Duo of Offensive Linemen Depart Texas Tech Football Program
Two more Texas Tech football players have announced they will be leaving the program.
Gio Pancotti and Colin Yang both announced the news on their respective Twitter accounts this week. Pancotti will be transferring in search of playing time, and Yang will remain at Texas Tech, but will be focusing on academics.
Pancotti committed to former head coach Kliff Kingsbury in the 2016 class, but never broke through into the starting lineup. Leaving Texas Tech as a redshirt junior, Pancotti will be able to play at another university and have two years of eligibility. The new rules about transferring will make Pancotti a sit-out transfer, but coaching changes would make his appeal a slam dunk for immediate eligibility.
Colin Yang has been accepted into a graduate program at Texas Tech and is leaving the program to focus on that. This is the second time Yang has announced he's leaving the program.
There's a line in his announcement that stuck out to me where he writes: "I would especially like to thank Coach Farmer for being a great man and a father figure." He goes on to list some ways the coach impacted him. Farmer is a guy who was hired in December and spent a very short amount of time with Yang -- basically, just spring football. That kind of impact in a very short time is special.
While neither of these offensive lineman were starters or projected to be in the mix, they did provide depth and practice bodies that will need to be replaced.
Look for Texas Tech to add a couple of JUCO guys, a grad transfer, or a late freshman to the 2019 class to regain the depth.