Football Roster Breakdown: Specialists

The last triad of the football attack for the Red Raiders had some interesting moments from the 2020 season that will make for solid competition going into the 2021 season. But before we dive into those specific positions, anyone interested in attending the Specialist camp put on by the Texas Tech coaching staff, sign up now as the camp is scheduled for June 6th.

Trey Wolff

Wolff came into the 2020 season on the Lou Groza watchlist after being the starting kicker and kickoff specialist in 2019. In his 2019 season, he was almost perfect as he was 20-of-22 on field-goal attempts and 40-of-41 on PATs. He set high marks at all levels; program, conference, and national. So coming into the 2020 season, the kicking position appeared to be a position of strength. However, Wolff regressed severely as he only appeared in 7 of 10 games, and while he still was accurate on PATs (26-of-27) he only made 1-of-5 field-goal attempts. He still held his position as the kickoff specialist but did eventually yield the starting field goal responsibilities to the next specialist.

Jonathan Garibay

The final 5 games of the season saw Garibay take over kicking responsibilities. During that time, he went 8-of-11 on field goals and 6-of-7 on PATs. It was his debut as the starting kicker that was one of the great stories of the 2020 season for the Red Raiders. Garibay had not seen his mother in a year and had yet to see him play in college yet. When Garibay found out 5 days before the Baylor game that he had been named the starter, mom knew she had to be there for this moment after he delivered the news.

And while this moment was such a wonderful one, the game played out in a way that the entire family could have only dreamed of. Not only did Jonathan go 4-for-4 on his field-goal attempts, but he drilled a 25-yarder at the buzzer to win the game for Texas Tech. He will go into fall camp as the starter, but Wolff certainly has proven in the past he is capable of getting on a hot streak, so this kicking competition could be one of the more “under-the-radar” storylines to pay attention to.

Austin McNamara

McNamara made national highlights after sending a football to the moon with his punt that traveled from goal line-to-goal line.

Not only was it a highlight that circulated all sports networks, but noted punting expert Pat McAfee even weighed in on McNamara’s efforts.

It was the longest punt in Big 12 history and was the only punt of the 2020 season that traveled at least 80 yards. Overall, he finished ranked 5th in the FBS in punting average. He was on the preseason Ray Guy award watchlist and, while he didn’t win the award, McNamara still took home some impressive accolades. He was named to the All-Big 12 first-team both with the Associated Press and Phil Steele Magazines. He also became the first Red Raider to repeat his selection as a first-team All-Big12 selection since Le’Raven Clark in 2014-15. Hard to argue that the position of Punter has ever been stronger for the Red Raiders going into the 2021 season.