The captains have been named for the Texas Tech football program.

Patrick Mahomes and Baylen Brown are no-doubters on the offensive side. Both upperclassmen and both logging plenty of playtime in the past few years.

Mahomes is the unquestioned leader of this football team. He will put up ridiculous numbers while getting everyone involved. When he mentions the depth at receiver, he believes it.

Brown has been tasked with the impossible task of replacing La'Raven Clark. The task isn't impossible to Brown, though; it's just another day in the office. Brown will need to anchor a young and inexperienced O-line that needs to keep Mahomes upright and conscious in 2016.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the defensive selections. Justis Nelson is one of the few seniors on defense and has seen the field in his first three seasons in Lubbock.

"It's a great honor," Nelson said about being named starter. "We have guys that work as hard as I do but the fact that the team voted for me to be one of the people to represent them, it doesn't get any better than that."

The fourth captain is a new face to the program, but by all accounts is one of the most important players on the team.

No, he isn't a starter. No, he won't be an All Big 12 performer. But Luke Stice is part of the heartbeat of this team. From the interviews 1340 The Fan did at this year's Media Day and everything else I've heard about Stice, his attitude and work ethic are infectious.

No doubt he'll be a big presence on the sideline and I'm sure he has no problem calling you out if you aren't going 100 percent on every play.

It's just incredible the amount of impact he's already made off the field. He's not played a down for the Red Raiders, but he's been named a captain by his peers.

That's not to say he won't make an impact on the field. He's on the two deep and he can play multiple positions. He'll also be on most, if not all, of the special teams units. Luke Stice will make a huge impact on this season.

So will Mahomes, Brown and Nelson.

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