it’s complicated.
Alisha Ellis’ T-shirt made the quiet parts loud in front of Baylor football quarterback Sawyer Robertson’s family Saturday night. A two-sport star at Coronado High School, his return to his hometown of Lubbock was a special moment for everyone involved, even if the alliance was divided.
Ellis and her husband, Andy, were basketball standouts at Texas Tech University. His father, Stan, was a multi-sport star himself, signing with Texas Tech University to play football and baseball after high school. Stan took a detour to the minor leagues after being selected by the Montreal Expos in the 1990 MLB draft. He returned in 1994 to join the Texas Tech football team.
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Blood runs red in the family, making Baylor’s journey to Jones AT&T Stadium multifaceted. As long as Sawyer had a great game, it would have been okay for the Red Raiders to win. They were pleased with Sawyer’s career-high five touchdowns and the Bears’ dominant 59-35 victory.
“It was probably a little more difficult than I thought it would be,” Stan said. “But I think blood is thicker than water. We’re pretty happy with his play.”
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Sawyer said after the game that he didn’t think much about returning home. He liked that his family and friends were able to watch him play in person for a change of pace. Other than that, it was a normal game.
“…If I were to sit here and say this game is more important, that would mean the other games are less important, but that’s not the case,” Robertson said. “But it was awesome to have everyone in the stands and play a game like that and come out of here with a win.”
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Stan knows this fight means more than what his son wants to say publicly. He called it “human nature” that Sawyer puts special emphasis on, but how could he not? It wasn’t just a return home. It was a return trip to confront a school in his hometown that didn’t want him.
Sawyer was part of the 2021 recruiting class. Then-head coach Matt Wells and his staff had already settled on Eastland standout Behren Morton. Robertson joined Mike Leach in Starkville.
“They picked Behlen early and never called Sawyer,” Stan said. “He was upset about it. He wanted to go to Tech.”
This decision by the old Tech regime was a pain in the butt for the new coaching staff. Robertson held off Texas Tech’s secondary for nearly four hours, gaining 274 total yards. The Bears gained momentum in the second half, with Sawyer finishing the game comfortably and Stann finally letting his shoulders relax a bit.
Unable to stay in Lubbock, Robertson made his first college stop at Mississippi State, where he played under the late Mike Leach. Robertson headed to Baylor after the Pirates passed away in 2022, but he had to wait another year to become QB1 in college and Opening Day starter Dequan Finn was injured.
Through these trials and tribulations, Stan said he has seen Sawyer grow tremendously both physically and mentally.
“I think the biggest thing for a player like that, especially a third-year guy like him, is the clicking gets louder and louder in the background,” Stan said. “I don’t know if he’s really going to get that chance. … We feel very fortunate that things worked out for him.”
