Breakout year expected for Texas Tech's outside receivers

DALLAS - Texas Tech's passing offense has been prolific for 15-plus seasons. Nationally elite, in fact. It has become the program's identity, plain and simple.

With that reliance on the pass has come a litany of star receivers, with the majority of those standouts, at least during Kliff Kingsbury's tenure as head coach, coming from one of the two inside positions. However, if you asked the Red Raider caravan that was at Big 12 Media Days on Monday, they were more than ready to tell you that there are some big expectations surrounding this upcoming group of outside receivers.

It's a group of veteran players and Kingsbury feels like they have made significant strides during the offseason.

The deep ball will become more of an emphasis as a result, and the head coach is ready to see this group of long pass catchers do some damage outside the hashes where they'll compliment the arm strength of star quarterback Pat Mahomes.

“We’ll try to push the ball down the field a little bit more this year," Kingsbury said. "Last year, I thought the outside receivers weren’t where we needed to be, and we’ve got some guys that redshirted last year that we really expect to help us and a couple of transfers.

“Dylan Cantrell being back is huge. Him and Pat have an incredible relationship. Devin Lauderdale coming back as a senior, him growing up in the system three years now. Reggie Davis had nine touchdowns last year, and he’s a senior. Derrick Willies is a 22-year-old transfer player. They’re grown ups now. They aren’t little kids. That goes a long way, and I saw that all spring with the way they played, how physical they were, the plays they made down the field, so that group will be dramatically improved.

'They're grown men out there, and from what I saw in the spring that will be our strength in the outside receiver position."

KIngsbury's players have big expectations for the wideouts, too. That includes senior defensive back Justis Nelson, who gets compete against them on a daily basis.

“There’s going to be jump balls made," he said. "There’s going to be a lot of SportsCenter Top 10s around here. We have a lot of guys that can catch and run, and they’re always working hard. They’re getting extra work in on Saturdays, out there after 7-on-7 when everybody is done. There are going to be a lot of touchdowns scored this fall."

In order for those pass catchers to make that impact, they better have a good quarterback delivering the ball to them. That won't be a problem for Mahomes, who feels like his chemistry with those receivers is at an all-time high.

It's primarily a result of two things. The first is Mahomes' decision to quit baseball to focus on football, giving him more time to play pitch and catch with his skill position players. The second is going the extra mile by making sure to throw with some of the receivers every day, something he took away as a big key from the Mannings at the Manning Passing Academy earlier this summer.

“I’m definitely ahead with them of where I was last year," Mahomes said. "Going out there every day, getting to throw with at least one or two guys a day and getting some chemistry down, it was something I really took away from the Manning Camp. (Peyton Manning) told me about doing that, even when he was in town for that dinner. So, I’ve really worked on throwing with a couple guys a day at least, trying to get those routes exactly right where I have my timing so a defense can’t stop them.”