Texas Tech defensive back Tyler Owens made the best catch of the college football season on Saturday, but a bird took the place of the football. It was the most unusual, unreal, unexpected moment of the year.
Owens, a super senior, transferred to Texas Tech after three seasons in Austin with the University of Texas. The old joke in football is that “defensive backs are just wide receivers who can’t catch.”
That is not the case for Owens. You wouldn’t know based off of his stats, however.
In 17 games between 2022 and 2023, Owens recorded 40 total tackles but just one interception. He does not have a pick this season.
So how do we know that he has incredible hands?! Pregame warmups.
Owens was down on the field getting loose for the Red Raiders’ game against Kansas State, when an unexpected visitor arrived. It was a pigeon. There are a lot of pigeons in Lubbock!
Most people would flinch and duck out of the way if a bird flew at their head. Not Owens.
He reached out and snagged the bird out of thin air. His two-handed snag could not have been more casual. Owens wasn’t even phased, as if he had caught thousands and thousands of pigeons before!
After a few moments holding the bird to make sure that his teammates saw the feat, Owens released the pigeon back into the air. He did it like LeBron James throws chalk before taking the court.
It was quite the spectacle!!
Owens has hands. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!
To make it even more incredible, David Collier just so happened to have his camera pointing in the right place at the right time. He never would have expected to film a player grab a pigeon out of the sky while getting ready for a huge Big 12 matchup. How could he?!