COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 50 | 49 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 42 | 41
Texas Tech's 2016 football season will begin in exactly 40 days with a Sept. 3 kickoff against Stephen F. Austin.
Today, we continue our Countdown to Kickoff series with a notable way the number 40 relates to Red Raider football.
40: Texas Tech WR Jakeem Grant was clocked at 4.12 in the 40-yard dash.
Former Texas Tech wide receiver Jakeem Grant ran the 40-yard dash in 4.12 seconds at the university's pro day this March.
For the sake of comparison, the fastest time ever recorded at the NFL Combine was Chris Johnson's 4.24 in 2008.
Grant departed the South Plains as the Red Raiders' all-time leading receiver, passing all-time greats like Michael Crabtree and Wes Welker in the program's record books. Four months after his final game in the Red and Black, Grant was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth-round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Not bad for a former lightly-recruited three-star prospect.
Grant was a late, late addition to Texas Tech's 2011 recruiting class. The 5-foot-6 speedster had originally committed to Tulsa before his senior season but began to reevaluate his pledge that winter. The Red Raiders, led by assistant coach Tommy Mainord, came in on him late and ultimately flipped him from the Golden Hurricane in January.
Tomorrow: 39 - We look back at one of the biggest bowl wins in Texas Tech history.
