By Don Williams | AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

The phone call to Sonny Cumbie arrived at a coincidental time. The topic: The camaraderie among guys who have played quarterback for Texas Tech coach Mike Leach.

Former Texas Tech quarterback Cody Hodges, above, drove nine hours to see his old team and good friend Graham Harrell (6) play Kansas State. Mike Leach

Funny someone should ask, Cumbie said. Just five minutes before, he had hung up from talking to Kliff Kingsbury, and then he’d sent a text message to B.J. Symons.

Among Leach-era Tech quarterbacks, that sort of thing is commonplace.

“It’s kind of a tight-knit … almost like a brotherhood,” Cumbie said. “As former teammates, we call each other up and talk all the time – about the practices we had, the funny stories we’ve heard from coach Leach, the funny things he’s saying and doing now. It’s a bond, playing for coach Leach and the quarterback position, that we’ve all formed.”

Last Saturday, Graham Harrell hooked up Cody Hodges with some tickets to the Tech-Kansas State game and had his play critiqued from the radio booth by Cumbie. After the game, Hodges leaned over the bleacher railing to give Harrell a hearty handshake, and when Harrell got to the locker room he had a funny text message waiting from Kingsbury.

One might think that, bunched so closely together in time, Leach’s Tech quarterbacks might be jealous and protective of their places.

It hasn’t worked out that way.

“They call each other. They’ll eat dinner with one another, that sort of thing,” Leach said. “It’s like Kliff’s the grandfather of the whole group, but they definitely keep an eye on one another and keep in touch. It is kind of impressive, really.”

The five starting QBs Leach has had at Tech held the job within a five-year period: Kingsbury’s final season as a three-year starter fell in 2002. Then came Symons in 2003, Cumbie in 2004, Hodges in 2005 and Harrell’s three-year run as a starter beginning in 2006.

By overlapping so closely, some in the fraternity once battled for the job: Kingsbury with Symons in 2000, for example, and Hodges with Harrell in 2005.

“Yeah, it was a competition,” Hodges said, “but it was never like we rooted against each other. We competed at practice, and after practice it was over with.”

Hodges said that was because of the friendship they’d forged in the year prior. Hodges said he, his brother Slade and Harrell hung out together when they were young backups.

Nowadays, Hodges considers Harrell one of his best friends and stays in touch with the others.

“Kliff and I are extremely close,” Hodges said. “Kliff and I talk every week. Sonny, the same thing. I think there’s a common respect. I think that’s what makes it – that we all had tons of respect for the other person.”

Now, eager to keep the tradition of prolific passers rolling, the Leach quarterbacks who have gone before are willing to share what they know with each new guy.

“Part of it is being in a unique offense and playing for coach Leach, as unique as he is,” said Cumbie, who starred in Tech’s Holiday Bowl upset of No. 4 California. “Before the season started, Kliff and Graham and myself all went out to dinner and we talked to Graham. It’s a neat situation, one that we’re fortunate to be in, because we’re all so supportive of one another.”

Cumbie doesn’t feel the need to offer Harrell unsolicited advice.

But that’s OK. Harrell tends to solicit it anyway.

“Graham’s really good about asking questions: What did you think?’ What did you think was going on out there?’” said Cumbie, who’s part of the Tech radio team during his offseason as a still-active Arena Football League quarterback. “If he asks, I’m more than happy to answer. If I’d give him any advice at all at this point, it’s to keep doing what he’s doing.”

Leach said he doesn’t mind his current quarterback listening to other voices. Getting a different perspective, from someone who has stood in the same pocket, is something the Tech coach views as helpful.

“A lot of (the development) with quarterbacks is sorting stuff out in your mind – how you’re going to do stuff and how you’re going to approach things and how you’re going to keep things in perspective,” Leach said. “So I think getting it directly from people that have actually done it is quite a bit more powerful than I can provide.”

In recent weeks, Harrell has broken nearly all of Kingsbury’s most significant school records. Against SMU, it was the marks for career passing touchdowns and career touchdowns responsible for that fell. Last week, down went the old records for career passing yardage and career total offense.

Later, when Harrell checked his cell phone, there was this text from Kingsbury: “I think the only record I have in Lubbock now is a criminal one.”

“That’s just Kliff,” Harrell said, “always having a good time with things like that.”

Harrell said he usually talks to Kingsbury each Saturday after games, which says something about the fraternity of Leach quarterbacks. Harrell and Kingsbury never played on the same Tech team, Harrell not arriving on campus until a year and a half after Kingsbury finished playing for Tech.

Nevertheless, Harrell called Kingsbury “one of the nicest guys I know.” He added that Kingsbury is “always taking care of me any way he can.”

“It’s kind of a neat deal to still to be able to talk to those guys,” Harrell said of his predecessors. “They know what I’m going through. They’ve done it. So they’re good to talk to at times. But they’re just good guys to be around, too, so we always have a good time together.”