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Inside Tahj Brooks' decision to stay with Texas Tech football in 2024
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- Inside Tahj Brooks' decision to stay with Texas Tech football in 2024
Texas Tech football offensive coordinator Zach Kittley said running back Tahj Brooks didn't get the feedback he wanted from the NFL to leave school with college eligibility still on the table.
That doesn't mean the Doak Walker Award semifinalist can't still get paid to ply his trade in 2024.
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Brooks revealed Monday he will stay to play for the Red Raiders next season. He announced it in the most modern of ways, posting the "I'm not leaving" clip from "The Wolf of Wall Street" movie on social media. He subsequently posted a video coordinated with the Matador Club, the collective that pays Tech athletes for their name, image and likeness service.
Wearing a Matador Club t-shirt in the video, Brooks said, "I'm coming back. It's going to be an exciting, fun season next year, and I can't wait to be part of it.
"This is really possible because of the Matador Club. I can't thank them enough for things that they do for student-athletes such as myself and things for the opportunity for student-athletes to grow in ways that they can't imagine. I want to thank the fans, Matador Club, family that I've met in Lubbock. It's going to be a great experience, and I can't wait."
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The 5-foot-10, 230-pound senior from Manor has run for 1,443 yards and nine touchdowns this season. He's the second-leading rusher in the Big 12 and fourth in the FBS.
He can return in 2024 on the Covid-bonus year option the NCAA extends to all athletes who played during the disrupted 2020 season.
Brooks said after Tech's home finale he believed it was his last game at Jones AT&T Stadium, but circumstances changed over the past month.
"I think ultimately his draft status didn't come back quite as good as he wanted," Kittley said, "and he loves Texas Tech, man. I know he's pretty close next season, if he has a really good year, to be the all-time leading rusher in school history, and he wants to give back to Texas Tech and he loves this place and loves coach (Joey) McGuire and the staff we have here and his teammates.
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"I think he felt like after not getting quite the draft grade he was hoping for, that this was a great opportunity for him to come back."
Byron Hanspard has the Tech career rushing record with 4,219 yards, followed by James Gray with 4,066. Brooks is seventh at 2,957.
Next year will be Brooks' fifth at Tech. Hanspard played three seasons for the Red Raiders, Gray four. Both played before the NCAA included players' stats from bowl games, so Hanspard's 260 yards rushing in the 1995 Copper Bowl, for example, and Gray's 280 yards rushing in the 1989 All American Bowl aren't reflected in their career totals.
"This is an exciting day for our program with Tahj announcing his return for next season," McGuire said in a prepared statement. "From our conversations in recent weeks, it was clear that Tahj wants to leave a legacy here at Texas Tech and that a return for next season would help him do just that. Not only is Tahj one of the nation's top running backs, but he is a phenomenal teammate and leader of this program."
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Brooks has topped 100 yards rushing eight times in the past 10 games. His 268 carries are third most in the FBS and most among power-five conference backs.
"For him to come back and have that leadership back and just a player of his caliber and leadership on and off the field is going to be huge for us," Kittley said.
Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks (28) announced Monday he will stay with the Red Raiders for the 2024 season after weighing whether to declare for the NFL draft. Brooks is the fourth-leading rusher in the FBS this season with 1,443 yards.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Inside Tahj Brooks' decision to stay with Texas Tech football in 2024
