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[impala454]

Supposedly Potts is the best QB Leach has recruited so far.

[Aaron]

Supposedly Potts is the best QB Leach has recruited so far.

In terms of quarterbacks that have signed with Texas Tech in the Mike Leach era, Taylor Potts is the third-highest ranked behind Robert Johnson (JUCO) and Graham Harrell. Seth Doege, who signed with the Red Raiders in 2008, might have ended up ranked higher than Potts had he not missed his senior season with a knee injury. Denton Ryan QB Scotty Young is currently verbally committed to Texas Tech, and will likely end up bumping Potts down to fourth on this list if he signs with the Red Raiders as planned.

Interestingly enough, Texas Tech offered two quarterbacks in the class of 2006: Potts and Sam Bradford. The Red Raiders were actually the first to offer Bradford a scholarship, and he visited one of the team's practices (03/26/05) that spring. Potts committed four days later, which ended Texas Tech's pursuit of Bradford, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Potts hadn't pulled the trigger so early.

Sorry, end of tangent...

Potts has a prototypical NFL frame (6-foot-5, 220-pounds) and NFL-caliber arm strength, but neither of those attributes have any bearing on whether or not he will be a successful starter in Leach's offense. Potts battled consistency a bit this spring, but there were never any questions about him being the guy and this being his team. That second part may sound awfully cliche, but Harrell struggled with that aspect of the job during his first season as a starter (2006), which affected the team's play on the field. From an NFL Draft perspective, Potts' delivery will probably hurt him a bit, but that obviously isn't a factor right now.

As far as who is best? Hard to say at this point, with Potts having never started a game before. My opinion of Harrell's standing among all-time Red Raider gunslingers has already been detailed earlier in this thread but if things swing the right way, Potts could certainly end up being Tee Martin to Harrell's Peyton Manning.

Potts is probably a bit more athletic than Harrell - who, incidentally, rushed for over 1,000 yards in his junior year at Ennis - but I wouldn't expect to see him "scramble" any more than we've seen out of his predecessors at Texas Tech. That just isn't something that quarterbacks do in Leach's offense. Heck, I would be pretty shocked if he ran more than Cody Hodges did in 2005.

What I will be interested in seeing is how often Potts checks into the run this season. He, arguably, has one of the top running back tandems in the conference in Baron Batch and Harrison Jeffers, and Potts could make his life a lot easier if he leans on them a little bit early on in his career.