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Texas Tech Red Raider Notes for 08-10-07

By Seth C

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams has an article on freshman defensive tackle David Neill. Williams notes that Neill wasn't highly recruited because he had 3 year starters in front of him while at Flower Mound Marcus, but defensive tackless coach Ruffin McNeill had this to say about David:

"Got talent. Got a lot of upside to him," defensive tackles coach Ruffin McNeill said. "He's going to be a big man. He can run, he's got long arms, and he wants to be a good player, so that makes our job easy."

Neill notes in the article that he was never really a defensive end, but played defensive tackle when FMM played a 4-3 and played end when in a 3-4. I love Neill's comment about the Texas Tech program as a whole:

"It was the best put-together program," he said. "They had the very best coaching staff I could find."

LAJ's Don Williams' Red Raider Football Notebook has a number of interesting notes this morning.

First, Williams notes that Daniel Charbonnet will be covering slot receivers when Texas Tech goes to its nickel and dime packages along with Jamar Wall. Charbonnet is said to be one of the quickest players on the team. Charbonnet on the move:

"It's a little bit like corner," Charbonnet said, "because you've got to use more cover skills than you do at safety in some coverages. It's kind of like linebacker, too. You've got to be able to play the run and play all the underneath and running back stuff. It's kind of a mix between both."

Next, freshman punter Jonathan LaCour is adjusting to the West Texas winds, which we are all so fond of. This is the one aspect of the punting game that I worry about for LaCour, mentally getting over the idea that the wind is going to blow like there's no tomorrow on some days. LaCour on the wind:

"It's not just that it's blowing hard. It's swirling," he said. "You've got to adjust to that with your drop and everything - have to lower your drop (release point). I'm working on that, too."

Special teams coach Ruffin McNeill notes that LaCour is also going to have to work on two things as the season approaches: increase the hang-time of his punts and adjust to the speed of the rush.

Williams also states that weak-side linebacker Chad Hill returned to practice yesterday, but strong-side linebacker Brian Duncan was out with an undisclosed injury.

Texas Tech Recruiting:

Horrible news from the recruiting trail as 2008 commitment Seth Doege tore the ACL in his right knee yesterday in non-contact drills. This has to be tough for Doege, who tore the ACL in his left leg the year before. Doege should know that he's got the entire Red Raider nation behind him and we hope for a speedy recovery.

From a recruiting perspective, Leach has made it a practice to recruit 1 quarterback per recruiting season, it will certainly be interesting to see if Leach recruits another quarterback this season.

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