU is the best secondary in the big 12. I mean, I guess the way I just talked about them absolutely. Yeah. And I think Houston is going to be good in the big 12 as well. At least secondary. All right. Fan question of the week is always you can drop it on my Twitter, Rob's Twitter, DoubleT93's Twitter. This one came from the old tweet over. What are your guys thoughts on Smashburgers? That's right. You can ask us anything. Go ahead. It's my preferred Patty and Burger Style. Yeah. The guy asking this wanted to strike a nerve. It was never my nerves to strike. I know you think. I was part of a previous podcast that had a big kerfuffle over Smashburg. It was the other, this is my seventh podcast. It was a kerfuffle with the other guy. And I still think that other guy is an idiot. Basically saying Smashburgers aren't real, it's just a marketing gimmick. And everyone who likes Smashburgers are just sheeple that can't decide what they want on their own. So they have to go get more. And I think that's what I'm marketed to by some big bad marketing guy. No, a Smashburger is the better burger. Two thin crispy patties with cheese and anything else you want to put on there is better than one big old honk of eight. I think it is easy for several reasons the Smashburg, we could be here a while. We'll roll the credits at some point. The Smashburger is better than any other thing. Any other type of burger for multiple reasons. One of them, the best part of any burger, Smash, normal, thick, thin, fancy, low grade, whatever, it's always the sear and the crust on the burger. And that's where all of the flavor is. You get more of that with the Smashburger. And so if you're just wanting more meat on the burger, it's called stacking. I've also never had a bad Smashburger. Yeah. Also, when you're doing a burger, you want it quickly. And this is if you're ordering it or if you're making it, especially if you're making it, this is the quickest one. It's the most efficient. It's the most consistent. It's got the best flavor. It's got the best crust. It's everything. I don't get the marketing gimmick thing behind it. Mark if it's a marketing gimmick, they've been doing a marketing gimmick since early 1900s. I'm not going to say this. This is the OG burger. I would assume this guy also thinks pandas aren't real and that they were marketed by Chinese zoos, which people believe. Birds aren't real. Well, that's true. Well, now they just they had China for that. They put it in. Yeah, they have bird drones out there to really mess with us. Yeah. Yeah. Tell us your point. Did you see the plane trying to shoot down a bird drone? And it was a real bird. Was that AI? I didn't see it. I'm going to get I'm going to get so scammed. I want a smash burger. What's the what's the go to smash burger or just go to burger toppings? One burger for the rest of your life. One burger to rule them all. If I if I could only want to order a burger one way. Yeah. Tomato onion mustard and mayonnaise. I like a grilled onion or bacon or any of that stuff too, but just some I like a red onion then cut. It's very ripe red tomatoes that I prefer a mustard mayo combo. I don't like a lot of mayo. I don't like a lot of mustard. I like kind of a burger sauce kind of thing, but mayo instead of or mustard instead of ketchup. Two smash patties cheese on both of them. Bacon, lettuce, gotta be thin tomato, onion, mayonnaise mustard ketchup. Some would call that a burger sauce. I would say I want them separated. Yeah. By the way, all burgers are good. All burgers matter. I just I have nothing against the other type. It just at a certain point, especially for cooking the thick burgers at home, you could have just cooked the steak for the same amount of time. You could drop your questions for the fan question of the week about anything right there in the comments section on the Twitter sphere or at our hearts. Also, would you get a snack burger from a restaurant? Typically, where are you getting it from? Like the mom and pop. And that riddle that riddle has been cooking the same burger is easy. The same spot just like a good football program. These burgers are carrying on the previous burger's legacies. More and more flavor as they go on. Show notes: Clint Scott and Rob Breaux preview who is coming back for the 2026 Secondary, who left and who is brand new. They also discuss what a dream game would be for the unit, some key stats for 2026 and the three best secondaries in the Big 12.