Some of you may have noticed the lack of in-depth analysis in recent weeks. It's not you, it's me. Spring has sprung and since I didn't do any yard work during the winter (i.e. rake leaves or remove large tree from backyard for months on end) I'm paying for it now. For those of you who aren't homeowners, celebrate. There will be no mowing of yards or fertilizing or aerating of soil for you. Just relaxing on the couch, enjoying some baseball and thinking to yourself that training camps and football season is just right around the corner. For those of you who do own homes convince yourselves that mowing is fun and weed-eating is awesome and that by owning a home you have equity, but never consider the ad valorem taxes you pay each year as a part of that loss of equity. I haven't forgotten you, I promise.
Lets get to some news.
Texas Tech Football:
Hat-tip to loyal DTN reader HubCityRaider for breaking down the changes made at the wide-receiver position. I thought it best to move that type of content to the front page where it belongs. You'll see it below this morning's notes.
Stephen Hamby will be the starting right guard according to Don Williams and will replace Josh Aleman. In addition to Aleman, guard Ofa Mohetau is currently out of the program. Jack Bicknell had this on Hamby:
Although I had not looked back at the offensive line depth (I wasn't going to do that until after spring practice), Tech is playing with only 7 scholarship players:
"We're a small group,'' sophomore left tackle Marlon Winn said, "but everybody's excited to go out there and do their job. We'll give a hundred percent and just try to fill in those spots that we've got empty now.''
Also check out Don's Texas Tech Football Notebook, with news about former Tech quarterback, Kliff Kingsbury signing with CFL's Montreal Alouettes. The biggest news is that about 35 punter hopefuls are scheduled for a tryout at 2:00 p.m. on Friday. There's also a few notes from yesterday's practice.
Don and Jeff Walker also Huddles Up With offensive tackle Rylan Reed. I had no idea that Rylan was a former minor league baseball pitcher and has had cancer. That's amazing. Don Also breaks down the following:
- The backup quarterback position
- DE Brandon Williams stellar play
- FS Franklin Mitchem injured
NCAA Tournament:
Jay Jackson will be competing in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Three-Point shooting contest. The three-point shooting contest will be at 6:00 p.m. CST. Not only that, Jay will also be competing in the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star game on Friday, March 30th. Here's the PDF roster.
DMN's Rachel Cohen writes this morning that Coach Gillispie will be staying at A&M. Where there's smoke there's fire. Gillispie may not take the Arkansas job, but I'd bet his time at A&M is limited and he's just waiting for the right job. The Kentucky job was probably too big right now and the Arkansas job wasn't a big enough jump.
Texas Tech Baseball:
The Red Raiders travel again to face Kansas State beginning Friday. Below are the dates, times and starting pitchers (Notice how Colt Hynes and Aaron Odom aren't scheduled to starts, Hayes may be tired of their inconsistency):
- Friday 3/30 at 6:30 p.m.: A.J. Ramos (Texas Tech) v. Brad Hutt (K-State)
- Saturday 3/31 at 2:00 p.m.: Josh Scofield (Texas Tech) v. Chase Bayuk (K-State) ---- Programming note, this game should be on television on Fox Sports Southwest.
- Sunday 4/1 at 1:00 p.m.: TBA (Texas Tech) v. Ben Hornbeck (K-State)
LAJ's George Watson previews the Kansas State Wildcats.