Texas Tech Roundup: Austin McNamara, Red Raiders named to DCTF All-Texas College teams
Austin McNamara was named best special teams player to highlight the Texas Tech football players named to Dave Campbell's Texas Football's all-Texas College teams released Tuesday.
McNamara was named first-team punter on the all-state squad. As a junior, the Gilbert, Arizona native set Texas Tech and Big 12 conference records by averaging 48.2 yards per punt.
He also set the FBS record for most 50-plus yard punts in a game with eight, which are school and conference marks as well.
Running back Tahj Brooks and defensive lineman Tyree Wilson were named to the publication's second-team All-Texas College squad.
Brooks led the Red Raiders in rushing yards (568) while scoring seven touchdowns on 87 attempts during his sophomore campaign.
Wilson, who is listed as an outside linebacker on Texas Tech's roster, recorded 38 total tackles for the Red Raiders, including seven sacks on the year. He was named the Red Raiders' Liberty Bowl defensive MVP after picking up a pair of sacks in Tech's 34-7 win over Mississippi State.
The Red Raiders begin the season at 7 p.m. Sept. 3 against Murray State in Jones AT&T Stadium.
WOMEN'S GOLF
Texas Tech's Anna Dong was one of two recipients of the 2021-22 Big 12 sportsmanship awards, the conferenced announced on Tuesday.
Iowa State football player Brock Purdy was the other recipient of the award, which was first called sportsperson of the year and began in 2000-01.
The award is given annually to athletes "who display an extraordinary degree of sportsmanship, community service and academic achievement," the Big 12 announcement said.
"We are so proud of Anna and how she represents our program," Tech coach JoJo Robertson said. "Anna is the ideal student-athlete in our program as she is a great leader on the course but also a perfect role model off of it as well. Anna will be successful in whatever walk of life she chooses because of the tireless work ethic and genuine attitude she displays each and every day.”
Dong was selected for her work off the course. She is the vice president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and will be the athlete representative for the Texas Tech Advisory Committee for the next school year. Dong has also participated in programs such as Suited for Success, Wreck 'Em Prep and the NCAA Career Sports Forum.
The Guangzhou, China native is a three-time academic all-Big 12 first team honoree and has twice been named a Women's Golf Coaches Association all-America scholar.
TRACK & FIELD
Texas Tech announced Tuesday that Zach Bradford, a three-time Big 12 champion and five-time first-team all-American in the pole vault, is joining the Red Raiders as a graduate transfer.
Bradford competed the past four years at Kansas. He won the Big 12 pole-vault titles outdoor in 2021 and 2022 and indoor in 2022.
He was a first-team all-American — meaning a top-eight finisher in an NCAA championships meet — indoor in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and outdoor in 2019 and 2021. There were no NCAA championships in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic.
The Tech school record in the pole vault is 18 feet, 8 1/4 inches, set by Brandon Bray at the 2019 NCAA outdoor meet. Bradford went that high or higher in 14 meets while competing for KU. He cleared 19-0 1/4 in February 2020 at Arkansas' Tyson Invitational and a personal record 19-0 3/4 in April 2021 at Missouri's Tom Botts Invitational.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Austin McNamara, Red Raiders named to DCTF All-Texas college team
