Early in the first quarter of Texas Tech’s drubbing at the hands of Baylor, Bears’ running back Bryson Washington punched in the first score of the game from a yard out.

The play before, Washington had broken off a massive 44-yard scamper, appearing to have scored before the rush was ruled out short.

The 7-0 deficit was costly for the Red Raiders, but what proved to be even more severe was an injury suffered by defensive tackle E’Maurion “Dooda” Banks at the goal line.

Banks had to be carted off and was ruled out for the season Monday with a knee injury. The injury leaves a gaping hole in the defense that needs to be filled sooner rather than later.

“As we all know, Dooda’s a big contributor to our whole defense, and the d-line of course, we’ve seen that all season,” fellow defensive tackle De’Braylon Carroll said to the media Tuesday. “But we have a pretty deep room and we’ve gotta have guys step into the challenge and just prepare like we’ve been preparing.

Everybody’s ready for the moment, it’s just how we prepare week in and week out. We just gotta have a couple younger guys step up, production wise. Just step up and be ready for the moment.”

Banks, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 300 pounds, has developed into a solid contributor over the course of his collegiate career so far.

A fourth-year junior, Banks burst onto the scene in Tech’s bowl eligibility-gaining win over Central Florida a season ago when he hit John Rhys Plumlee, forcing an interception that helped turn the tide. The marquee play of the night for Banks, however, was a blocked point-after attempt later on that eventually sealed a 24-23 victory.

Banks followed that up this season with another PAT block against Arizona State. Banks’ sheer size in the middle of the trenches will be sorely missed in both facets of the game where he was a major contributor.

“It’s tough when you know a guy like him, he’s got NFL aspirations, he’s been a leader,” defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter said during the weekly coaches press conference. “He’s worked so hard, I think the true test of character is how hard he goes on PAT, field goal block. Because a lot of times, they’ve either driven the ball down or they’ve scored a touchdown, and a lot of times you’ll see teams or the guys don’t give great effort. And we talk about it being the toughest two seconds in sports because you’ve gotta just drive as hard as you can and get that hand up.

A guy that’s got that kind of character, to have something taken away is tough. He’s gonna have surgery here in the next day or two and I just want him to know that we love him and we’re gonna support him everywhere we can.”

Where do the Red Raiders go from here? One of the more heralded groups coming into the season, the chatter around the defensive tackles was centered around the amount of depth in the room at any given moment.

Much like the outside linebacker room that has been hampered by ailments all campaign, the true significance and effectiveness of the depth in Zarnell Fitch’s room will be put to the test.

Head coach Joey McGuire already has it in his mind who will step up in Banks’ place, another big body who hails from Saraland, Ala.

“Tre McAlpine, I talked to him about ‘Hey, your snaps are about to go up.’ I thought he did play really well whenever he got more snaps the other day, he’s really athletic," McGuire said. “But we lose a leader, that was an emotional moment right there. Anytime you gotta have to cart somebody off instead of limping off, you’re helping off, that’s always kinda a weird moment in the game. He was playing really well. DB Carroll and him were the two playing the best in the defensive tackle room. They’re all going to have to step up. You’re losing a guy that’s really physical, he’s got some really good length.”

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