Takeaways: Johnson, Brooks lead defense, Shimonek shines in debut

Texas Tech defeated Eastern Washington by a final score of 56-10 to open the season at 1-0. Coach Kliff Kingsbury, QB Nic Shimonek, WR Keke Coutee, WR Derrick Willies, DB Jah’Shawn Johnson and LB Jordyn Brooks spoke about the opening night win following the game. Here are a few notes from the session.

- Kingsbury was impressed with the overall team effort on Saturday.

- Kingsbury credits the defensive coaches on how the Red Raiders performed on that side of the ball.

- He said a lot of the players that played were here in the spring or they rotated in when they arrived.

- “I didn’t think we were clean in obviously the penalty area,” Kingsbury said. “That’s something we got to clean up, some personal fouls, things that are unacceptable.”

- Kingsbury said he is happy for Shimonek after waiting four years to finally get a start.

- Shimonek said he hopes people see what he can do after waiting his turn. He said his biggest message was that he could’ve started anywhere.

- Shimonek finished the day with 384 yards on 26 completions and three touchdowns.

- The run game was also present as the Red Raiders combined for a total of 177 yards.

- Kingsbury said RB Desmond Nisby is a different back compared to the other runners on the team. His ability to lower his shoulder was present in week one.

- Kingsbury said he did a bad job in utilizing RB Justin Stockton last year so his focus was to get him going quick this season.

- One negative aspect besides penalties Kingsbury and the players talked about was the slow start.

- Shimonek, Coutee and Willies said that’s something that has occurred in practice, but the bye week gives them time to figure out how to solve that on offense.

- “Once we got going, once we worked out the kinks, things started rolling,” Shimonek said.

- The counterpart to the slow start on offense was the quick start on defense.

- Johnson said forcing turnovers was crucial in starting fast.

- The Red Raiders forced three turnovers in the first game of this year.

- Johnson said the chemistry with the team was built through the long fall camp. He added that he knew the offense would get going once they scored.

- Johnson and Brooks led the team in tackles with seven apiece. Meanwhile, LB Dakota Allen brought down the ball carrier six times in his return to the Jones.

- The Red Raiders recorded one sack by way of DE Tony Jones. However, that would be the only QB takedown by the Red Raiders.

- Brooks said Jones’ play was a lot of help, but the team still needs to work on the smaller details to become a force.

- Jones is the first Red Raider since 2015 to record a sack and an interception in a single game.

- Brooks said the experience from last season was key in his performance tonight.

- The Red Raiders did face some issues before the game with some late-noticed injuries.

- OL Travis Bruffy missed the game due to illness. Kingsbury said Bruffy lost weight and they’re going to evaluate his progress. He said the same with K Clayton Hatfield who is going to be evaluated moving forward after suffering a leg injury. He said it’s nothing too serious but that K Michael Ewton handled kicking duties well.

- DL Joseph Wallace was also absent in Texas Tech’s opener and Kingsbury confirmed that he would be redshirted to grow and develop.

- Shimonek said he was proud of the team in general in getting the win to start the season out right.

- This season opener was a different one with Texas Tech donating $100 for each point scored towards the Hurricane Harvey fund.

- With 56 points scored, $5,600 will be donated.

- Kingsbury said he loves the city of Houston. Shimonek said it’s devastating what happened but that it’s brought a lot of people together.

- “It might sound like bad sportsmanship but I wanted to keep scoring at the end just for that sole purpose,” Shimonek said.

- Shimonek was pulled after his great start. He was replaced by QB McLane Carter who went 3-3 for 49 yards and one touchdown. Carter was then replaced by Jett Duffey who connected on his two attempts for a total of 16 yards.

- Going into their second game, it will be interesting to see who comes in as the No. 2 QB and if Nisby did enough to maybe surpass Stockton as the starting running back.

- Texas Tech will host the Arizona State Sun Devils in two weeks at Jones AT&T Stadium.

- The Red Raiders will take their balanced start into the bye week to work on fixing the details before facing the Sun Devils.