Big 12 Football: 50 best players of all-time

Big 12 Football best players of all-time: 27. Graham Harrell, QB, Texas Tech football

One of the most exciting times for Texas Tech fans came during a three-season stretch between 2006 and 2008. Following a season sitting on the bench as a freshman, Graham Harrell became the starter in 2006 and was unstoppable as a passer.

Working in Mike Leach’s offense, Harrell was a perfect fit and threw for 4,555 yards with 38 touchdowns and just 11 picks. If those numbers seemed unreal, just think about this — they were the lowest numbers of his career as the starter for the Red Raiders.

Harrell went for an insane 5,705 yards with 48 touchdowns against 14 picks the following season and then had 45 touchdowns and only nine interceptions in 2008 while throwing for another 5,111 yards. That gave him 15,793 yards and 134 touchdowns with only 34 interceptions for his career.

Some of those numbers are due to the fact that they played in a spread offense and it wasn’t as though Harrell was out there with scrubs. When he took over in 2006 he had Danny Amendola there who had 487 yards on 48 catches and followed that up with 109 catches for 1,245 yards and six touchdowns. There was also Michael Crabtree who was there in 2007 and 2008. The prolific wide receiver racked up 3,127 yards and 41 touchdowns off 231 catches in two seasons.

Harrell also led the Red Raiders to a shocking upset over the Texas Longhorns in 2008, when their in-state rivals were the No. 1 team in the nation. Texas Tech had climbed all the way up to No. 2 in the polls that season as well, thanks to the efficiency of their offense under Harrell.