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Saturday Morning Football Notes

By Seth C

With so much football material this morning, I thought it best that I divide up the notes between the sports.

Texas Tech Football:

According to LAJ's Don Williams, Coach Leach stirs the pot and said the quarterback position is open for competition. Leach had this on the quarterbacks:

"Taylor Potts has outperformed Graham Harrell the last two practices, so the quarterback situation's wide open," Leach said. "If Taylor Potts is able to continue to outperform Graham the rest of the spring and through camp and some things like that, he's got a shot to be the starting quarterback here."

Don expounds that the offense in general was not having a particularly good day:

Leach was irked at the offense in general, having them do up-downs after a non-productive 7-on-7 skeleton passing period. When the workout ended, he kept the offense's skill-position players around for another 45 minutes - long enough that, by the time they came in, many of their teammates who had sat down for a team meal had finished and left.

I don't think there's any doubt that Coach Leach wants everyone looking over their shoulder and to make sure that any egos are quickly taken down a peg. Being a former teacher, the one thing that I always found difficult was making a kid focus for an extended period of time and that sounds like that is the case here. Leach needs for Harrell to completely focus and he should do whatever necessary to make sure that Graham understands that.

Don puts together his latest Red Raider Football Notebook. The most significant news is that there are a couple of guys coming back from injury, namely Brandon Carter has been cleared to practice with limited contact. Also, running back Baron Batch is off of his crutches and Coach Leach says its too early to determine whether or not he'll redshirt Batch.

Don and Jeff Walker Huddle Up With Deep Snapper Austin Burns. In the same article, the position battle focuses on the kickoff specialist position and there's the thought that freshman Johathan LaCour will battle Trlica for that spot. Also, Don notes that CB Nathan Stone (who isn't even listed on my most recent Depth Chart) has made been making some plays.

Finally, there will be a spring scrimmage today beginning at 11 this morning. Hopefully, we'll have some updates tomorrow morning.

We've got two articles from the DT, the first from Ben Maki regarding the state of the offense despite the loss of the second quarterback of the offseason. Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen had this to say about the situation:

"We're sad to see Rowland leave, but he wanted to focus on his academics a little bit, which is understandable," Holgorsen said. "We (have) got two young guys that are competing real hard in Taylor Potts and (Steven) Sheffield. They have been competing hard all spring, and they need to go on into camp. They have to compete all summer, then we'll get them back in camp and let them compete there as well."

My favorite quote is from Mike Leach, of course, on the number of quarterbacks he prefers to have on his squad:

"The ideal thing is to have four on scholarship and then two off and then go from there," he said. "We're short of that but not too far. I know a lot folks who will scholarship seven quarterbacks, but I think that's a waste of time. I'd rather have two quarterbacks sitting on the bench eating ice and bitching than five."

I can't argue with his logic, he's a friggin genius as far as I'm concerned.

The second DT article is from Adam Coleman on the running back competition between Woods and Lewis. Running backs coach Seth Littrell had this to say about the competition between the two:

"The best guy is the starter in my book, and I tell them that every single year," Littrell said. "Last spring, I didn't feel as comfortable as I do this spring. If I have two guys who can play, who can get it done, I'm going to play two guys who can get it done."

I'm a little surprised that Lewis is such a factor. Last year Britton received a few touches, but nothing monumental. Now all of a sudden, Lewis is making a push as a change of pace back, I guess because he's even smaller and quicker than Woods (I must admit, I've never seen Lewis carry the ball). I don't mind seeing Lewis get a few touches during the game, but I don't want Leach & Co. to get away from a really good thing. I thought Woods did a great job last year and think he has the potential to be really good with another year under his belt.

Two former Red Raiders are playing well in the Arena Football League. Sony Cumbie is currently playing for the Los Angeles Avengers and has thrown a ridiculous 18 touchdowns and 1 interception in 5 games. Cody Hodges is the starting quarterback for the Ft. Wayne Fusion in AF2. Keep plugging along, you never know when it will pay off.

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