This article was inspired by RedRaiderSports.com subscriber @ctalaman's comment on my "Interesting Player" post on the Inside the Double T forum. He suggested I list the players around the Big 12 that "scare" me from a Texas Tech perspective. Instead of an all encompassing list, I decided to highlight the scariest player, in my opinion, from each of the other Big 12 programs.

I was tempted to put “whoever replaces Charlie Brewer” because I think all of their backups are better than him, but I’ll go more conventional here with linebacker Terrel Bernard. Honestly, this one was hard to pick, with Denzel Mims, Bravvion Roy, and James Lynch gone. Who am I supposed to be scared of on this team?

Bernard is the only one that stood out to me for a few reasons; one, he has earned the respect of the conference by being voted to the preseason All Big 12 Team. Two, he plays like a mad man - 100 miles per hour every minute he’s on the field. He would be one of my favorite players if he were wearing red and black. And three, he seems to always be around the ball (sacks and turnovers) and is able to play his best games against the best teams. He is someone that Texas Tech is going to have to gameplan for and know where he is on every offensive snap.

Does Brock Purdy have a single incompletion against Texas Tech? My memory says no. Seriously, though, he was far from perfect in 2018, but he out-dueled fellow freshman Alan Bowman, and made the plays that needed to be made without turning the ball over. In 2019, he put on a clinic against the Red Raiders going 23-of-32, with a 72% completion rate, 378 yards, and three touchdowns. And, honestly, I thought the stats would be better than that when I looked it up. To be fair, he was basically playing 7-on-7. Texas Tech had zero quarterback hurries. Zero.

I don’t want to play Iowa State. It’s the only game I don’t look forward to, and Purdy is the first player that comes to mind, which is why he is the pick here.

P.S. Matt Campbell is the first person, but he doesn’t count here.

I will never forget his 70 yard, fourth quarter touchdown last year. It was not the most Yakety Sax secondary blunder on a night filled with Yakety Sax secondary moments, but it was the moment I realized Tech was in trouble.

Parchment, a preseason All Big 12 selection, was pretty much held in check by the Red Raiders, other than that play. He’s on this list mostly because of the type of receiver he is, he’s big, tall, and strong. Like the receivers that have destroyed Texas Tech in the recent past, Josh Doctson, Hakeem Butler, N’Keal Harry, etc.

Until proven otherwise, I will assume that the Red Raider secondary is going to be a mess, giving up big yards or penalties to the Andrew Parchment’s of the world.

Tech is going to give up a special teams touchdown to the Wildcats, and Youngblood is going to be the one to score. I don’t like it. I will yell expletives when it happens, but it will happen. Youngblood is my choice here because he could be good enough to do it twice.

I was pissed when I saw the news that he was coming back for another season at Oklahoma, and that’s why he’s on this list. For my money, he’s the best player on their team, and that’s weird for a center. It’s weird for a center to be the best lineman on a team, but that’s Humphrey; he makes them go.

With as inexperienced as Oklahoma will be at the skill positions, it helps them far too much for my liking to have their All World center coming back to lead the offense.

It may seem like I’m being a contrarian here, but I am more scared of Tylan Wallace than I am of Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard is awesome, and this says more about Tech’s improved run defense more than it does any disrespect to Hubbard.

In 2019, sure he rushed for 156 yards, but it took him 34 carries to get there, and it never felt like he was taking over the game. Wallace, however, has that ability. Similar to what I said about Parchment, Wallace is the prototypical receiver that gives the Red Raiders trouble, except he’s better than Parchment. Even coming off of a torn ACL, I’m not going to trust the Tech secondary until it proves itself trustworthy.

Whenever I would watch the Longhorns, I was thankful they hadn’t figured out that Joseph Ossai was their best defensive lineman masquerading as a linebacker.

Unfortunately, reports out of Austin indicate that Ossai is moving to up front. With the questions and inexperience surrounding our current group of tackles, it scares me to think what he could potentially do to them, especially early in the season. He’s a guy you have to gameplan for, you have to know where he’s lining up, and you have to be prepared to chip or double team him if it comes to that (benefit of a TE/H).

We cannot start the season off with a Dallas Cowboys-Chaz Green situation in Atlanta. That’s why Ossai is on this list.

This may be the weirdest one, but Max Duggan killed the Red Raiders last year, and it was embarrassing. He completed nearly 60% of his passes, while throwing for two touchdowns, and running for another one.

To me, it was worse than what Purdy was able to do to the Tech defense, because at least Purdy is good. Duggan had his moments last year, and fights like hell, but he should not have been the guy to win the game for TCU like he was in Lubbock last year.

If the Horned Frogs needed a play, he made it, and it was nearly vomit inducing to watch. That’s why he’s my pick here.

Not a ton of candidates here for the Mountaineers, so I just decided to go with their best player. Darius Stills is on the All Big 12 Preseason team, and for good reason, towards the end of the year last year you could argue he was the best defensive lineman in the conference after Roy and Lynch at Baylor. He could be scary for the Red Raider offense for a couple of reasons, one, interior pressure really kills most plays both in the passing game and running game.

Stills provides that for the WVU. He is a hoss in the trenches. Two, if he is on one, and Tech is having to double him, that means the Red Raiders will be leaving one of their inexperienced tackles on an island against WVU’s other pass rushers. He could easily throw off a game plan and wreck more than a few drives if he gets going.