Texas Tech Football:
Make sure and check out SMQ's A Reasonably Anticipatory Assessment of: Texas Tech, which has a different take on the generally very rosy assessment of Texas Tech by most of the mainstream media. Mostly, that the defense hasn't quite yet proven that it's significantly better. Certainly, a good counter-point to much of what has been said about the Red Raiders thus far.
LAJ's Don Williams talks with new Texas Tech commit E.J. Celestie, a 5-10/173 receiver/defensive back from Barbe High School in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Here's Celestie:
"Growing up, my dad always told me he knew that I was going to be a receiver in college,'' Celestie said. "If you want to be receiver in college and catch a lot of passes and be in a good program, Texas Tech is the place to be. We've been looking at them for a while.''Snip
"I've always wanted to go there,'' he said. "Actually, I really wanted to commit the day of. I liked everything about it. The coaching staff is amazing. The facilities are very, very nice. I loved the field. I loved the people in the town. It made me feel like I was at home already.''
Apparently, Captain Leach has told Celestie that he has the potential to be very involved in the offense:
"When I was on the phone with coach (Mike) Leach, he said, We can let you run it,' they can throw it to me, and they definitely want me on special teams, like punt return and kickoff return,'' Celestie said.
Texas Tech may have landed their 12th commitment, stealing a commitment from Oklahoma in Will Ford (6-1/190), a safety from Abilene Cooper. None of the information is free, but it seems apparent that this is the case. The front page of RRS.com also notes that Karam received an offer from a "prestigious Big 12 rival" and we should all remind ourselves that commitments are great, but they don't mean anything until they sign on the dotted line. Hopefully Karam will stick out his commitment with Texas Tech, no matter the suitor, and it's nice to see Texas Tech start to get a number of early commitments, but we're still dealing with high school kids making the biggest decision of their life. Players will change allegiances, so don't hold it against them.
Again, pretty interesting stuff from Behind the Stripe's Dave Matter, who ranks the receiving corps of the Big 12, and has your Red Raiders as #2:
2. Texas Tech: Surround Crabtree with a few reliable playmakers and you’ve got yourself enough firepower to put up 50 every week.
As a group, I think Matter may be right. Missouri does return a ton of talent (5 players who have caught over 50 passes) and if there is a Mr. Crabtree-clone out there, I am convinced it is Jeremy Maclin, I love watching him play. I get the feeling that if Texas Tech had a little more proven depth (i.e. 5 guys who caught 50 passes or more), Matter would have easily put them at #1 because of the numbers that Mr. Crabtree is capable of putting up. Even if you disagree with the rankings, at the very least Matter does a good job of justifying his selections.
ESPN's Mark Schlabach updates his Top 25 and Texas Tech checks in at #8.