A Texas Tech official confirmed Thursday that Ivory Jackson, a freshman defensive tackle from Amarillo, is no longer on the team. Jackson's departure is the latest in a tide of attrition: The Red Raiders have lost 21 scholarship players in the past 18 months who would still have eligibility remaining, including 12 just since May.
The reasons run the gamut from players being kicked off the team to disenchantment over playing time to injury-precipitated retirements.
Of the departures noted above, eight have come since the season started, prompting some to speculate something might be amiss in the Tech football building. However, four Tech games in a row and five of the last six have gone down to the wire. It'd be hard for the Red Raiders to be that competitive week-in, week-out if any significant chunk of the team had tuned out Kliff Kingsbury.
There's also some recency bias in play with folks who suspect the locker room culture's a mess.
Heavy attrition's never good, but it's not new here, nor is it rare.
From Texas Tech's 2012 signing class, 12 of 26 didn't finish their eligibility at Tech. From the Red Raiders' 2011 signing class, 13 of 28 didn't finish. From the 2010 class, a staggering 18 of 25 didn't make it to senior day.
Those were some of Tommy Tuberville's signees, but some of Mike Leach's retention numbers were worse, even in the program's heyday.
The 2006 class, signed on the heels of a Cotton Bowl trip, contained 34 players and 18 didn't complete their eligibility in Lubbock. From the 2008 class, 10 of 17 didn't finish. From the 2009 class, 16 of 25 didn't finish up.
Again, those classes were signed right after seasons in which the Red Raiders won nine, nine and 11 games, respectively. The climate around the program should've been wonderful, because Tech was doing a lot of winning, but that didn't stop the steady stream of players out the door.
And, just like at the moment, the attrition has, at times, come in sudden waves and taken an extraordinary toll on certain position groups.
From that 2006 class, for example, Tech signed seven offensive linemen and one made it all the way through to senior day. Three gave up football for medical reasons, two just gave up football and one was kicked off the team.
That was during the Leach years.
On one day in February 2012, Tech announced six players — five scholarship guys, one walk-on significant contributor — wouldn't be returning the following season.
That was under Tuberville.
Now, Kliff Kingsbury's losing players at the rate of two a month.
That others before him have experienced similar stretches doesn't make it go down any easier. Five offensive linemen who were here for spring football are gone by Thanksgiving, two being kicked off in May and three giving up the game this season for medical reasons. That's how you end up with true freshmen Travis Bruffy and Bailey Smith needing to play up front.
Of the 21 scholarship players lost over 18 months, more than half played defense. Keep them all and your depth and competition for playing time is better, which presumably leads to better results.
In short, players check out when the program's going good and they check out when the program's going bad. That the Red Raiders are 4-6 makes it more glaring for Kingsbury as a public-relations issue. On that front, some transparency would help him. When eight players leave the program or get dismissed during the season, with little explanation, many fans are going to think the worst.
Not saying merely that a player is no longer in the program, but why the player is no longer in the program could tamp down some of the discontent.
And finally, not that Kingsbury doesn't already know it, but player evaluation and development needs to be more spot on.
Easier said than done, as he and his predecessors have proven.
don.williams@lubbockonline.com
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Source: Leaving so soon? Attrition hits Texas Tech hard last 18 months
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