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Texas Tech Red Raider Notes for 07-29-07

By Seth C

Texas Tech Football:

Last night UT linebacker Sergio Kindle was arrested for DUI. The Longhorns have had their fair share of offseason troubles and this certainly doesn't help. When I heard the news I thought back to the opening quotes from Mike Leach's press conference where he said the following (emphasis mine):

Well, I feel really good about this group. You know, as far as I think when you can tell a lot about your team is in the off season, and they don't let you have too much contact with them. You're not allowed to have a lot of meetings or coach them. Yet you're still ridiculously in charge of their behavior.

(Laughter)

But I think the thing, one thing that we tell our guys is who you really are as a person is what you do and what you think about when no one is around. And kind of along those lines, in the off season, when there isn't as much structure, how hard you work and what you do, at those times in those settings I think is an indicator of the type of person you are and the type of player you are, and then how that goes collectively, I think, suggests how you may be as a team together.

There isn't a doubt in my mind that Leach is telling his kids that they will always have to be pillars of their respective societies, so long as they are playing for Texas Tech. They will be judged differently, but I second Mike's thought, it's what you are doing when no one is looking that defines who a person is.

LAJ's Don Williams is reporting that New Diana offensive lineman, Terry McDaniel, will be the 9th verbal commitment to the Red Raiders. How's this for a small world, Russell McDaniel was a new assistant head coach at my high school (I feel so stinking old) and he had a couple of kids, they couldn't have been more than 4 or 5 years old at the time, one of them named Terry, and they barely came up to my waist (I'm only 5'9" so that's not saying much). I don't know what triggered me to grab my Texas Football magazine, but on a whim I wondered if this was the same Terry McDaniel. Sure enough, Russell is the head coach for 2A-18 New Diana and Terry is all growns-up. Terry had this to say about his commitment:

"First off, I like the city," McDaniel said. "It's a nice place, and the coaches are really good. I like their strength and conditioning coach (Bennie Wylie). He's one of the best out there. The campus, the facilities, all of it's great."

Welcome to the Texas Tech family Terry and congratulations to the McDaniels.

I've been avoiding the subject of Raider Power Spirit because, honestly, I'm not sure if I care, but I like Disco Tech!'s perspective. I understand what Texas Tech University is trying to accomplish, and perhaps it's really just about making students and fans more self-aware of their behavior, but the LAJ should have been more careful with their words. Likening your fan base to "trailer trash" is neither a way to institute change nor a method to endear a fanbase.

Texas Tech Basketball:

The Texas Tech's men's conference schedule was released on Friday. I'll try to dive into the schedule at a later point, but the best part about all of this is that every conference game is on television.

Texas Tech Baseball:

I should be paying more attention to the work that Roger Kieshnick is doing for Team USA. Coach Hays and Coach Spencer have to be excited about how well Roger's performed and this bodes well for Texas Tech's upcoming baseball season.

Big 12 Football:

SAEN's Tim Griffin has this week's edition of his Big 12 Insider, focusing mostly on former broadcaster Bill Flemming, who was before my time, but Tim certainly paints a fond memory of Mr. Flemming, who passed away recently. It is something to consider having only a couple of options each week to watch a college football game in today's age of conference networks and internet sites devoted to a particular team. Good stuff from Tim.

Tim also ranks the top quarterbacks of the Big 12 and our beloved Graham Harrell checks in at #3, behind McCoy and Daniels. Although Graham's game against Missouri was not one I want to remember, I still think I'd put Harrell ahead of Daniels. As down we can get on Harrell for some less than stellar performances, we shouldn't forget that Daniels also lost to Iowa State last year and his offense only managed 10 points against OU. All things considered, I'll take Harrell any day of the week.

Tim also mentions the less than quality punters that tried out in the spring and he quotes Coach Leach, "There were some guys that I could have outkicked, but my hat is off to them for trying." I've already written the post, but this is foreshadowing as to my #8 most indispensible player for Texas Tech this year.

Tim's entire article is worth your time.

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