#28

Tahj Brooks

Former running back at Texas Tech. 2024: 1,505 rushing yards, 17 rushing TD, 27 catches.

RB · Texas Tech · Sr. · #28

5′10″ · 230 lb · Manor, TX

CFB Index 80 · #18 of 310 RBsHigh confidenceAll-ConferenceCincinnati — drafted 2025, Rd 6, Pick 17, #193 overall

Recruiting

3★

RB recruit

No. 624 nationally · Signed with Manor

Statement game23 car · 188 yds · 3 TDvs West Virginia (FBS) · W 52-15

Top 1% rushing yards game since 2021.

im gonna end up starting a dynasty just to win the heisman with brooksr/CFB game thread · ▲ 11His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former running back at Texas Tech. 2024: 1,505 rushing yards, 17 rushing TD, 27 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Manor in 2020.
Drafted round 6 by the Cincinnati in 2025.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Texas Tech, 4,566 rushing yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2023) — drafted at #193 overall by Cincinnati.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20207 games

Recruited3-star out of Manor

202313 games

All-Big 12first

202411 games

All-Big 12second

2025

Drafted by Cincinnatiround 6, pick 193

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#624 national

CFB

College

Texas Tech

2020–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

R6 · #193

Cincinnati · 2025

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

5 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-BIG 12 · 2ND TEAM

All-Big 12 2nd team (2024)

Coaching lineage · 2020–2024

2 coaches

2020–2021

Matt Wells

Texas Tech

2022–2024

Joey McGuire

Texas Tech

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Matt Wells → Joey McGuire. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

CincinnatiEntering 2nd NFL season

#193Rd 6 · Pick 17

CincinnatiEntering 2nd NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2020Texas Tech4-6HC: Matt Wells · Balanced

2021Texas Tech7-6HC: Matt Wells · Balanced

2022Texas Tech8-5HC: Joey McGuire · Balanced, fast tempo

2023Texas Tech7-6HC: Joey McGuire · Balanced

2024Texas Tech8-5HC: Joey McGuire · Balanced, fast tempo

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

80All-Conference level #18 of 310?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: carries (99th percentile). Strength: rush yards (98th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Explosive rate#107 / 442 · 76th pct

9.2%

TD rate#145 / 442 · 67th pct

6.0%

Success rate#189 / 442 · 57th pct

46.5%

EPA / carry#198 / 442 · 55th pct

0.19

Yards / carry#212 / 442 · 52nd pct

5.3

Box-score rates (7)

Carries#4 / 335 · 99th pct

286

Rush yards#7 / 335 · 98th pct

1505

Rush TDs#8 / 335 · 98th pct

Receptions#34 / 330 · 89th pct

Rec yards#61 / 330 · 82nd pct

185

Yards / carry#115 / 335 · 63rd pct

5.3

Long run#195 / 335 · 41st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

76th → 55th percentile

Success rate

85th → 57th percentile

Explosive rate

61st → 76th percentile

Yards / carry

63rd → 52nd percentile

TD rate

35th → 67th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)

Yardage DNA

284 carries

15%

Stuffed (≤0)

36%

Grind (1–3)

35%

Chunk (4–9)

14%

Explosive (10+)

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home7g	143	5.6	1.3
Road4g	126	5.0	2.0

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-75g	136	5.6	1.4
Weeks 8+6g	138	5.2	1.7

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Joey McGuire

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

80 · #18 of 310 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #18 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Texas Tech	286	1,505	5.3	17	--
2023	Texas Tech	291	1,545	5.3	10	--
2022	Texas Tech	148	693	4.7	7	--
2021	Texas Tech	87	568	6.5	7	--
2020	Texas Tech	69	255	3.7	4	--
Career		881	4,566	5.2	45	--

Season	Team
2024	Texas Tech	27	185	6.9	1	--
2023	Texas Tech	29	69	2.4	0	--
2022	Texas Tech	28	170	6.1	1	--
2021	Texas Tech	6	52	8.7	0	--
2020	Texas Tech	12	58	4.8	0	--
Career		102	534	5.2	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2024

W 52–51

vs Abilene Christian

153 rush yds (27 car) · 1 TD

Edged out Abilene Christian at home in a shootout.

With B. Morton — 378 yds · 5 TD · 0 INT · QBR 68.4 · -5 rush yds (2 car) · D. McCray — 55 AVG · 74 LONG · 3 NO

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 13 · Oklahoma State · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA +4.95Tahj Brooks run for 40 yds for a TD (Gino Garcia KICK)
Week 1 · Abilene Christian · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA -4.21Tahj Brooks run for a loss of 3 yards to the ACU 4
Week 11 · Colorado · 4&1 · Q4 · EPA -4.21Tahj Brooks run for a loss of 3 yards to the COLO 4
Week 8 · Baylor · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA +4.11Tahj Brooks run for 31 yds for a TD (Gino Garcia KICK)
Week 13 · Oklahoma State · 3&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.76Behren Morton pass complete to Tahj Brooks for 25 yds for a TD (Gino Garcia KICK)
Week 1 · Abilene Christian · 3&13 · Q1 · EPA +3.57Tahj Brooks run for 18 yds for a TD (Gino Garcia KICK)
Week 3 · North Texas · 4&1 · Q1 · EPA +3.41Tahj Brooks 21 Yd Run (Reese Burkhardt Kick)
Week 14 · West Virginia · 2&6 · Q2 · EPA +3.34Tahj Brooks run for 37 yds for a TD (J. Conyers Run For Two-point Conversion)
Week 5 · Cincinnati · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +2.89Tahj Brooks run for 35 yds to the CIN 40 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Arizona · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +2.87Tahj Brooks run for 32 yds for a TD (Gino Garcia KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 11 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 52-51vs Abilene Christian	27	153	5.7	1	21	153-yard day
Wk 3	W 66-21vs North Texas	17	109	6.4	1	23
Wk 4	W 30-22vs Arizona State	27	117	4.3	0	25
Wk 5	W 44-41vs Cincinnati	32	172	5.4	2	35	172-yard day
Wk 6	W 28-22@ Arizona	21	128	6.1	3	32	3 rushing TDs
Wk 8	L 35-59vs Baylor	25	125	5.0	1	31
Wk 9	L 34-35@ TCU	30	121	4.0	1	12
Wk 10	W 23-22@ Iowa State	25	122	4.9	1	17
Wk 11	L 27-41vs Colorado	31	137	4.4	1	25
Wk 13	W 56-48@ Oklahoma State	28	133	4.8	3	40	3 rushing TDs
Wk 14	W 52-15vs West Virginia	23	188	8.2	3	37	Season-high 188 yds
Total		286	1505	5.4	17	40

How he plays

Play style

Built to take 20+ carries per game. Volume is the value.

CFB Index positional classification

Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape

Steady, not spectacular

~ our read

284Carries

1497Yards

11.7%Top-5 share

14.8%Stuffed rate

Just 11.7% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 14.8% of his carries. 17 carries for 109 yds vs North Texas; 23 for 188 vs West Virginia.

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

The closer

~ our read

63.4%Carry share

62.3%Q4-lead share

86.0%In competitive games

63.4% of carries overall (282/445) → 62.3% of Q4-with-lead carries (43/69) — 86.0% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

21/293rd/4th & short

22/33Inside-5 share