Brandon Carter Carted Off Field
Perhaps the biggest news from yesterday was that senior left tackle Brandon Carter was carted off of the field with an undisclosed leg injury. Assuming that Carter won't be able to play the rest of the spring, we get to see how Moore is going to let this play out. Redshirt freshman Terry McDaniel is backing up Carter at left tackle, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least to perhaps see Moore move some folks around. Moore likes versatile players and it's situations like this that makes Moore an incredibly valuable coach. He seems to find the right pieces.
Moore did go on to say that Carter would be fine, no worries:
"He's fine, he'll be fine," Moore said as he went to check on the results of his 2008 All-American lineman.
Byrnes Fighting to Start
LAJ's Don Williams sat down with senior center Shawn Byrnes as he attempts to get his old job back. There's lots of really good stuff, but I what I took away from this article was the idea that not starting last year really affected Byrnes' attitude on the field and as a team leader:
"It really hurt,’’ Byrnes said. "But Hamby won it outright, and I think I could have handled it better, competed more to maybe play more and get better.’’Snip
"What it did to me, I guess, is a lot of kids looked to me as a leader of the team, and when I didn’t start I didn’t feel that I could fulfill that (role),’’ Byrnes said. "I felt I wasn’t credible to do that, so I kind of backed off on the leadership aspect. I really wanted to, but I didn’t feel that it was my (place) to do it, not being a starter.’’
But Byrnes sounds like he wants to get back to being mean:
"Mainly, get my mean streak back,’’ he said. "When I was a sophomore, I was a mean player. I was real dominant. Then after I got hurt, I think I lost it. I got scared. I was playing timid. That’s the main thing (Moore) told me he noticed, so I want to get my mean streak back and play real physical and use my strength on the field like I used to.’’
Those are some pretty honest statements from a former starter, and it takes a lot to recognize your own behavior and hopefully, he'll do something about it.
Rebuilding the Offensive Line
DT's Alex Ybarra writes about the changing and building offensive line and although this is a tad disturbing, right tackle likens the loss of Carter to left tackle (he was previously by Winn at right guard) to losing his girlfriend:
"It's kind of like getting a new girlfriend," Winn said. "When you break up with one girl and go into another relationship, you have to learn that person all over again, and that's kind of how it is with Brandon leaving me for the left side."
Moore also talks about the progress of his guards:
"(Okafor) played left tackle all last spring (and) was a back up on the right guard, right tackle," Moore said. "He jumped into the right guard spot and really has looked good."Olsen's done a good job, he's played almost every position out there, and now he's trying to settle in at left guard."
Neglected Video, Audio and Photos
The DT's look at the offensive line (BTW, Marlon talking about losing Carter to the left side, not to injury, made me giggle):
Offensive line dealing with shifts in spring from Daily Toreador on Vimeo.
The second hour of Tech talk had Lincoln Riley and Austin Zouazlik. Lots of good discussion about Tramain Swindall's move to H, Cornelius Douglas may be the most improved receiver on the team, including being player receiving the snap on the Elf Formation.