Here on FR we know a lot about Cruz, and we talk about him a lot.
Ask your average Republican how much he knows about Ted Cruz, and you might get "Ted who?". How much news coverage on the regular channels does Cruz get? It's early in the game, and a lot depends on name recognition.
I agree with you. If I hadn’t read it on FR, I wouldn’t have known about all of his previous experience. In his speeches that I’ve heard, he often talks about his “roots” and now and then about being Solicitor General of Texas and managing a large staff (IIRC it was something like 700), but not all of the other great experience he’s had - - a lot more than being a college law teacher (he was not a professor as many claim).