The week leading up to the Super Bowl in Lubbock, Texas, like much of the Lone Star State, is often spent lamenting another lost season with the beloved, yet frustrating Dallas Cowboys missing out on the big game.
But this year is different.
“I think there’s a whole town of new Broncos fans,” said Evan Onstot, a TV news anchor in Lubbock who grew up in Denver and attended Arapahoe High School. “You listen to sports talk radio down here, and they’re talking about it all the time. Almost everyone is cheering for the Broncos, and the main reason, if not the only reason, is because of the three Red Raiders on the team.”
Wes Welker, Manny Ramirez and Louis Vasquez, more than a quarter of the Broncos’ record-setting starting offense this season, attended Texas Tech University in the heart of Lubbock. And each player has been a key contributor to the Broncos’ first Super Bowl in 15 years.
Welker, who played in only 13 games during the regular season because of concussion issues, caught a career-high 10 touchdown passes in his first year with the team. Vasquez, also in his first season with the Broncos, earned all-pro honors for the first time in his career and was selected to his first Pro Bowl.
Ramirez has been perhaps the most pleasant surprise, seamlessly sliding into the No. 1 center slot and forging quick chemistry with demanding quarterback Peyton Manning.
“I think it’s very seldom that you have two centers go on (injured reserve), and for him to step up the way that he has, it has been pretty incredible,” said Welker, who was a teammate of Ramirez’s for one season in college. “I knew what a great player and person Manny was at Texas Tech, and he continues to show it even now.”
While the Super Bowl can be a major boost for the cities that are home to its participants, college towns feel the connection to the biggest game in American sports through their former stars. That can be especially true for coaches.
Washington State coach Mike Leach, who coached Welker, Ramirez and Vas- quez during his previous job at Texas Tech, estimates that he will be one of the few souls in the Pacific Northwest pulling for the Broncos against Seattle. He said he is especially proud of Ramirez and Vasquez, whom he called “the unsung heroes” of the Red Raiders’ successful teams in their college careers.
“Manny was freakishly strong,” Leach said. “He could bench 550 pounds, and I’m not sure if I’ve had anybody else who could do that. Louis was just more talented than everybody else. I used to hope somebody on the other team would hit him in the mouth early the game, because then he would just explode and really wreck people inside.”
Vasquez, who played with Ramirez for two seasons at Texas Tech and calls the center “my brother,” said the support he’s received from those who coached him or watched him play in college has been humbling.
“Wherever you have been and whatever lives you’ve come into contact with,” Vasquez said, “to know that they’re behind you, it’s an honor.”
In Lubbock, hearing “Texas Tech” three times when the Broncos’ starting offense is introduced on Super Bowl Sunday will be a source of pride.
“It’s not like Miami or Alabama, where’s there’s just a ton of guys to follow,” Onstot said. “There’s only a handful of (former Texas Tech players) starting in the NFL, so to have three of them on one side of the ball playing in the Super Bowl, it’s pretty special.”
Nick Kosmider: 303-954-1516, nkosmider@denverpost.com
