Double-T Nation News:
Scheduled for a 10:00 a.m. post-time, I decided to take a look at how much production each of the top 4 receivers and the top running back have in relation to the entire offense for the past 4 years. Who doesn't love statistics?
DTN's Top Six:
- Please welcome new SB Nation blog for the Arizona State Sun Devils, House of Sparky.
- A Sea of Blue sits down with CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish.
- SMQ blog polls his top 5 NCAA football teams and takes a close look at what makes up an underdog, of which Texas Tech is in the mix, but I don't believe, nor does SMQ, have the key factor to be able to crash the party.
- Rock M Nation Beyond the Box Score for the SEC: Part I and Part II.
- John Mark Stallings, son of Gene Stallings, passes away. Condolences.
- Checking in with Wes Welker at New England Patriot training camp.
Texas Tech Football:
LAJ's Don Williams says that two of incoming freshmen offensive linemen, Joe King and Deveric Gallington are ready to get to work. Here's Gallington, who spent the entire summer in Lubbock along with King:
"When I first got here (this spring), I was pretty nervous,'' he said. "But when I got here, everybody was real friendly. They make you feel welcome. They made me feel more comfortable around everybody, so I'm excited about starting the season.''
And King, who is excited about the prospect of starting football:
"We've been doing a lot of working out, but this is the start of actual football time,'' said King, a right tackle prospect from Oklahoma City Putnam City North High School. "It's just overwhelming and exciting all at the same time to begin playing here at Tech.''
Perhaps my favorite quote in the article wasn't from King or Gallington, but from Baron Batch, who is giddy with anticipation about the start of the season:
"I'm so excited I could barely sleep last night,'' said Batch, who is starting his third year in the program. "I kept waking up, just counting down the hours. Now it's to the point where we count down days to the game, and I know that it'll get here real quick, so I'm real excited.''
LAJ's Williams also has a Red Raider Football Notebook, where he details Sharpe's eligibility, Sesay's silence (he's in Lubbock, but he's not quite done with classes yet), a number change for Detron Lewis, and an update on freshman running back Harrison Jeffers.
I just forgot to post these over the weekend, but RedRaiderSports.com continues their previews of each of the positions with Chris Level's look at the defensive line and Temple Anderson's preview of the linebackers.
In Williams' blog, Raider Rants, he writes about the defensive end depth, where the recently released depth chart is going to be very fluid for a period of time. Williams had this to say about the JUCO's (Sesay and Dixon) and utilizing the best talent available:
Whether they say so or not, I have an idea that players such as Brandon Williams and Daniel Howard think people expect them just to step aside and yield playing time to the JUCO transfers with the big reputations. I doubt they intend to, and they didn't play in the spring as if they expected to step back and accept any reduced roles. In fact, with the Joker rush man that Ruffin McNeill tinkered with in the spring, it looked as if he was trying to find new and creative ways to involve them more and play to their strengths. (Joker, for those who might have forgotten, deploys Williams or Howard as a roaming, standup rusher who could come at the quarterback from a variety of angles. A lot of times it was from what would loosely be described as standup-inside linebacker territory).
I'll love this when I see it, position be damned (to an extent), get creative and get the most talented guys on the field and get pressure on the quarterback.
DMN's Chuck Carlton looks at the current crop of Big 12 quarterbacks, with Harrell behind Daniel, but in front of Bradford.