Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe // 04.17.09

Odds and Ends

Red-Black Scrimmage Stuff

Just a little reminder for all of you headed to Lubbock this weekend, make sure and print off Texas Tech's Spring Roster (pdf) before you leave work today. Also added to this roster is a depth chart on the third page that I didn't remember from the last time.

Texas Tech Football

Team Preparing for Red-Black Scrimmage

DT's Alex Ybarra writes about how the team is looking forward to the Red-Black Scrimmage. For those of you who don't remember, this is an offense vs. defense scrimmage and sophomre QB Taylor Potts is looking forward to a competitive game:

"It'll be really competitive this year I think," Potts said. "I think last year, a lot of people were just glad spring was over with because it had been a long spring. It'll be really exciting. Hopefully we can get a lot of people out here, and it'll be a really fun game."

While junior RT Marlon Winn believes that the offense and defense pushes each other:

"I think that our defense is one of the best defenses in the country," he said. "They practice against us everyday, and we work hard. We try to push them to be the best and they try to push us to be the best.

"So in all, we're all getting a good workout out of the deal. Everybody is gonna get better for it. As long as everyone is going full speed, giving it their all, I think everybody will accomplish something."

Taylor Potts Preparing for Spring Game

DMN's Chuck Cartlon sits down with Taylor Potts as he prepares to take over the job of quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Lots of interesting things in this article, including Carlton asking Potts about the last scrimmage where he threw 3 interceptions:

"I watched the film and I just forgot about it, to be honest with you," Potts said. "I knew my eyes weren't in the right spots that day. I wasn't going to my reads. That wasn't me out there playing."

And former Texas Tech QB Sonny Cumbie thinks Potts makes some impressive throws:

"He can make some impressive throws because of his arm," Cumbie said. "The quicker he can pick up everything on the field, the better he'll be. He has lots of promise, lots of ability. It's just a matter of seeing it live."

Garage Sale

USA Today has a feature on colleges using alternative methods to raise money for their schools, including Texas Tech's garage sale, which is scheduled to start this morning and continue through the weekend:

This is the third such event at Texas Tech, but the first that has been positioned in the middle of the spring game weekend. Red Raiders used equipment and apparel will be on sale along with overstock and sale items from the school store, says Alan Berger of the Double T Zone, which holds the Texas Tech merchandising contract.

Tech will set up about a 3,000-square-foot lobby in the football stadium near private suites and club seats today through Sunday. This year's sale will be richly stocked because the school recently signed an exclusive contract with Under Armour, so old gear will be on the market.

Warm-up apparel, hats, shorts and T-shirts will be among available items.

"It's a great way to combine a clearance sale and to recycle athletic department gear that otherwise would be going in the trash or winding up in a storage unit someplace," says Berger. "We hope to go over $100,000 in sales.

"Football helmets have been the most popular item in the past and we will have 17 football helmets, which sell for $175, and 500 or so football jerseys from the late 1980s until 2000. Those range from $50 to $200-$300, depending on whose jersey it was."

Brandon Williams, a Cowboy Possibility

Nick Eatman of DallasCowboys.com settles into his own mock draft and picks DE Brandon Williams in the 5th round:

5th Round (166th overall)
Brandon Williams, DE/OLB, Texas Tech - The more I look at this list, I find it hard to think the Cowboys will wait this long to get a pass rusher. But at this stage in the draft, you need to find those "tweeners" who are looking for a position. Williams led the Big XII last year with 11 sacks. He might lack the size at 6-5, 252 to play every snap, but he wouldn't be asked to do that right away. For starters, he could be a nickel pass-rusher, which is something he already knows how to do. The Cowboys visited with Williams during "Dallas Day" earlier this week.

I have to think that if Williams is around in the 5th round, he may not be happy he made the decision to declare for the NFL draft. To each his own and I wish him well.

Neglected Video, Audio and Photos

Another edition of the DT Sports Report:

The DT Sports Report: Episode 8, spring game preview from Daily Toreador on Vimeo.

Texas Tech Basketball

David Tairu Named NJCAA All-American

There's plenty to debate as to whether or not it's wise to sign JUCO players, but I'm just glad to know that the players that Pat Knight is signing, namely David Tairu, was named NJCAA All-American Third Team. The first hour of Tech Talk said that Tairu would be a Red Raider and associate head coach Chris Beard confirmed it in the second hour and also mentioned that PK was looking at another guard. Personally, I'm a little worried about the size of this team, with Robert Lewandowski, Darko Cohadarevic and Trevor Cook really the only returning post players on the team. Cook's back never let him play more than the first handful of games, and if Darko is going to play significant minutes, he's going to have to really improve his game in every aspect. The other options would be for D'Walyn Roberts to put on 20 points, which would be great, or Brad Reese and Theron Jenkins contributing inside in some form or fashion, which is a real possibility, although I think both are best served as perimeter oriented players (i.e., think Martin Zeno with a little more length) and outside game.

Texas Tech Baseball

Date	Start Time	Texas Tech Starting Pitcher	Kansas Starting Pitcher	Result
4/17/2009	6:30 p.m.	Brian Cloud (2-3, 4.88)	Shaeffer Hall (3-2, 2.52)	-
4/18/2009	5:00 p.m.	AJ Ramos (3-3, 4.87)	T.J. Walz (0-0, 0.00)	-
4/19/2009	1:00 p.m.	Miles Morgan (2-4, 6.25)	Lee Ridenhour (3-2, 3.38)	-

Outfield:
LF - Michael Reed (Jr.); CF - Taylor Ashby (Jr.); RF - Mason Macnoll (Fr.)
Infield:
3RD - Justin Berry (Fr.); SS - Joey Kenworthy (Jr.); 2ND - Garrett Totten (Fr.); 1ST - Chris Richburg (Sr.)
C - Jeremy Mayo (Fr.)
DH - Scott LeJeune (Fr.)

*Click on the score for boxscore. Texas Tech series preview (pdf).

Texas Tech-Kansas Pregame Notes

Lots of stuff from LAJ's George Watson. Watson has some pregame notes here and here. In the second set of notes, there's some injury updates, of which I was unaware. Freshman third baseman Justin Berry may be out for the weekend, which would cause the infield to shift around quite a bit. Check out the second link for all of the gritty details.

Chad Bettis is Pretty Good

Watson also features all-world sophomore pitcher Chad Bettis. Make sure and read the whole thing as Watson details how Bettis has gone from reliever to starter without issue and addresses Bettis' last 154 pitch complete game against Oklahoma.

Previewing the Jayhawks

DT's Mike Graham previews the Jayhawks and the Red Raiders acknowledge that they've got to get to the Kansas pitching, which has been outstanding all year. Here's junior second baseman, Joey Kenworthy:

"I don't think there's any pressure to (get more hits)," Tech infielder Joey Kenworthy said. "I just think it's a lack of competitiveness with each at bat in the game. I think if everyone gets back to being competitive at the plate, I think we'll really put a hurt on them."

Brian Cloud Makes Texas Tech Proud

Graham also profiles tonight's starting pitcher, Brian Cloud and here he is on getting his education at Texas Tech and being nominated for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award:

"For me, it's a big deal," Cloud said. "A lot of people can get tangled in college sports and kind of look beyond the academic field. You can't play sports forever, so the ability to get a good education and the opportunities at Texas Tech, you can't beat it. It's something I wanted to take advantage of."

Again, make sure and VOTE!