Texas Tech names Henry Colombi starting QB for West Virginia Game

Photo CC: AP

It has been 340 days (and counting) since Texas Tech has last won a Big 12 game. The offense was sputtering against Iowa State last week. A change at quarterback brought with it a little life at the end of the Iowa State game. It appears Coach Wells saw the team react in a way that compelled him to make a change. During Coach Well’s Zoom news conference Wednesday afternoon, he announced that Henry Colombi would take over for Alan Bowman after the bye week when the Red Raiders take on the Mountaineers on October 24th.

Wells stated, “The quarter that [Colombi] got this last week against Iowa State and the three-plus quarters he played against Kansas State, I thought he was aggressive. I think he kinda jump-started the offense. I think the guys around him responded.”

That statement is backed by the numbers Colombi has posted in his limited duty thus far. He has completed 74% of his passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns. Colombi joined the Red Raiders during the summer after transferring from Utah State. He spent two seasons under Wells and offensive coordinator David Yost, but mostly spent his time at Utah State backing up Jordan Love, a 2020 first-round NFL draft selection by the Green Bay Packers.

Colombi will face a stiff test coming off the bye present by the West Virginia defense. The Mountaineers currently rank 2nd in the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing just 19.3 points per game. They also rank 1st in the Big 12 in pass defense, yielding a pedestrian 166.3 yards a game. Will the man with the luscious locks lead the Red Raiders to its first Big 12 victory in roughly a full calendar year? Red Raider fans can only hope so.