clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Texas Tech Saturday Morning Notes - Shannon's A Good Kid Edition

By Seth C

Double-T Nation News:

If you're a student or in and around Lubbock today, go see practice today at 11:00 a.m. and then head on over to Dan Law field for the 2:00 p.m. for the 2nd game of the weekend series with Missouri. What a great sports day.

Texas Tech Football:

My pants started going crazy when I saw the Fox34 video of Chris Perry rushing without pads (#75 by the way is Blake Emert, a RS Freshman). I know, no pads, but still, the guys looks to be really impressive and I think it's strange to hear a guy from Miami comment on the team speed here at Texas Tech. Also in the video is Rajon Henley on Perry's arrival, Colby Whitlock, a look at Detron Lewis and Tramain Swindall at the Y Receiver position. Good stuff as always.

LAJ's Don Williams pens three articles this morning. Up first, in a surprise to me, Shannon Woods is doing what is asked of him, both on the field and in the classroom. Of course, that's what always expected, but it sounds like that may have been part of the problem in the past. Running backs coach Seth Littrell had this to say about Woods:

"Everything. Everything,'' Littrell said. "He has 18 (spring-semester) hours, making As and Bs. He hasn't missed class one time. He's been up here. He's been respectful. He's done everything we've asked of him so far. He's just got to continue to work and do it.

"Shannon's a good kid. I mean, he really is. There's a lot of speculation with what goes wrong and our relationship. Some of it's speculation. With me, it's all going to stay in-house.

"But he's done a good job. He's doing everything we've asked him to do.''

So if Woods is back, and it sounds like he is, then who gets the reps? Woods, Batch and Crawford, in no particular order? There's a quote in the article from Littrell where he says now they are going to take two or three to get most of the reps, which is a little different than what Leach said earlier in the week, which was that he needed to find two guys. If Woods is good, they take a look at all three, I think they almost have to do this.

In the Red Raiders Football Notebook, Williams expounds on some of the personal reasons for Perry's transfer and the NCAA granting Texas Tech's waiver request:

"It took a lot of stress off me,'' Perry said Friday. "But at the same time, I kind of had a feeling they were going to send it through.''

Perry went to high school at Keller Fossil Ridge. He said having an ill grandmother and his mother being in legal trouble made him concerned for his 15-year-old sister and 14-year-old brother back home.

"I didn't want to leave Miami, but I had to leave Miami,'' Perry said. "At Christmas break, something happened, and I thought, I can't be all the way over here while this is going on.' I kind of felt like I was running out on my family almost, knowing they needed me in a time like that. ... It was just real far with all the stuff going on.''

I hope everything is okay with Perry's family at this point.

Mike Leach also had some interesting things to say about Perry, the thing that jumped out at me is that he needed to get into better shape (I thought he looked pretty good):

"He has a real quick first step, and he's a big, strong kid,'' Leach said. "Really has a good attitude. I think he needs to get in shape, but he has a chance to really do some good things. We're excited for him and the team that he's (able to play next season), which he should've been.''

Williams also mentions the play of back-up receivers Blake Kelley and Adam James, who are both at the H Inside Receiver position:

In 7-on-7, QB Stefan Loucks completed a couple of deep throws on consecutive snaps: to Blake Kelley and to Adam James. James and Kelley are listed second and third behind Eric Morris at the "H'' inside receiver. Each also caught two passes in 11-on-11, both snagging one apiece from Taylor Potts and Loucks. Kelley is a 5-foot-10, 192-pound walk-on transfer from Blinn College and Beaumont West Brook.

A quick one-on-one interview with new wide receivers coach Dennis Simmons.

Texas Tech Baseball:

Date Texas Tech Missouri Result
Fri. 03/28/08 @ 6:05 p.m. 0 (L: Nate Karns, 1-4) 1 (W: Aaron Crow, 6-0) Boxscore
Sat. 03/29/08 @ 2:00 p.m. AJ Ramos (1-2, 5.93) Iam Berger (3-0, 0.30) Boxscore
Sun. 03/30/08 @ 1:00 p.m. Chad Bettis (3-1, 3.69) Kyle Gibson (5-0, 1.83) Boxscore

I've been hoping that Karns would snap out of his massive slump and he did, with flying colors and showed me why he should continue to get starts. Granted, Kanrs' work didn't result in a win, and it's getting tough accepting moral victories, but there's improvement. That's a good thing. The Red Raiders lost 1-0 to Missouri and Aaron Crow on Friday night. Karns pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 6 hits, 1 run, 1 walk and striking out 5. A pretty efficient day for Karns as 57 of his 93 pitches went for strikes, compared to his last start where he only managed 37 strikes in 78 pitches in 2.2 innings of work. The rest of the bullpen shut out and no-hit Missouri, led by James Leverton, who pitched 2.0 innings, walking 2 and striking out 4, Owen Brolsma, who pitched 0.2 innings with no walks and no strike outs, and Zack Stewart pitched 1.0 inning with no walks and 2 strikeouts.

Offensively, the Red Raiders were severely limited by Crow, who pitched 8.0 innings, giving up 2 hits, walking 4 and striking out 9. Roger Kieschnick, Monk Kreder and Tanner Rindels were the only Red Raiders who managed a hit against Crow and Missouri reliever Nick Tepesch.

LAJ's George Watson recaps yesterday's loss to Missouri. Here's Karns on his best effort of the year:

"I kind of realized that if you don't walk people it's a lot easier game and that's what we focused on this week," said Karns, who lowered his ERA from 12.10 to 8.40. "Fill the strike zone, and if you fall behind throw it down the middle and make them earn it. (The loss) is not that disappointing because we went up against a great pitcher over there. Crow dealt and that's how baseball is."

And Tanner Rindels:

"When you're facing a good guy like (Crow) you hope he comes out and doesn't have his best stuff, but you have to tip your cap to the guy," Rindels said. "It's discouraging to a point because you know when you're facing a good guy like that you get real hyped up and get up for this game and it's tough to come out and only have two hits off the guy. But it's good to a certain point to play good against a guy like that and play good against a good team."

Fox34 video of last night's game.

More From Viva The Matadors