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Texas Tech Red Raider Notes for 08-20-07

By Seth C

DTN News:

I underestimated the size of that stupid tree. The son-of-a-gun was at least 4 feet in diameter. Yesterday morning's diatribe was going off of a tired memory, I got out the tape measure yesterday as I spent all day cleaning up the additional debris.

I plan on catching up on the Summer Preview series as well as the Top 10 Indispensable Players this week.

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams' focus today are returning starting safeties, Darcel McBath and Joe Garcia. The thing that pops out at me is that these guys are talking about making plays, which is exactly what this defense needs:

"I like to think I always ran around and tried to hit people and make plays," McBath said. "But I think understanding the defense puts you in better position to make plays and take better angles to the ball and make better calls and checks to the linebackers and corners."

I love the fact that McBath wants to be a leader on the field, take responsibility for the defense as a whole. I also like the fact that DB's coach Carolos Mainord wants these guys to no only know the defense, but wants the safeties to be physical as well:

"Since I've been here, he's been a very studious guy, a very sharp guy," Mainord said. "He's not going to make a lot of mental mistakes, and he's a very physical guy. I think that physical part rubs off on a lot of other guys. All our (safeties) right now, I would say, are good, physical players."

Don's Red Raiders Football Notebook states that Kelly Hildenbrandt may be the top backup at both inside receiver positions. Don notes from Dana Holgorsen that Hildenbrandt has been the most consistent, but more importantly, not injured:

"He's shown the most consistency, the most toughness," Holgorsen said. "He's just really, really, really had a good camp. He does everything right, and he gives good effort every single day."

Snip

"Really, the rest of those (backups), I've looked at them, but none of the rest of those guys have stepped up," Holgorsen said. "Grant Walker does a good job, and he has the most experience of all of them. He just needs to show us what he's got in the next week if he wants to get some playing time."

Interesting. There's going to be a lot of decisions made this week, this will certainly be a position to watch. Don makes mention of a number of additional backups and their status (i.e. will they play or will they redshirt), so go read the whole article.

Don mentions the overall size of the offensive line, but further notes that most of these guys have lost considerable weight since fall practice began, but the average size before fall practice: 6'6" 331 pounds. That's NFL big.

College Football:

TCU's Tommy Blake has returned to practice. That's good news.

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