Texas Tech University Athletics
Red, Black And Flying All Over
October 31, 2014 | Football
Texas Tech has led the nation in passing five times while numerous Red Raiders hold all-time NCAA passing records.
BY NICK KOSMIDER
Special to TexasTech.com
Quarterbacks have come in many forms throughout the years as the football landscape has grown and evolved. Trends at the position sway back and forth like the squiggly, frantic lines on a seismograph.
But the most romantic version of a quarterback has remained the same. This is the signal-caller who takes the form of a gunslinger, his arm serving as a weapon that is relentless and unforgiving, delivering attacks from all angles, punishing defenses with shallow touch passes, deep bombs and tight spirals everywhere in between.
It's the most storied and idolized position is sports, and few places has quarterback been played more in its purest form in the last decade-plus than Texas Tech.
The case lies in the numbers.
Take a look at the list of the top passing seasons in college football history, and it's a who's who of former Texas Tech quarterbacks taking up residence near the top. Of the top 26 best single-season passing performances ever, six of them were produced by Red Raider arms. Three others occupy space in the top 80. No other school can make that claim.
That kind of success has bred confidence.
"We feel like we can go score anytime we want," B.J. Symons once told reporters during his senior season in 2003, when he threw for a still-standing NCAA record 5,833 yards. "We just had to go out and do it."
The Red Raiders have done it often. The team's current spot as a top-10 passing team in the country (as of Oct. 25) is as familiar to Texas Tech as the winds that cut through Jones AT&T Stadium on Saturday afternoons. Since 2000, the Red Raiders have finished outside the top 10 in passing only once. In a seven-year span from 2002 to 2008, they led the country in passing five times. In the two years it wasn't first, Tech was second and third.
In other words, footballs were meant to fly. But few places do they fly more often than Texas Tech.
"Whoever played quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders," author Michael Lewis wrote for the New York Times in 2005, "was sure to create so much offense he couldn't be ignored."
Before he became Texas Tech's starting quarterback, Cody Hodges had been ignored -- often. Following his senior season at Hereford (Texas) High School, he had only two college offers, and neither came with anything resembling a promise of major playing time. He chose Texas Tech, then sat on the sideline before being given his chance as a fifth-year senior starter in 2005.
All he did that season was finish first in the NCAA in completions (353), second in yards (4,197) and fourth in touchdown passes (31).
Despite his lengthy time on the sideline, Hodges was ready to pass. It's what Red Raiders did and still do.
Hodges story has not been uncommon. Former Tech quarterback Sonny Cumbie wasn't promised a scholarship when he arrived at Texas Tech. He battled anyway. In 2004, he led the nation with 4,742 passing yards.
The branches of Texas Tech's storied passing fraternity have spread, and they are still affecting the game. Graham Harrell, Tech's all-time leading passer, has joined his former coach, Leach, at Washington State as an offensive analyst. There, Harrell has watched Cougars quarterback Connor Halliday, who is on pace to set a number of NCAA passing records of his own and could challenge Symons' single-season passing mark.
Seth Doege, who waited his turn before compiling 8,209 yards in his two seasons as the starter, is playing quarterback for the Canadian Football League's Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Of course, Kliff Kingsbury, the school's second all-time leading passer, is coaching his alma mater with the same attacking style he once used as a quarterback for the Red Raiders, grooming others, like Davis Webb, he hopes will continue the long, lasting tradition of accomplished passers at the school.
One thing is for sure: The footballs aren't going to stop flying at Texas Tech.
