By james art 
Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire previews the Big 12 game at TCU
Texas Tech football is coming off a 59-35 loss at home to Baylor. The Red Raiders play at TCU this week.
When Sawyer Robertson’s Baylor defeated the Texas Tech football team 59-35 on Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium, it was the fifth time in the last nine games that the Red Raiders have allowed more than 35 points and the third time in that span they’ve allowed more from 50.
In pass defense, total defense and scoring defense, Tech ranked last in the top 10 in the FBS this season.
Naturally then, one of the hottest topics of water-cooler conversation after Baylor is why a true freshman wide receiver isn’t playing enough. Late in Saturday’s game, a leaping Micah Hudson made a highlight-reel-worthy one-handed catch along the sideline that prompted renewed calls for more Micah. Not that those calls have really died down, as the highly touted signee, despite appearing in every game, has played less than a hundred snaps.
I’ve discussed the Mike Leach effect before. In the post-Pirate era, Tech fans more or less accept bad defense as normal, are pleasantly surprised when it’s the other way around, and spend their time looking at offense while setting a much higher standard. Not all, but not a few.
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The short answer to why Hudson isn’t playing more is that he’s behind Caleb Douglas, the Florida transfer who has been the team’s top big-play receiver in the past two games, catching five passes for 116 yards in a win over Arizona and nine for 99 yards and three touchdowns against Baylor.
Hudson doesn’t play the same position as slot receiver Dray McCray, Tech Twitter and the pinata on the message board after a rough day Saturday, and even if the coaches were inclined to move Hudson to McCray’s spot, it wouldn’t provide more playing time. The starter there is Josh Kelly, whose 53 catches for 590 yards are a team high.
Douglas and Kelly are inseparable. Guy is a sixth-year senior on pace for career highs in catches and yards. The other is a junior and acts like a sixth grader when no one outside is looking. That happens to most good college players, and it’s clearly happening to Douglas now.
“He’s really trending,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said Monday. “He had two huge catches in the Arizona game. Played really well. I come in this morning and he and Beren (Morton) are in the weight room. Monday is an optional lift. It’s up to them if they want to take him and he’s in the weight room.
“I talked to Lance (Barrilow), our head strength coach. He said, “Man, he has such a good routine. He is one of the first guys in the building. He gets his lift and then Zane (Perry), our main equipment guy, shoots him balls from the Jugs (the machine) and he catches a hundred balls before he goes to class. He’s playing at a really high level.”
Kelly and Douglas, also January arrivals to the Texas Tech program, had a months-long lead against Hudson, who, due to offseason knee surgery, was not cleared to be fully active until shortly before August practices. This is a serious obstacle to development.
However, the expectation that he will be Superman continues. Of course, McGuire caused some of that, giving Hudson the No. 1 jersey and predicting that he would be — will be — better than four of his former wide receivers who went on to play pro football.
Related: How Micah Hudson made Texas Tech football coach Joey McGuire break his policy
Even if McGuire were to temper expectations, it might not matter. The five-star recruit tag alone ensures all eyes will be on Hudson from the jump.
I’ve mentioned this before, but in the parts of preseason practice that the media can see, Hudson has thrown an embarrassing number of passes. I haven’t mentioned this because it came in a small viewing sample and may not be representative of his performance as a whole. But he dropped another Saturday, two runs before his spectacular catch.
Based on Hudson’s talent level and the fact that he’s played in every game, I suspect the coaches view his lapses in concentration as something of a freshman learning curve rather than a long-term concern.
Offensive coordinator Zach Kitley noted the emergence of Douglas as a major development standing between Hudson and more playing time.
“He’s fighting within the same position right now,” Kitley said. “I’ve said it a lot: Those three core guys (Kelly, Douglas and Coy Eakin) are going to be our three core guys and we’re going to have the packages and some of that stuff for Micah. He is progressing as he should progress. He’s doing a good job and we’ll continue to have some stuff on him here and there.
“Just keep practicing with him and making him feel confident in what we’re doing and I’ve seen the confidence go up. You can see the big-play ability with him, and hopefully we can still see some of that happen as we go.”
His time to play will come. Doing whatever it takes to win it won’t hurt him or the Red Raiders.