When Texas Tech football coaches moved Amier Washington from defensive tackle to defensive edge late last season, Washington could have told them how much he appreciated the position switch.
Instead, he showed them.
As a previously little-used true freshman, Washington wreaked havoc in Tech’s 34-14 conquest of California in the Independence Bowl. He was credited with four tackles for loss, including two sacks and a forced fumble in a somewhat out-of-nowhere performance.
“It felt amazing,” Washington said Tuesday, “because I proved to them that I could play outside and I can do really good.”
Washington is a 6-foot-2, 265-pound redshirt freshman from Class 4A Little Cypress-Mauriceville in southeast Texas. He’d played in only one other game before the Independence Bowl, and it took a combination of circumstances for him to get into that one. Myles Cole, the starter at field-side end, opted out of the bowl game, and top backup Dylan Spencer was out with a shoulder injury.
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That made Charles Esters the starter and jumped Washington from fourth on the depth chart to second.
He seized the opportunity, turning Cal tackles into turnstiles.
“We loved it,” Esters said. “He was able to step up and make plays as a freshman coming in. This was his first game at outside linebacker, so he really stepped up and showed he could play in our room. Everybody — all the defensive players — loved that.”
Coaches moved Washington to edge days before the regular-season finale. He’d trained all season to play defensive tackle. Reaching his target weight of 280 pounds, though, proved futile.
Now he doesn’t need to, because he gave the Red…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/whats-next-texas-tech-footballs-023312610.html
Author : Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Publish date : 2024-04-10 02:33:12
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