Double-T Nation News:
I'm going to be on 790 AM in Houston at 12:35 this afternoon with John Lopez, so if you're in the Houston area, give it a listen.
DTN's Top Four:
- Awesome. What would Donald Draper do (hat-tip kottke).
- Jorvorskie: i can haz cheezburger!
- Rocky Top Talk looks at the least intimidating collegiate logos.
- DawgSports rolls out his final Blog Poll ballot.
Texas Tech Football:
EDSBS' Orson Swindle lays out why Captain Leach and Texas Tech deserve each other with the first reason being my favorite:
One, he’s too weird to happily exist anywhere else, a statement that is less a slight on Leach and more a slam on the homely mediocracy of most places in the world that view oddballs like Mike Leach as dangerous men. ("He’s weird, that Mike Leach! Now for a story on how you can save gas, because it’s expensive now! Have you heard about that? What’s up with that?")
Both the LAJ's Don Williams and the DMN's Brandon George were both at practice, so we have a ton of coverage today so make sure and read it all.
The LAJ's Don Williams and Adam Zuvanich compiled last night's Red Raider Football Notebook and the DMN's Brandon George also had a very detailed practice report:
- The LAJ's Adam Zuzanich has more on new commitment, Terrence Bullitt. DTN welcomed Terrence last night and as mentioned in the Zuzanich article, part of the reason why Bullitt may have decided on Texas Tech is that the Red Raiders are graduating 6, that's right 6, safeties this year. Thankfully, Terrence does not lack any sort of self-confidence:
"I’m a really good tackler and a great athlete," Bullitt said. "I’m great all the way around."
- L.A. Reed is on the move again, moving from safety to cornerback, something that has apparently been in the works (more here on Williams' Red Raider Rants and George's DMN College Blog).
"It's a no-brainer,'' Mitchell said. "His footwork's excellent. He can play corner anywhere in America. He can play wide receiver anywhere in America. He could play running back anywhere in America. He's that good an athlete. And he's willing. When we talked to him today about making the change, he was like, Let's go. No problem.' ''
And Reed:
"Just learning everything on the fly, trying to be an athlete," Reed said. "It was fun. I liked it. The footwork will have to get better."
First, what does that say about the guys who were competing for that spot? I think ultimately perhaps Mitchell doesn't dislike his options, but he also isn't just incredibly excited about any one of them either. Granted, the depth at safety is 5 deep without Reed and the coaches need to get him on the field. Williams mentioned that Reed ran first team last night.
- Per Williams, Dominique Delpeche has not reported to camp and he's not on the 105 roster. I wondered why freshman tackle Joe King had moved ahead of Delpeche on the depth chart and now I know why, but we don't know why he's not on the roster anymore.
- Per George, on Detron Lewis:
On one series when Harrell was the QB and Batch the RB, receiver Detron Lewis showed his athleticism by making a nice, fingertips' catch over the middle with his arms fully extended, pulling in a nice pass by Harrell. Leach says Lewis is just "smooth." And he showed that in the first practice. He seems to run very crisp routes and makes good cuts to get to the football in open space. He seems to be a Michael Crabtree starter kit. Lewis is expected to replace Tech's lone lost starter in receiver Danny Amendola, who is now trying to make the Dallas Cowboys' roster as a free agent.
And this is pretty cool about Justin Keown and Brandon Carter . . . grown men doing cartwheels and wrestling:
After team drills, the offensive linemen came together along the sidelines and a cartwheel contest broke out between Brandon Carter (6-7, 354) and Justin Keown (6-4, 290). Carter did a sideline and said, "OK, pay me $10." Keown followed with his own cartwheel. Believe me, neither will make the Olympics. After the cartwheels, both players started wrestling on the practice field with practice still going on nearby. Carter almost had Keown pinned, but Keown flipped Carter over and pinned him to end the mini-match. Carter, who sports a red Mohawk and a body full of tatoos, came off the field and said, "I didn't know he actually wrestled in high school." The mini-wrestling match drew several laughs from teammates and the crowd of fans along the sideline.
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Also per George, Brandon Sesay looks good, real good:
He really stands out among the defensive ends when he's standing in a group of them for drills. Coaches spent a lot of time early in practice Monday night giving him instructions. He's having to play catch-up because he didn't go through spring drills with Tech because he hadn't finished some JUCO courses. He looks more like a defensive tackle than an end but has the athleticism of a tight end. Scary combination.
- Michael Crabtree will be playing on special teams (LAJ anad DMN. This now causes writers to give another reason why Mr. Crabtree won't win the Heisman. Again, for the record, I'm somewhat indifferent to the Heisman, it would be great if anyone from Texas Tech won the award, but it's a popularity contest. Per George:
"We messed with it a little last year, too. I think he'll be good at it and have for a while," Leach said. "I think he'd have a chance to be good at either one, maybe better at punt."
I wish LAJ's Don Williams would write more of these types of articles.
FWST's Dwain Price also has has a much less detailed practice report, but still worth your time. Besides, Price consistently writes about Texas Tech so go ahead and click the link.
Fox34 has some footage that I neglected yesterday:
From our SB Nation brother-blog, Roll Bama Roll, I thought this was pretty insightful and very simple all at the same time, and although Kevin Steele didn't have the success at Baylor that many thought he would (who has?), it hit home with me and I get the feeling that if you were to ask Ruffin McNeill, this is the exact philosophy that he's taken with his defensive players:
Remember this: In the college cycle, you only have four years. And really if you recruit the right guys -- nowadays with the early entry in the Draft -- you only have three years, so it is a pretty short cycle anyway, and so you have to be prepared at all times to prepare the youth to play immediately.And if you are going to have to prepare them to play immediately, the first criteria is to go get guys who have the ability to do that. Then, as a coach, get it taught. There is no reason not to get it taught. Get it taught. If you do that, at some point and time it will all come together, and you will have a good group of talented young men who can play on Saturday.
Get players and then coach them up. In fact, McNeill started from scratch in the middle of the year, completely tore this defense and scheme down to it's most simple ideas and started from zero. Yes, there was no reason why he should have had to do this, but he did. The defense was a confusing and unreactive mess and he started over.
He got it taught. He's working on getting the guys with ability, but I think he's got the 2nd part down pat.
Texas Tech Basketball:
Congrats to Chris Beard who has been promoted to the men's associate head coach. Per Pat Knight:
"I'm pleased to announce that Chris Beard has been promoted to the position of associate head coach at Texas Tech. This advancement for Chris is certainly well earned and well deserved. He has done an outstanding job in our program and it shows the confidence and trust I place in his abilities and his work ethic," declared Pat Knight.
Does anyone else find it strange that PK "declared" this rather than merely stated? It almost makes it sound like he was on some sort of throne with his subjects below.
In any event, congrats Chris, well-deserved.