LUBBOCK – Tahj Brooks called his shot. 

The Manor product fell in love with the weight room when high school head coach James Keller started picking him up at 6 a.m. in the summer leading into his ninth-grade season. He left Manor with more than 4,400 yards rushing and 65 total touchdowns. He ran for over 1,000 yards in each of his final three seasons as a prep star and ended his career in East Austin as a three-time all-district selection. 

But major offers didn’t arrive for Brooks. At least not right away. He’s not the type to wow recruiting experts in the t-shirt Olympic camps. The 5-10, 230-pound Brooks was a power runner in a sport becoming obsessed with speed. The hometown Horns never came calling. That led Brooks to commit to Texas Tech on June 22 of 2019, and in his commitment tweet, he predicted the future. 

“(Breaking the record) is something I had brewing before I even got here,” Brooks told the Republic of Football podcast earlier in the week. “I had a tweet saying I would be a Texas Tech legend and that I hoped I’d break the rushing record. I saw that I was getting close last year and knew it was a way for me to put my name next to the great running backs (in program history).” 

Brooks entered with 4,099 yards rushing, just 120 yards short of Hanspard’s record that he set playing for Spike Dykes in the 1990s. The early returns against Colorado suggested his coronation as the best running back in Tech history would need to wait until at least Week 12. Brooks gained 25 yards on his first 14 carries of the game as the Buffaloes sold out to stop Tech’s bell cow. 

He found his footing in the fourth quarter as the Colorado defense tired and the score allowed them to play bend-but-don’t-break. An 18-yard run with 12:02 left in the game pushed Brooks over 120 yards and into history. He finished the game with 137 yards on 31 carries. He's rushed for at least 100 yards in all nine games he's played this season. The last time he was held up 95 yards was Sept. 9, 2023 against Oregon.