Ryan Hale is the New #5
"It’s all in good fun,’’ said Hale, a 6-foot-1, 227-pound senior-to-be from Baytown Lee. "And I was tired of living in Clay McGuire’s shadow. So I stepped into a bigger one.’’Hale traded No. 47 to get No. 5. McGuire is the Tech running backs coach who wore 47 during his Tech playing career, from 2001 to 2004. Hale spent his first three years on campus as a backup linebacker and special-teams player before moving over to play blocking back last season.
Snip
"It’ll be too hard to do that,’’ he said. "Crabtree’s going to go down as one of the best ever. I’m just doing it for fun. I mean, they do have all these (No. 5 replica) jerseys selling at stores, so somebody’s got to be wearing No. 5.’’
And Taylor Potts had a little fun at Hale's expense:
"Man, that No. 5 is amazing. You better watch him,’’ Tech quarterback Taylor Potts said with deadpan humor after the team’s first spring practice Wednesday.
Dixon at #38
ESPN's Tim Griffin is ranking the top 40 players in the Big 12, and DE McKinner Dixon is #38:
Why he was picked: He's a dominant pass rusher who harasses quarterbacks from the edge. After a strong freshman season in 2005, he went back to junior college to get grades in order. His return, at times, was slow last season, but by the end of the year he was a formidable pass-rushing specialist who produced 33 tackles, 11 tackles for losses and nine sacks.
Tech Talk
The second hour of Tech Talk had some good strong football talk including taped interviews with Brandon Carter and Detron Lewis, if you want to catch the first hour, it's mostly baseball and Texas Tech vs. Baylor in Dallas talk. Eric Russell, the new special teams coach was apparently buzzing around the field, wanted things done precisely, etc. I think that most of us have thought that the special teams seemed to largely be ignored by this staff and the only reason I really remember anything on special teams was because of special individualized plays. I'm really interested to see how things progress under Russell.
Neglected Video
Make sure and check out the DT Sports Report and there's some more video of Taylor Potts completing a ton of passes, perhaps you can get a feel for his arm if it's been a while, as well as some video of new special teams coach Eric Russell, really getting after his players and coaching them up (this is me, incredibly giddy):
Fox34's Day 1 report was extensive, make sure and take a look as they talk with Taylor Potts, Detron Lewis, Eric Ward, Brian Duncan and Brandon Carter (not in that order) as well as a feature on freshman receiver Eric Ward. Is it just me, or does Ward not look like your typical freshman? I love this kid.
Texas Tech to Start Series with Texas
| Date | Start Time | Texas Tech Starting Pitcher |
Texas Starting Pitcher |
Result |
| 3/27/2009 | 6:00 p.m. | Miles Morgan (1-3, 6.23) | Chance Ruffin (3-2, 2.68) | - |
| 3/28/2009 | 2:00 p.m. | AJ Ramos (2-1, 2.78) | Brandon Workman (3-1, 1.34) | - |
| 3/29/2009 | 1:00 p.m. | TBA | Cole Green (2-0, 2.37) | - |
Outfield:
LF - Michael Reed (Jr.); CF - Taylor Ashby (Jr.); RF - Garrett Totten (Fr.)
Infield:
3RD - Justin Berry (Fr.); SS - Joey Kenworthy (Jr.); 2ND - Willie Rueda (Sr.); 1ST - Chris Richburg (Sr.)
C - Jeremy Mayo (Fr.)
DH - Scott LeJeune (Fr.) or Nich Hanslik (Fr.)
*Click on the score for boxscore. Official Press Release (pdf).
DT's Mike Graham previews the Texas Tech and Texas series starting tonight and head coach Dan Spencer sounds positive to move above .500, despite facing the #9 Texas Longhorns:
"Everybody is motivated right now," said Tech coach Dan Spencer, whose Red Raiders take on Texas in a three-game series starting at 6:30 p.m. today in Austin. "If you want to play in the postseason, you have to win your conference games. This is another test for us."
LAJ's George Watson takes a look the injuries that have hampered Texas Tech this year. Watson runs down those injuries:
Tech’s list of playing wounded is extensive — junior outfielder Michael Reed (chronic right elbow), freshman third baseman Justin Berry (labrum injury in left hip), senior second baseman Willie Rueda (left hamstring), junior outfielder Kellen Monreal (ligament sprain in left elbow) and freshman outfielder Nick Hanslik (ligament strain in right elbow). That does not include two players who have returned from earlier injuries in freshman infielder Garrett Totten (broken right hand) and sophomore catcher Jeremy Mayo (dislocated left thumb).
But head coach Dan Spencer doesn't make any excuses, and acknowledges that it's the mistakes that bother him the most:
"That’s some of it," head coach Dan Spencer said. "But the physical things that happen in a game I can live with. Those things happen. It’s the mental things that are breaking down fundamentally that are hard. Moving guys around in the order is not conducive to being a very good club offensively."