Crabtree the superhuman!!!

Another game for Texas Tech...another 100+ yd game for Crabtree. After 5 games, here are his numbers:

60 catches
920 yards
14 TD's

A few points about his current production:
- The 14 TD's is a school record, breaking the mark of 13 TD's set by Jarrett Hicks in 2004 and equaled by Joel Filani last season.
- 14 TD's also ties the NCAA Freshman record, currently held by Jabar Gaffney (Florida, 2000), Mike Williams (USC, 2002), and Davone Bass (Hawaii, 2005). Expect this one to belong to Crabtree by 6:45 PM next Saturday.
- 920 receiving yards leads all NCAA receivers...by 241 yards. He has gained 35% more than the #2 wideout.
- 60 catches also leads all NCAA receivers...by 15 catches. Danny Amendola is 3rd at 44 catches.
- 14 TD's is 5 more TD's than the next closest WR and double that of the next closest Big 12 WR (Malcolm Kelly, Blow U, 7 TD's)

Here's the fun (and scary) part of Crabtree's production this year:

- He's currently projecting to these numbers:

156 catches
2392 yards
36 TD's

The NCAA D1 records are:

142 catches (Manny Hazard, Houston, 1989)
2,060 yards (Trevor Insley, Nevada, 1999)
27 TD's (Troy Edwards, La Tech, 1998)

While it's unlikely to assume that his production will continue at the same level against Big 12 opponents...if it did then he would own all NCAA single-season records as a freshman!!! Also, the NCAA record for catches by a freshman is 98 by Taurean Henderson of Texas Tech in 2002. Assuming he played out his eligibility, here's where he would project to over 4 13-game seasons (12 games + bowl game) with current 4-year NCAA record in parentheses.

624 catches (316 catches, Taylor Stubblefield, Purdue 01-04)
9,568 yards (5,005 yds, Trevor Insley, Nevada 96-98
146 TD's (50 TD's, Troy Edwards, La Tech 96-98)

Obviously, these projections are very far reaching at this point...but it wouldn't be totally out of the question to see Crabtree at least approaching many NCAA career records by the end of the 2008 season. The outlook is bright for the Red Raiders offense and Michael Crabtree over the next few years. With the Big 12 in chaos mode after BlowU and Texas both lost last week (remember that the loser of the RRR game this week will start conference 0-2)...there's no need to look ahead to 2008 just yet. However...I'll go ahead and drop in a friendly note that 10 of 11 starters will return in 08 with Danny Amendola being the lone starting senior.

I'll be back later with some stats on Graham Harrell and a look ahead to his projections.