SHREVEPORT, La. — The Texas Tech football team wrapped up the season Saturday night, shaking off a slugish start and beating California 34-14 at the Independence Bowl.

Quarterback Behren Morton and linebacker Jacob Rodriguez were named the outstanding players of the game on offense and defense, respectively. Morton threw three touchdown passes, all in the first half, and finished with 256 yards through the air. Rodriguez did a little of everything: seven tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.

The defense was the story, piling up 13 tackles for loss with six sacks and holding Pac-12 rushing leader Jaydn Ott to 42 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Freshman defensive end Amier Washington jumped off the stats sheet with three sacks, another tackle for loss and a forced fumble.

We do a question-and-answer session after each game. To the questions.

Q: Who is Amier Washington, and why didn't we know about him before now?

DW: He's a 6-foot-2, 275-pound true freshman from the Orange County high school of Little Cypress-Mauriceville in the far southeast corner of Texas. He was undersized coming out of high school and so attracted little recruiting interest — mainly from Baylor, when Joey McGuire and James Blanchard were there, and from Tech, when McGuire and Blanchard moved.

Saturday was only Washington's second game. Maybe he was extra motivated, given that Independence Stadium is a lot closer to home for him than Jones AT&T Stadium. The distance between Mauriceville and Shreveport is only 181 miles.

Washington showed some power, quickness and playmaking off the edge. What's interesting is it took multiple circumstances for him to even play. He was fourth on the depth chart at field side defensive end. Ahead of him were Myles Cole, who opted out of the bowl game; Dylan Spencer, who missed the game with a shoulder injury; and Charles Esters, who started.

That moved Washington up to No. 2, and in he went. After that performance, he probably won't need as many breaks to get into games next year.

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Q: How do you project the defensive edge positions going into next season?

DW: There's still a lot that can happen over the next nine months, including the unexpected. With the players on the roster now, though, Tech could man the field end with Dylan Spencer, Charles Esters and Amier Washington, the boundary end with Steve Linton and Isaac Smith, plus Joseph Adedire figuring in prominently on either side. Harvey Dyson can play either side, too.

That's a core group of seven mostly young guys who have some experience.

Two questions in my mind: Do Linton and Bryce Ramirez stay for 2024 on the COVID-bonus year? If so, is Ramirez a boundary edge, given more than one coach has liked his pass-rush burst, or inside linebacker, where he spent the latter part of this season?

Q: Will Jacoby Jackson be moved from guard to tackle next year?

DW: There do seem to be more knowns at guard than at tackle going into the offseason, especially with the events of this past week. Tech added commitments from Vinny Sciury, who started 33 games for Toledo, which is 11-2 this season, and Davion Carter, a two-year starter for Memphis, which is 9-3 right now. Carter's cumulative blocking grade by Pro Football Focus is ninth among guards in the FBS, right behind All-American Cooper Beebe from Kansas State, and just ahead of third-team All-American Luke Kandra from Cincinnati.

With Tech losing Monroe Mills and planning to move Caleb Rogers inside — to center, Rogers believes — the tackle spots are thin.

Can Jackson play tackle? Maybe, if he's changed minds. When I asked Joey McGuire that before the 2022 season, McGuire said, "He's a guard. He's not a tackle."

Then again, Jackson has dropped some weight and toned up since.

Editor's note: After this question was answered, Jackson announced Sunday afternoon that he's having his name entered into the NCAA transfer portal.

Q: Were you surprised how little the freshman receivers played?

DW: No. Fans are eager to see true freshmen T.J. West, D.J. Crest and Kelby Valsin, but as we've said before college football is about winning on Saturday. Minor-league baseball is about developing young players without regard to wins and losses.

We wrote that Xavier White, Coy Eakin, Drae McCray and Brady Boyd would be the primary options against Cal, and that's how it played out. Eakin made seven catches for a career-high 106 yards and a touchdown. Boyd had a catch for 24 yards and White a catch for 41 yards, both on drives that ended in touchdowns.

And how about Loic Fouonji? After the report that he had his name in the NCAA transfer portal, we reminded everyone that he would be with the team at least through the bowl game. Not only was he with the team, but his 14-yard touchdown catch was the one that put Tech ahead for good.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How do edge positions project for 2024? | Texas Tech football Q&A