This season, the Texas Tech football team is counting on a new group of defensive linemen to fill crucial roles after losing all of the 2023 starters in the offseason. One player to watch is Isaac Smith, a junior who missed the entire last fall due to a knee injury.
For Red Raider fans who might not be familiar with the Oklahoma native, it’s understandable—he has only played in eleven games, with just two starts, and all his appearances came two seasons ago.
In 2022, Smith stepped up unexpectedly late in the season when Tyree Wilson, now a defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders and a top-10 pick in 2023, broke his foot. This required Smith to take the place of the team’s top pass rusher as a redshirt freshman.
Fortunately, he rose to the challenge. In the last three games of 2022, with Wilson out, Smith recorded 11 total tackles and three tackles for loss.
Last year, Smith was expected to play a significant role in the Red Raiders’ pass rush, but a preseason injury sidelined him. However, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire recently announced that Smith is fully recovered and ready to make an impact.
“I think sometimes we forget about Isaac Smith,” McGuire said, “and how he just came on like a freight train and played so well against OU and played so well against Ole Miss [in 2022]. Whenever he got hurt last year, I thought our depth could handle that kind of injury but what we missed was his toughness.
“He has had a great summer…He’s fully back. It’s going to be interesting because he can play [field or boundary end]. We’ll start him more at our boundary end. That’s where he ended. He’s about 255-258 pounds right now and he’s ready to go…I’m glad he’s back.”
This year, the Red Raiders need to compensate for the 14 sacks generated by last season’s starting defensive line. The big question is: how many sacks can Smith, who has only recorded one in his career so far, contribute to the team? This will be a crucial factor in the season.
Smith has shown potential as a disruptive force in the Big 12 and has performed well against the toughest opponents. If he can demonstrate that he’s ready to take on a leading role in the 2024 defense, he could be instrumental in helping the Red Raiders vie for a Big 12 title. So, don’t be surprised if he becomes one of the standout players for the program this fall.
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