Whitlock Excels In Freshman Campaign

True freshman becomes defensive leader collecting several postseason honors.

Athletics

Written by Jonathan Butnick

Whitlock leads the Red Raider defense in solo tackles (30) and tackles for loss (8.5).

Texas Tech freshman nose tackle Colby Whitlock ended his first season with the Red Raiders with a number of honors.

The true freshman from Nobel, Okla., has been named to the Big 12’s all-freshman team. He has also been named a Scout.com first-team freshman All-American and CollegeFootballNews.com second team All-America selection.

Whitlock leads all Red Raider defensive linemen with his 30 solo tackles, and his 8.5 tackles for loss; and his five quarterback hurries rank second and third on the team, respectively, amongst all defenders.

With his rookie season having drawn to a close, Whitlock has without question given coaches and fans something to look forward to in the coming years. He said the experience he gained this season, combined with a full-run through Texas Tech’s off-season strength and conditioning program, should allow him to improve even more for his sophomore campaign.

“I think that spending the entire off-season here, I’ll have the biggest gains of my career, and I think it can only help,” he said.

Ruffin McNeill, Red Raider interim defensive coordinator, said the sky is the limit for his young pupil.

“If he keeps that correct mentality, he has a chance to be as good as he wants to be,” he said. “That means doing the extra things with film, extra things in the weight room, practicing to get better, and he’s got a chance to be really good.”